In the Unproto Mode, when your TNC sends a packet, no acknowledgment is ex
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pected and no retries are attempted. This mode is often used for calling CQ, for
transmitting beacons, and for informal roundtable chats.
Monitoring and Calling CQ
If you turn the MONITOR command ON, you will see other people’s packets on
your screen. You will notice two callsigns at the beginning of each packet sepa
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rated by a “>”. The first callsign is the station the packet is from, and the second
callsign is the station the packet is to. An Unproto packet may have a name or
CQ for the second callsign.
To set what will be seen as the “to” callsign for Unproto packets you send, you
use the UNPROTO command. This comes defaulted as CQ.
In order to call CQ you must get into the Convers Mode, so that what you are
typing to the TNC will be interpreted as data to be sent out on the air and not as
commands. To do this type:
K<CR>
Now anything you type will be packetized and sent out on the air. Remember to
get back to Command Mode you enter a <Ctrl+C> (default) by holding down the
Control key while pressing “C”. You will be going between Command and
Convers Modes depending on whether you want to talk to the TNC or have the
TNC packetize what you type to go out on the air.
A Simple Connect
Once you see a station you would like to connect to, be sure you are in Command
Mode, and issue a connect request. For example:
C callsign<CR>
where C is short for CONNECT and callsign is the callsign of the station you
wish to connect to.
If for any reason the connection fails, the TNC will send the following message
to your screen:
*** RETRY COUNT EXCEEDED
*** DISCONNECTED
Packet Modes of Operation Overview of Packet Communication
User’s Guide 146 KAM’98 v 8.3