Nothing wrong with using an older solid state rig. Rigs like the TS-440, FT-757, etc work great and can be found for under $400 on ebay and sometimes cheaper at a hamfest.

Or you could do it with an older tube rig, like the old days.  My first rig was a eico 753!!  80/40/20 which was find for working CW and RTTY or the good old HW-101s... You can find these for $100-$125 or even some hams may give you one.

That's the way it was done with dinosaurs ruled the earth!

Nope, the HW-8 is a CW Transciever only. FSK requires the tones to be generated by the radio (mark and space) and all the HW-8 can do is on/off with CW and no tones. If you wanted to do AFSK, you're still out of luck there, since that requires a voice mode (LSB).

The HW-8 is a great QRP CW rig, but thats all it was designed for and will work as.

That would have either been Don Miller or Romeo...

WFWL

Required reading to understand DXers:

1. DX IS, the Best of the West Coast DX Bulletin
2. The Complete DXer - W9KNI
3. DX Power - K5RSG

Once these three classics are read by the masses, they will still see that there were cops, bullies, nets, lids, etc etc since DX has begun.

Nothing has changed, just the way the information gets to us.  It used to be on the air or in a DX bulletin.

The way hams work the DX hasn't changed in 55 years.

And all that matters is, are you in their log?

WFWL

BTW, if you''re running Demo mode under Vista or 7, make sure you run it as an administrator, or the demo will expire.

Im gonna work on changing that in an updated release..

That's incorrect information. It's not 'archived'. I recompiled all the programs and fixed the Yk2 issues in Pakratt for DOS and Windows. Also included is the current Radio Operations Center Digital Desktop for AEA/Timewave, as well as our previous Pkterm products.  You also get all the software manuals on PDF, TNC manuals in PDF format, orginial ads, reviews, etc, the whole collection.

Digital Desktop is $99.95 so this is only $50 more than that, so you get all the old programs, plus the newest.

I also, jsut released Digital Desktop for ICOM, Kenwood and Yaesu Radios, which if if the radio has the soundcard built in, then all you need is a USB cable to do the digital modes.

WB4KZI,
 
As for the MFJ TNC.  We have Emcomm Ops for Packet, as in all the MFJ TNCs, it supports BLP mode for Packet for $29.95.  In the past we had a 32 bit multimode version, but without a host mode for the HF modes, it was a support and programming nightmare.  We found out also there is no more room in the firmware for updates, so host mode couldnt be added by Howie, NW2X, who wrote the MFJ firmware.

AT any rate, if you want to look at EmComm Ops, it's at our web site at http://www.cssincorp.com


Rick - W4PC

Both the IC-7200 and IC-7600 have a built in soundcard and CI-V interface in the USB connection.  This allows programs like my new Digital Desktop for Icom to be able to use only a USB cable for the digital interface.

Rick - W4PC
http://www.cssincorp.com

W4RT is Barry, Ralph and Michael.  I know all them very well.  I'll see if I cant get one of them to post here. I do know they arent owned by the other company anymore, Barry got it back.

They have just been busy building and fixing stuff and sometimes email gets lost.

Ham radio companies are not big, but you'll see them at Dayton in audio alley, right down from me and Timewave.

Rick W4PC

Most of this is caused due to the terrible kludge of using the RTS/DTR port on an RS-232 to key the radio.  RTS and DTR were designed as signal handling lines and never designed to key a radio.

That being said, the reason the radio is keying up when the programs start, it because RTS or DTR is being set high by the program in question.  Sometimes called flow control or handshaking, the only way for someone to stop this is to turn the above off in the program.

Rick - W4PC
http://www.cssincorp.com

From looking at the source, that a 1.06 bug if the file is missing.. not to fear.. CSS is releasing the DOS and Windows 3.1 versions of Pakratt and PkFax (All with YK2 fixes) early next year in a 25th anniversary limited edition collectable for the PK-232.. Keep an eye on http://www.cssincorp.com for details.

He probably meant Portable 5... not a North Korean station. Many  Russian DX use /p4 /p5 etc like we did in the old days.  If I was out of district, I'd have to sign W4PC/P5 (or by voice Portable 5).

The real problem is the lack of funds for multiple forum managers to monitor the site 24/7.

Most of you know I speak from real world experience from running forums over the last 30 years on Compuserve, GEnie, NVN, Delphi and my last stop, MSN. Dealing with several million users on the MSN forums in the 90's, many of these same challenges arose.

In a site that it totally free, many people don't respect it.  Back in the days when people paid by an hourly rate to be online, there were the same issues, but not as many.  When people pay for something, then they treat it better than something that is given to them.

So with a free site, the moderation duties increase exponentally from a pay site.

Before Bill went SK he was trying to find ways to increase revenue for the site, and when he did find a way, so many whiners complained that he just gave up.

It's the same on the air.  Many people on 75 will say what they want.  The internet and community sites like eHam give people the oppotunity to say what they wish, but what many of them say is not important and has no authority, they are just calling out for attention.

The old rule of thumb was DFTEC (Don't feed the engery creature, from an old epsiode of Star Trek), and it will go away from the lack of attention.

Did you know that in all online services, even today, only 10% of the users commuicate in forums?  90% are lurkers, or rarely post.  You can tell the people who want the most attention are the ones that post every day in most every forum or in the comments of the articles or news.

Rick - W4PC
http://www.cssincorp.com

Wth a PK-232 that includes the soundcard interface and my Radio Operations Software, you can get 2 out of the 3 modes, from one TNC and soundcard.  MT63 and Pactor 1 ARQ.

Do remember, soundcard programs can only do Pactor FEC and not ARQ.

Rick - W4PC
http://www.cssincorp.com