Kantronics KPC-4 - Page 31

KA-NODE
General
The
Kantronics
KA-NODE
is
a
part
of
your
TNC,
which
provides
users
with
local
acknowledgments
of
packets,
rather
than
the
"old"
style
end-to-end
acknowledgment
previously
required
when
connecting
to
distant
stations.
This
feature
is
useful
when
connecting
to
distant
stations,
and
generally
results
in
a
significant
increase
in
data
throughput.
If
you
connect
to
a
dual-port
Kantronics
KA-NODE
(the
KAM
or
KPC-4)
you
may
also
"gateway”
from
one
port
to
the
other
using
the
commands
described
under
"Using
a
KA-NODE".
This
would
allow
a
VHF
user
to
access
HF
packet
frequencies
by
using
such
a
KA-NODE.
Each
packet
you
send
to
a
KA-NODE
is
acknowledged
by
that
KA-NODE
and
also
passed
to
the
next
station
in
the
path.
Since
the
data
has
been
acknowledged
from
your
station,
any
retries
which
are
required
due
to
collisions
or
other
conditions
will
be
automatically
performed
by
the
KA-NODE.
Frequently
when
connecting
to
a
distant
city,
you
may
wish
to
talk
to
more
than
one
station.
Perhaps
when
you
connected,
you
got
a
message
saying
"I'm
not
here
right
now,
please
leave
a
message
in
my
PBBS".
By
using
the
"S(tay)"
option
when
telling
a
KA-NODE
to
connect
to
another
station,
the
KA-NODE
will
not
disconnect
from
you
if
it
receives
a
disconnect
from
the
distant
station,
instead,
you
will
receive
a
message
-
from
the
KA-NODE
saying
"###DISCONNECTED
BY
(call)
AT
NODE
(MYNODE).
In
other
words,
if
I
connected
from
Lawrence,
Kansas
to
a
KA-NODE
in
Lincoln,
Nebraska,
and
then
told
that
KA-NODE
to
connect
to
someone
using
the
command
"C
call
Stay",
and
then
that
station
sent
me
the
above
message
and
disconnected,
I
would
remain
connected
to
the
KA-NODE
in
Lincoln!
This
now
allows
me
to
issue
a
connect
directly
to
his
BBS,
without
having
to
re-establish
the
entire
path.
In
multiple
KA-NODE
paths,
each
time
you
say
B(ye)
to
the
distant
KA-NODE,
this
would
return
you
to
the
next
previous
KA-NODE
which
had
been
told
to
"Stay"
in
the
chain
of
KA-NODES.
From
that
point,
you
could
build
a
path
in
a
different
direction.
One
point
to
note
here,
is
that
if
you
use
the
KA-NODE
to
connect
to
a
BBS
(WØRLI
or
WA7MBL
for
instance),
and
use
the
STAY
option,
then
say
B(ye)
to
the
BBS,
you
would
remain
connected
to
the
KA-NODE
closest
to
the
BBS.
If
you
issue
the
connect
without
the
STAY
option,
any
disconnect
from
either
end
will
cause
the
entire
link
to
disconnect.
The
KA-NODE
checks
the
passage
of
data
through
the
node,
and
if
no
activity
occurs
for
some
preselected
time
(see
KNTIMER)
then
the
KA-NODE
will
disconnect
both
sides
of
the
node.
Configuring
Your
KA-NODE
In
order
to
set
your
Kantronics
TNC
for
use
as
a
KA-NODE
several
conditions
must
be
met.
First,
you
must
allocate
the
number
of
circuits
you
wish
to
allow
through
the
KA-NODE
(see
NUMNODES).
Each
circuit
consists
of
an
"IN"
and
an
"OUT"
side.
Secondly,
the
callsign
assigned
to
the
KA-NODE
(see
MYNODE)
must
be
different
from
the
callsign
used
for
either
you
(see
MYCALL
and
MYALIAS)
or
the
PBBS
(see
MYPBBS)
and
gateway
(see
MYGATE).
If
desired,
you
may
set
the
NDWILD
command
ON.
This
will
cause
your
KA-NODE
to
accept
a
connect
request
to
any
SSID
of
the
MYNODE
callsign,
except
those
mentioned
above.
Packets
passing
through
your
KA-NODE
are
monitored
unless
your
MYNODE
callsign
is
included
in
the
SUPCALLS
list
and
SUPLIST
is
turned
ON.
If
it
becomes
necessary
to
disconnect
a
station
from
your
KA-NODE,
you
can
issue
the
command
DISCONNECT
MYNODE,
from
the
local
terminal
connected
to
your
TNC.
KA-NODE 25
©
Copyright
1989,
1990,
Kantronics,
Inc.
All
Rights
Reserved.
`
Duplication
of
this
manual
or
the
firmware
without
Aug.
13,
1990
í
Version
3.0
permission
of
Kantronics,
Inc.
is
prohibited.
Operations
Manual