Kantronics KAM User manual

KAM
KPC-4
KPC-2400
KPC-2
KPC-1
Operations
Manual
Version 3.0 – Aug. 13, 1990
RF Data Communications Specialists
1202 E. 23r Street, Lawrence, Kansas 66046
Or er number [phone]
Service number [phone]
9 am - noon, 2 pm - 5 pm Central Time, Mon ay-Fri ay

The KAM, KPC-4, KPC-2400, KPC-2 an KPC-1 are Kantronics har ware an software esigns incor-
porating the AX.25 Version 2 Level 2 Packet protocol as a opte by the American Ra io Relay
League. This manual contains information from earlier KPC-1, KPC-2, KPC-2400, KPC-4 an KAM
manuals an a en ums, mo ifie as appropriate. In a ition, Kantronics acknowle ges the use
of material from the original Tucson Amateur Packet Ra io Corporation (TAPR) TNC-1 manual
grante by OEM agreement.
We have attempte to make this manual technically an typographically correct as of the ate of
the current printing. Pro uction changes to the TNC may a errata or a en um sheets. We solic-
it your comments an /or suggeste corrections. Please sen to Kantroncis Inc., 1202 E 23r
Street, Lawrence, KS 66046.
Printe in the U. S. A.
© Copyright 1989 by Kantronics Inc., 1202 E. 23r Street, Lawrence, KS 66046
All rights reserve .
Contents of this publication or the firmware escribe herein may not be repro uce in any form
without the written permission of the copyright owner.
NET/ROM is a registere tra emark of SOFTWARE 2000
Commo ore, C-64, C-128 an VIC-20 are tra emarks of Commo ore Business Machines, Inc.
TRS-80 Color Computer an TRS Mo el-100 are tra emarks of Ra io Shack, a ivision of Tan y
Corporation
Atari 850 is a tra emark of Atari Inc., a Warner Communications Company
IBMPCjr is a tra emark of International Business Machines Corporation
Apple an Macintosh are registere tra emarks of Apple Computer, Inc.

Operations Manual
Table of Contents
Page
Preface ..................................................................................................... 1
Some Abbreviations .......................................................................... 1
Intro/Getting tarted .............................................................................. 2
Asynchronous Comman s .................................................................. 3
Dual-Port Set-Up Comman s .............................................................. 4
Front Panels
KAM ................................................................................................. 6
KPC-4 ............................................................................................... 7
KPC-2 ............................................................................................... 8
KPC-2400 ......................................................................................... 9
KPC-1 ............................................................................................... 9
Packet Mode ............................................................................................. 10
Comman Mo e ................................................................................ 10
Connecte vs. Unproto ...................................................................... 10
Monitoring an Calling CQ ................................................................. 11
A Simple Connect .............................................................................. 11
Digipeating ....................................................................................... 12
Gateway ........................................................................................... 13
Multi-Connects .................................................................................. 13
Roun Table Discussions .................................................................... 13
Timing ............................................................................................. 14
Dwait vs. Persistence an Slottime ........................................... 14
Tx elay ................................................................................. 14
Frack ..................................................................................... 15
Retries AX.15 Level 2, Version 1 vs. Version 2 ..................................... 15
Flow Control ..................................................................................... 16
Software Flow Control ............................................................. 16
Har ware Flow Control ............................................................ 17
Converse Mo e vs. Transparent Mo e ................................................. 17
Getting Out of Transparent ................................................................ 18
HF Packet Operation .......................................................................... 18
PBB
General ............................................................................................ 19
Configuring your PBBS ....................................................................... 19
Using the PBBS ................................................................................. 19
Reverse forwar ing messages from your mailbox ................................. 21
KA-NODE
General ............................................................................................ 22
Configuring Your KA-NODE ................................................................ 22
Using a KA-NODE .............................................................................. 23
Local Acknowle gments, Higher Throughput ....................................... 24
Automatic Disconnect ........................................................................ 24
Using the XCONNECT Comman (KAM an KPC-4 only) ....................... 25
Determining Which Port You Have Connecte To ................................. 25
KA-NODE Comman s for Remote Use ................................................. 26

Kantronics Host Mode Operation ............................................................ 28
Communication Format
Host computer to TNC ............................................................ 28
KAM HF Mo es ....................................................................... 29
TNC to Host Computer ............................................................ 29
HF Mo e operation ............................................................................ 30
WEFAX Mode
General ............................................................................................ 31
Backgroun : HF WEFAX Transmission an Resolution ........................... 31
Fin ing WEFAX Broa casts ................................................................. 31
Tuning WEFAX Signals on HF ............................................................. 32
Receiving WEFAX Transmissions ......................................................... 32
The WEFAX Comman ....................................................................... 33
Suggestions for Writing a WEFAX Terminal Program ............................. 33
WEFAX Program Functions ................................................................. 33
KI Mode ................................................................................................ 35
RTTY and A CII Modes (KAM only)
RTTY Theory ..................................................................................... 38
RTTY an ASCII Operation ................................................................. 39
Miscellaneous Information ................................................................. 42
Summary of RTTY/ASCII Directives ..................................................... 43
AMTOR Mode (KAM only)
AMTOR Theory ................................................................................. 44
AMTOR Operation ............................................................................. 45
Tuning AMTOR .................................................................................. 46
Summary of AMTOR Directives ........................................................... 47
NAVTEX/AMTEX Mode (KAM only)
NAVTEX/AMTEX Theory ..................................................................... 48
NAVTEX/AMTEX Operation ................................................................. 49
CW Mode (KAM only)
Summary of CW Directives ................................................................. 50

Preface
1
Preface
This manual will intro uce you to the various mo es of operation available with your new Kan-
tronics TNC. It assumes that you have rea the Installation Manual an have successful complete
connecting your TNC to your computer an ra ios.
First, we start with the mo es common to all Kantronics TNCs, inclu ing Packet, the Personal Mail-
box, KA-NODE, WEFAX an KISS Mo e. From here, we move into the mo es that are only avail-
able on the Kantronics All Mo e (KAM) communicator. These inclu e RTTY, ASCII, AMTOR an CW.
As you start, we must assume that you have your computer turne on an that you have starte
your terminal or communication software on your computer. Since there are many ifferent types
of computers an hun re s of terminal programs available, we will not attempt to tell you how to
accomplish these steps. If you have problems starting either your computer or your terminal pro-
gram, refer to the manuals that came with them.
ome Abbreviations
Ctrl-x = Ctrl is the control key an x represents any alpha character. This is a two key combination.
Press the Ctrl key while hol ing it own type the letter x (this can be capital or lower case, but will
shown as capital). Release both. If your computer keyboar has no key labele Ctrl, consult your
computer manual to etermine which key performs the control key function.
$ prece ing a number enotes a hex number (base 16)
<CR> = carriage return, $0D, ecimal 13, Ctrl-M, [↵]
<LF> = line fee , $0A, ecimal 10, Ctrl-J
I/O = Input/Output
Computer an terminal are use interchangeably to escribe whatever evice is attache to talk to
the TNC.

INTRO
2
Intro / Getting tarted
Now that you have your new Kantronics unit connecte to your ra io an computer, let's take a
moment to see what it is an how to make it un erstan what you want to o. A Terminal No e
Controller (TNC) is very similar to a telephone mo em because it receives igital signals from the
computer (Terminal) an converts them to tones suitable for transmission to istant location. The
TNC also receives tones from your ra io an converts them into the igital signals un erstoo by
your computer. A TNC, however, oes much more, because it controls the push-to-talk line of your
transmitter, keying the ra io whenever it nee s to sen ata. It also converts the ata into a
"packet", a ing the require a ressing, error checking an control information to insure the ata
gets from one No e to the next. The error checking implemente in your TNC must be the same
as the error checking use by any other station you want to talk to an this stan ar metho is
calle a protocol. The protocol use in Amateur Ra io Packet TNCs is calle AX.25. Different proto-
cols are use for other mo es of operation, such as AMTOR.
In or er for your TNC to o something, you must issue instructions to it, letting it know exactly
what you want one. In or er to accomplish this, the TNC must be in the Comman Mo e (expect-
ing you to give it instructions) an any time you want to change the way your TNC operates, you
must be in this mo e. The TNC tells you that it rea y for your comman s by sen ing you the
prompt cmd:.
When you first turn on your TNC out of the box (or after a har reset) you may see some garbage
characters on your screen. The TNC is performing an autobau routine. It is sen ing the same
massage over an over again at ifferent bau rates. When the TNC bau rate matches the bau
rate set in your terminal (communications) program, the isplay will rea :
PRESS (*) TO SET BAUD RATE
When these wor s are rea able press the asterisk, *, on your keyboar . This will set the bau rate
until the TNC is turne off; keep rea ing for how to avoi having to o this all the time. Then the
TNC will isplay the following:
ENTER YOUR CALLSIGN =>
At this point enter your amateur callsign. This callsign will be use by the TNC for many ifferent
things, inclu ing being in every packet you sen an eci ing if a packet it receives is specifically
for you. Now you shoul see the sign-on message an comman prompt on your screen, as:
KANTRONICS sign-on-message
cmd:
In some cases (notably Commo ore-64 users with the Kanterm program an some umb termi-
nals) the cmd: prompt may not appear. This is ue to the TNC sen ing lower case characters an
the terminal oesn't recognize them. In these cases, you will probably see only the colon (:). This
can usually be resolve by turning the LCOK comman OFF.
The cmd: prompt means the TNC is rea y to listen to you. Anything you type will be be inter-
prete as a comman . If the TNC oesn't un erstan , it will isplay:
EH?
To change a comman setting you type the comman , a space, the argument (a number or what-
ever is appropriate) an then the RETURN or ENTER [↵] key. If you turn the TNC off an back on

INTRO
3
again, the changes will not be remembere unless you have use the PERM comman , or using a
Battery Backup or SmartWatch.
All comman s are liste alphabetically in the Comman s Manual an many are iscusse by mo e
in this Operations Manual. The Comman Manual also has an intro uction that goes into more e-
tail on the structure of comman s.
Asynchronous Commands
Asynchronous comman s are comman s that allow your TNC an computer to talk the same lan-
guage. These comman s in the TNC will have their counterparts in your computer program,
although some programs may limit what you can set. Following is a list of TNC efaults an their
correspon ing computer setting. then we will explain the comman s using both the computer an
the TNC terminology.
TNC Computer
ABAUD 0 The TNC runs an autobau routine to allow it to match the
spee set in your computer when the TNC receives an asterisk
8BITCONV ON Data Bits or Wor Length 8
PARITY 4 Parity no or none
ECHO ON Full Duplex
XFLOW ON Software Flow Control
Baud Rate is how fast the computer an TNC will talk to each other. This is set in the TNC with
the ABAUD comman . The settings allowe by the TNC are 0, 300, 600, 1200, 1800, 2400, 4800
an 9600. (KPC-1 only allows 0, 300, 1200 an 9600.) When set to 0, the autobau routine will
run at power-up – requiring you to press the asterisk whenever you turn on the TNC.
Word Length an Data Bits are often use interchangeably to refer to how many bits are use
to recognize a character. Each character is ma e up of smaller parts calle bits (analogous to a it
or ah in Morse co e). These bits are seen as high or low voltages on the cable between the TNC
an computer to make the esire combination for a character. A stan ar by the name of ASCII
allows 8 bits for each character, although all the stan ar alphanumeric characters an punctua-
tion can be recognize with only 7 bits. The TNC will talk to the computer using either 7 or 8 bits
epen ing on setting of the comman 8BITCONV. As efault 8BITCONV ON means 8 bits. Set
8BITCONV OFF to strip the 8th bit an use only 7 bits.
Parity etermines what the 8th bit will be an is an ol form of error etection which few mo -
ern- ay programs check. PARITY 4 is the efault in the TNC which means the 8th bit will be seen
as part of the character. O or Even Parity will change the 8th bit epen ing on whether there is
an o or even number of high voltages in the 7-bit character. Mark an Space Parity will hol the
8th bit either high or low. In the TNC, setting PARITY 0 is o parity; Parity 1 is even parity;
PARITY 2 is mark parity; PARITY 3 is space parity an PARITY 4 is no parity. 8BITCONV must be
ON before the TNC will look at the 8th bit (the TNC always sen s the 8th bit in TRANSPARENT
Mo e).
top Bits. The TNC always uses 1 stop bit.
Full Duplex or Half Duplex. (Some programs use the term Echo for Half Duplex.) When using
Full Duplex the computer expects the attache evice to sen back (echo) what was sent to it. A
setting of Half Duplex will tell the program that it must o the isplaying to the screen for what
you type. The TNCs efault is ECHO ON, which tells the TNC to sen back what it receives. This

INTRO
4
correspon s to a setting of Full Duplex for the computer. If you set your computer for Half Duplex,
you will nee to turn ECHO OFF or you will see two of everything you type. When using a split
screen program, you may want to set ECHO OFF in the TNC because the program will be han ling
what you type in the buffere keyboar screen.
Flow Control. Often times one evice may talk to another evice faster than it can han le the in-
formation. When this happens, the excess information is store in a buffer until it can be pro-
cesse . This buffer is only so large. If the ata were to over-flow the buffer, it woul be lost. Flow
Control is the terminology use for how the evices inform each other to stop or start sen ing a-
ta. There are two ways to accomplish this: software an har ware. The TNCs efault XFLOW ON
allows the TNC to implement software flow control (har ware flow control is always recognize by
the TNC).
Software Flow Control is implemente by the program or TNC looking at the ata an watching for
two certain characters. One of these characters (normally Ctrl-S) tells the evice to stop sen ing
ata an the other (normally Ctrl-Q) tells the evice to re-start sen ing ata. The TNC comman s
XOFF an XON tells the TNC which characters to sen to the computer to stop an start ata flow.
The comman s STOP an START efine which characters the TNC expects from the computer.
These comman s all come efaulte for normal software flow control.
Har ware Flow Control is implemente by the evice watching the voltages on the RTS an CTS
pins of the RS-232 port. The TNC will always monitor these pins, so only connect them if you are
going to use them. If you use har ware flow control, you shoul turn XFLOW OFF. See the Con-
necting your Computer section of the Installation Manual for how to wire your RS-232 cable for
har ware flow control.
Perm. If you woul like to customize the efaults in the TNC for your situation, all you have to o
is type PERM at the cmd: prompt (followe by a RETURN or ENTER key). This comman will write
your customize efaults to the EEPROM. Now, if you turn the TNC off an back on again, your e-
faults will be use . This comman can be use at least 1000 times, so as you experiment with
your parameters an fin ones you woul like to have ifferent than factory efault, just use this
comman . If for any reason you ever want to go back to the factory efault, a Har Reset can be
performe (see the Har Reset section of the Installation Manual), or use the RESTORE D com-
man as escribe in the Comman s Manual.
Dual-Port et-Up Commands
PORT. The KAM an KPC-4 both have two ra io ports. When turne on, the KAM will be a ress-
ing the VHF port an the KPC-4 will a ress Port 1. If you wish, this may be change so that the
other port will be a resse when the unit is turne on. For the KAM, you coul type PORT HF at
the cmd: prompt, an for the KPC-4 you woul type PORT 2. This comman woul then nee to
be PERMe (if not using Battery Backup or SmartWatch). This only affects what port the TNC will
a ress when it is turne on after the next soft reset. In or er to change ports uring Packet oper-
ations see Multi-Connects in the Packet section or the STREAMSW comman in the Comman s
Manual. When using non-packet mo es on the KAM the HF port is automatically selecte . In or er
to enter a non-packet mo e, the MAXUSERS comman must be set to allow HF operation.
MAXU ER . This comman causes the TNC to allocate the memory require for the maximum
number of simultaneous connections you wish to allow. The KAM an KPC-4 will allow a setting of
0. If MAXUSERS is set to 0/0, these TNCs will accept only one connect at a time from either port of
the TNC. This special con ition will be highlighte by being isplaye simply as MAXUSERS 0. This
makes it feasible to use the KAM/KPC-4 with MBL or RLI BBS programs on two frequencies. Setting
MAXUSERS to 0/n or n/0 will isable the port esignate for 0.

INTRO
5
PMODE (KAM only). When set to NONE as efault, the KAM will be in the Packet Mo e. This com-
man allows you to have your KAM come on in the mo e you select. Optional parameters are:
ASCII, AMTOR, CW, FEC, RTTY, NAVTEX an NONE (Packet). Starting the KAM in the Kiss or Host
Mo e is accomplishe with the INTFACE comman (INTFACE will overri e PMODE). As with all
comman s this must be PERMe for the KAM to remember it after being turne off (if not using
the Battery Backup or SmartWatch.

FRONT PANELS
6
Front Panels
KAM
The front panel has two switches, eight LEDs an a ten segment LED bargraph. There are seven
LEDs use as operating status in icators. The front panel is ivi e into two sections. The left
three LEDs are the in icators associate with HF operation, an the four right LEDs are the in ica-
tors associate with VHF operation. The two segments are ivi e by a white color bar. Each LED
has the functions in icate below:
HF ection:
XMIT – This LED will illuminate when the KAM is keying the PTT line on your HF ra io OR when
HF packets are being receive .
CON/LOCK – This LED will illuminate when you have an HF Packet connection OR an AMTOR lock
con ition.
TA/VAL – This LED will illuminate when you have unacknowle ge HF packets OR vali AMTOR
ata.
VHF ection:
XMIT – This LED will illuminate when the KAM is keying the PTT line on your VHF ra io.
RCV – This LED will illuminate when you are receiving a VHF packet.
CON – This LED will illuminate when you have a VHF Packet connection. In a ition, when operat-
ing non-Packet HF mo es, this LED will blink ON/OFF for approximately 10 secon s if KAM receives
a VHF Packet connect request.
TA – This LED will illuminate when you have unacknowle ge VHF packets. Also, if the CON light
is OFF, the STA light is use to in icate PBBS status – ON stea y in icates someone is connecte
to the PBBS an blinking in icates mail in the Kantronics TNC for you.
POWER INDICATOR
POWER - The single LED on the right en of the front panel illuminates when power is applie .
witches
ON/OFF – Provi es power control of the KAM.
AM/FM – Switches the limiters in or out of the emo ulator circuits. This switch shoul be set to
AM for CW operation an FM for RTTY/ASCII/AMTOR. For Packet operation, either AM or FM can
be selecte . Use the setting you prefer.