HAM Radio 3.2/Ham Radio Version 3.2 (Chestnut CD-ROMs)(1993).ISO/packet/gate0108/gate0108.88

Text File | 1988-01-28 | 14.4 KB | 343 lines

Gateway: The ARRL Packet Radio Newsletter is published by the

American Radio Relay League          Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
      225 Main Street                       Editor
    Newington, CT 06111

Larry E. Price, W4RA                    David Sumner, K1ZZ
     President                       Executive Vice President

Volume 4, Number 8                                January 8, 1988

HF AUTOMATIC FORWARDING STA EXTENTION SOUGHT

At the December meeting of the ARRL Executive Committee, the ARRL
Executive Vice President was authorized to request a one-year
extension of the HF packet radio special temporary authorization
(STA) to allow continued automatic operation of some stations
below 30 MHz while passing third party traffic.  The ARRL Ad Hoc
Committee on Amateur Digital Communication ("the Digital
Committee") is requested to draft rule changes as may be required
to clear up existing problems and permit permanent automatic
operation below 30 MHz.

from The ARRL Letter


UoSAT-OSCAR 11 BACK TO NORMAL

UoSAT-OSCAR 11 (UO-11) was returned to normal operations on
December 16 following problems experienced with the new Forth
Diary on board computer software, which was loaded for the first
time in November.  The Forth Diary was developed to support more
complex attitude control algorithms on the spacecraft and to
simplify routine operations.  The new software ran correctly when
first loaded into the UO-11 computer, but, when the spacecraft
appeared on the next orbit in range of the mission control
center, the computer had crashed with null characters being
transmitted on the 145-MHz downlink.

Efforts at mission control were immediately directed towards
simulation and diagnosis of the problem using the UO-11
spacecraft simulator on the ground (the new software had been
running on this simulator - the spacecraft engineering model -
for several weeks prior to loading into the UO-11 computer).  It
proved impossible to recreate the problem on the ground and,
thus, it has been suggested that possibly the 32-kbyte memory
bank on UO-11 has a bad memory location(s).  This theory will be
tested by running diagnostics on the UO-11 computer shortly.

Resumption of normal service took considerable time and effort
because control had to be effected through the less amenable UHF
command uplink and very careful procedures had to be worked out
to minimize the risk to the spacecraft while, at the same time,
providing the maximum of diagnostic information on the computer
software state.

We apologize for the interruption to the UO-11 service and thank
all those who sent their best wishes and offered help during this
period.

from UoSAT Mission Control Centre,
University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, England


PACKET RADIO TO SUPPORT
TRANSPOLAR CROSS-COUNTRIES SKI TREK

Amateur packet radio will provide the communication link between
civilization and a group of Canadian and Russians attempting to
ski from Russia to Canada via the North Pole.  The scientific
expedition is scheduled on or about March 1 and will be comprised
of four Canadian and seven to ten Russian skiers who will begin
their trek from Cape Arktichesky on the Severnaya Zeml'a Islands
to Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island.  The organizers of the 3-
month,  1,077-mile trip are the Soviet youth newspaper
Komsomolskaya Pravda and the Polar Bridge Company, a group
organized by the Canadian skiers.

Besides providing communications via packet radio, "Project
Nordski Comm" (the communications effort for the trip), will also
provide navigation for the skiers. By means of the talking
computer on board UoSAT-OSCAR 11 (UO-11), the skiers will be able
to hear their location read to them over hand-held Amateur Radio
equipment (on 145.825 MHz) as UO-11 passes over approximately
every 100 minutes.

For more information, write to Richard C. Ensign. AMSAT Science
Education Advisor, 421 N. Military, Dearborn, MI 48124 or
telephone [phone] during the school day or 313-274-1718
during evenings and weekends.


NETWORK NEWS

TexNet Adds Support For
Multiple Packet Message Systems

Support for multiple Packet Message Systems (PMS) on a network
has been added to the TexNet.  One of the features of TexNet is
facilities for a PMS, a forwarding PBBS that is  capable of
multiple connections throughout the entire network.  Formerly,
each TexNet node designated (in its firmware) the location of the
PMS server in its particular area or sub-network.  For example,
assume a TexNet system linking Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, Dallas,
Hillsboro, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Brownsville.
In this example, Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, Dallas and Hillsboro
are served by the Dallas PMS, while San Antonio and Corpus
Christi use the Brownsville PMS and Austin has its own.  A change
to the software now adds the ability to have a PMS at each node
and the TexNet user is able to specify which PMS he wishes to
access.  For example, by invoking the command "MESSAGE @ CORPUS,"
the Fort Worth user would be connected to the Corpus Christi PMS,
while  "MESSAGE" alone would connect the user with the 'home'
PMS.

from Wayne Day, KF5ZC, via CompuServe's HamNet


New TCP/IP Software Version Available

A new version of Phil Karn's KA9Q TCP/IP software package is now
available.  The 871225.0 software release is a major revision and
includes the following changes and additions:

o  Parameters to the param command are now in decimal, not
hexadecimal (be sure to update your AUTOEXEC.NET files).

o  A fix to the TNC-1 KISS by Marc Kaufman.

o  Complete support for AX.25 level 2 connected mode, including
both the ability to have level 2 connections as a session type
and the ability to push IP datagrams across connected-mode links.
This means that you can run KISS TNC 24 hours per day, and still
talk to your local PBBS.  (This portion of the package is based
on work done by Jon Bloom, KE3Z, and hacked wildly by KA9Q.)

o  Support for the Apple Macintosh and Commodore Amiga computers
provided by Mikel Matthews.  The binaries are provided unencoded
for the Amiga, and in BinHex format for the Mac.  (The binaries
are slightly out of sync with the sources and sport a different
version number.)

o  Support for System 5 Unix by Jere Sandidge.

o  Major enhancements to the SMTP modules and the BM mail user
interface by Dave Trulli, NN2Z.

o  A newly integrated, all-in-one manual by Bdale Garbee, N3EUA,
based heavily on the previously available documents, but with
considerable updating and integration.

o  The ability to record TELNET and AX.25 connected mode sessions
in a file.

o  The ability to perform an ASCII text upload of a file to a
TELNET or AX.25 session.

o  Considerable modification of the command interpreter.

o  An update to the PBBS/SMTP gateway software by Robert Gibson,
WA3PXX.

o  A driver for the Eagle I/O card based on the Zilog 8530.

KA9Q TCP/IP software is available from the following sources:

1.  Direct UUCP connection to "winfree" is available to those who
request it for polling.

2.  N3EUA's BBS (telephone [phone]); log on and download
from the appropriate files area.

3.  Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR, Box 22888,
Tucson, AZ  85734, telephone [phone]).

4.  Internet: on SIMTEL20.ARPA in the directory
PD:<MSDOS.PACKET>.

from Bdale Garbee, N3EUA (@ K0HOA)

COSI-Switch Status

Tom Moulton, W2VY, has The Radio Amateur Telecommunications
Society (RATS) COSI-Switch code in the initial Z80 target machine
(TNC 2) and has begun the debugging process.  He has completed an
exhaustive set of software and protocol tests on an IBM PC and on
a Z80-based CP/M computer.  The protocol tests diagnose the whole
system with the exception of the drivers.  Beta testing was
scheduled to begin in December and the source code release date
is scheduled for late January. Target machines for this release
include the TNC 2 family and Pac-COMM's DR-200 and DR-100.

RATS is expecting the arrival of a beta test PC-186 four-port
packet switch board and COSI-Switch will be ported to this device
to provide a vehicle for high-speed (greater than 56-kbit/s)
links.

from J. Gordon Beattie, Jr., N2DSY (@ KD6TH)


GB3UP/DCE STATUS REPORT

The following status report concerning the GB3UP/DCE project was
filed by Jeff Ward, G0/K8KA.

GB3UP: The PBBS has been converted to a WA7MBL system running on
an Opus PC-11 with a 20-Mbyte hard disk.  The system shuts down
automatically during passes of either UoSAT-1 or UoSAT-2.

DCE: A big wind storm blew down the UoSAT control station
antennas and they were down for about a week.  Aside from that
period, regular DCE forwarding has been taking place.  I seem to
be getting a few messages each day for the DCE.

Gateway status:

GB2UP (connected to GB3UP) - fully operational  (two-day message
delay at most, either on  Wednesdays or at weekends).

NK6K - Not operational.

WA9FMQ  - Sporadic.

K1KSY - Seemingly reliable. The best gateway for  U.S. traffic.

ZL1AOX - Fully operational and active

VK5AGR - Fully operational, the most active and  successful
gateway outside the U.K.

from Connect International


AMSAT-TAPR DIGITAL
SIGNAL PROCESSING PROJECT UPDATE

Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY, filed the following status report on the
joint AMSAT-TAPR digital signal processing (DSP) project.

Nothing but good news for the holidays!  We have all 20 DSP
boards that folks have ordered from AMSAT and in addition, we
will be sponsoring a few boards to DSP wizards.  The first ten
were mailed on December 20 from Clarksville, Maryland, and the
remaining ten were picked up on December 19.  Tom Clark, W3IWI,
has copied diskettes for everyone, which consist of three
floppies packed with archived data and PKARC utilities.
Presently, I am writing documentation for the routines that Tom,
Richard Allen, W5SXD, and I have written.  There are several
libraries of utility routines from David Langman and a wonderful
library of routines and a spectrum analyzer from Richard which
need EGA.  Tom and I have included a less spiffy spectrum
analyzer on the diskettes that make use of CGA.  The routines
from  W5SXD are not DSP specific and, in general, may be used for
fast EGA access.

We also have FIR filter design software, the Remez Exchange
algorithm, written  in Fortran.  It is a standard and has been
around for years.  I am working on, but have not finished, a C
program that takes the output of this and makes a TMS32010 (the
DSP microprocessor) routine to do the FIR filter.

I performed a trick in DSP software that demodulates the FO-
12/W3IWI/TAPR-style modem by  converting it into Bell-202
standard in order that you may use your unmodified TNC to gather
packets from the bird.  I have been waiting to announce the
nicest piece of signal processing work I have ever done until I
was near completion.  It has been tested under vigorous
circumstances, so I feel confident in telling you all about it.
I have designed a piece of mathematical wizardry in software that
allows you to demodulate (get ready for this) 1200 and 2400 bit/s
BPSK; 1200, 2400, and 4800 bit/s QPSK; 4800 and 9600 bit/s CCITT
V.29; 9600 bit/s CCITT V.32; coherent FSK (including GSMK and UO-
11 standard) with  all carriers at 1700 Hz (1800 Hz for one 2400
bit/s scheme, V.32 and UO-11) in telephone/SSB rig bandwidths.
The changes come about by having different phase detectors for
each mode (of course) and (again, of course) different clocks and
bit decision routines. (Ah yes, it's only software!)

There is an adaptive equalizer that I am not yet completely
satisfied with that adapts (now) at a lousy 200 bauds (not bits),
which I want to get down to 100 bauds (remember this is adaptive
and involves no training sequence, which could accomplish it)
without making it unstable (based on the work of Godard).  The
mathematical wizardry that does the basebanding and carrier-
tracking will easily fit on the TMS32010 and I will supply that
in a month to the other members of the DSP project.
Unfortunately, 4k words aren't enough with 144 data words to do a
good job for the EQ and clock recovery/bit decision for Amateur
Radio rigs (slop).  I need 60 words alone for the EQ filter.

Also, Phil Karn, KA9Q, and I will be working on bit decision at
400 bit/s for Phase III-C as soon as I get the other stuff in the
TMS32010.  Tom made a few hundred suggestions on the FFT software
and this made improvements (6 to 10 dB) that are being supplied
with the first diskettes.  A complete  Bell 212A modem, including
300 bit/s fallback,  EQ, etc, from TI's library, is supplied.
32-kbit/s ADPCM voice encoding software is included.

Al Sharback, WB0MPQ, will loan me a WEFAX compatible receiver to
do that work.  The DSP hardware work will slow down a little so
that we may concentrate on the software work with the new team of
folks and because the same people are working on at least one of
PACSAT, UOSAT-C, PS186 networking code and, last but not least,
real work and families.

We are supplying boards to Barry McClarnon, VE3JF, (see his QEX
articles on HF modems, etc.) and James Miller, G3RUH, a terrific
polymath and designer of several modems for the satellite
community.

The stuff is beginning to look really good.  There is more, but
you get the picture.  We are on our way!

from Bob McGwier N4HY, via CompuServe's HamNet


NOVICE NOTCH

ARIZONA

A node for Novices in the Phoenix area is operating on 223.56
MHz.  This node is tied to all of the other nodes in the Phoenix
area to allow Novices to access that network.

from I-Frame

NEW HAMPSHIRE

A Novice packet gateway is available from 2300 to 1100 UTC on
223.54 MHz in the Nashua, New Hampshire area.  The gateway
connects Novices digipeating through WA1OMM-2 on that frequency
to the packet activity on 145.01 MHz.  A non-forwarding local
mailbox is also available on 145.01 and 223.54 MHz using the call
WA1OMM-1.

by Paul MacDonald, WA1OMM,
from Nashua Area Radio Club Bulletin

(Gateway would like to continue to publicize Novice packet
activities, so if you know of any, please let me know, too. -
WA1LOU)