Chapter 4 - Operation
21
After an exchange of packets, you will see the message:
***DISCONNECTED
which indicates that your disconnect request packet was acknowledged by the station you were
connected to.
DIGIPEATING
The KAM will function as a digipeater, or Packet relay station, on either HF or VHF or both HF
and VHF simultaneously. This feature permits other station to use you as a relay on the same fre-
quencies when they cannot connect directly but are both in range of your station. Digipeat func-
tions are fully automatic and require no action by you as long as your unit is powered and has the
digipeat command on, which is the default setting. You may also use other Packet stations as digi-
peaters for your communications. The VHF section of the KAM can be used as a digipeater while
you are using the HF section for other modes of operation, such as RTTY.
Establishing a connection using a digipeat route is slightly different from the method used in a
direct connection. For example, assume you are N0APJ and wish to establish a connection to
WA5RGU but have to use an intermediate relay station, W0XI. To make this connection type:
CONNECT WA5RGU VIA W0XI
Upon completion of connection you will see the
***CONNECTED to WA5RGU
message on your display. You may now conduct your QSO. At the end of the QSO you may discon-
nect in the same manner as for direct connections.
You must specify digipeaters in the order they will be encountered along the path from your
station to the station you wish to connect to. You may specify up to eight digipeaters in the con-
nection path and must separate all following the first by commas, without spaces. The keyword
VIA is used only once in the connect request.
It is possible that your connect request will fail to succeed. Should you accidentally specify an
incorrect callsign, or the station you want to contact not be on the air, the unit will make several
tries before giving up. You can specify the number of attempts to be made with the command
RETry
. The default value set is 10. If the unit receives no response after this number of retries it
will quit and your display will show:
***RETRY COUNT EXCEEDED
***DISCONNECT
MULTIPLE PACKET CONNECTIONS
KAM has the capability of allowing you to operate with multiple connections either HF or VHF,
or both HF and VHF simultaneously.
When operating Packet, your outgoing packets are directed to the VHF or HF ports by use of
the streamswitch. There are actually two streamswitches used, one for VHF and one for HF. Check
this on your display screen. At the cmd: prompt type the command STR and press ENTER or RE-
TURN on your keyboard. KAM will resond with:
STREAMSW $40/$7c
The value left of the bar is the hexadecimal value for the @ character on your keyboard. This
character is the one used to address a packet to the HF port. The value to the right of the bar is
the hexadecimal value for the | character on your keyboard. This character is used to address a
packet to the VHF port.
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