Chapter 6 - System Operation and Control
35
CHAPTER 6
SYSTEM OPERATION AND CONTROL
GENERAL
The KAM has several operating modes. One of these, the Command Mode, can be viewed as
the "control" mode and the remaining modes are "communicating" modes. All communications
modes are entered from the Command Mode either as an automatic entry or as a directed entry.
For example, establishing a packet connection may cause KAM to automatically switch to the
Convers Mode. However, to switch to RTTY you must direct this mode from the keyboard.
The Command Mode is also used to enter all commands which alter the operating parameters
of KAM. When you are in the Command Mode you will see the cmd: prompt at the beginning of
each line on your display. This prompt may scroll off the screen if you are monitoring packets.
DISPLAY CONTROL
The data output by KAM to your Computer will be displayed on your monitor. Several com-
mands affecting how this display is formatted are discussed in the following paragraphs.
A carriage return sequence <CR> & [LF] is sent to your Computer at intervals specified by the
SCreenl
command. Default setting is 80. If your Computer display line-length is shorter, for exam-
ple 40 column screens such as the C-64, you may reset the
SCreenl
command accordingly. You
may also set this command to zero (0) and your Computer will format your display line length.
If you observe overprinting on your screen, this may be an indication that the
AUTOLf
com-
mand is OFF. You may also see multiple line feeds between lines on the display, which may indi-
cate that
AUTOLf
is ON and should not be. Set this command ON or OFF as required for the proper
display presentation with your Computer/program combination.
Double printing on your display may be caused by both your keyboard input and KAM echoing
characters you type. The Echo command can be set to OFF to prevent this. When you are in the
Transparent Mode, KAM will not echo your keyboard input.
Multiple line feeds appearing on your display are usually also being received by the KAM. For
example, W1AW, in its bulletin broadcasts, transmits multiple carriage return/line feeds to insure
that mechanical TTY Systems are reset properly at the end of line or paragraph. You can delete
these from your displayed text by setting the
CRLfsup
command to ON.
PACKET DATA MODES
The two Packet data modes are Convers and Transparent. Either mode can be entered by typ-
ing and entering the command. If you are in Command Mode when another Station connects to
you, KAM will automatically enter the mode specified by your
CONMode
command. If you do not
want KAM to automatically switch to a data mode when connected set the
NOmode
command to
OFF.
CONVERS MODE
The data mode you will probably use most often for ordinary Packet QSOs is Convers Mode. In
Convers Mode, the Information you type is assembled by the unit into packets and transmitted
over the radio. A packet is terminated whenever you type the send-packet character, which is set
by the command
SEndpac
and may optionally be included in the packet. In order to allow you to
correct typing errors in your messages and to return to Command Mode, there are several charac-
ters which have special meanings to the KAM and are not ordinarily included in packets. These in-
clude input editing characters and Flow Control characters. Many of these special characters are
control characters, which are typed by simultaneously holding down the "control" key and another
key on the keyboard. The ASCII character set includes control characters corresponding to all the
letters and a few other characters. As an example, a control C character is typed by holding down
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