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| Reviews Summary for AEA Model PK-232MBX |
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Reviews: 18
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Average rating: 4.8/5
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MSRP: $399.95
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Description: Transmit and recieve all legal Amateur digital modes that are popular on both HF and VHF. In addition you can send and recieve black-and-white Weather FAX. Modes include, Packet Mail drop, Baudot and ASCII RTTY, AMTOR,/SITOR CCIR,Morse code, HF Weather FAX, and optional PACTOR...
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More info: http://www.timewave.com
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write your own review of the AEA Model PK-232MBX.
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N4MJG
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 21, 2005 16:49
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great tnc
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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you have to understand this tnc,but great to have tnc going.i use mine alot !
73
Jackie
KG4ORX
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KD5YBE
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 21, 2005 15:35
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Not for beginers but good TNC
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I bought my PK-232MBX used. It it is great condition. The manual is huge but if you read it word for word it explains pretty much everything. I use mine for APRS. It works great as a digipeater along with ui-view32.
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K8JDC
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 11, 2004 19:06
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Very Satisfied
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased a used PK-232MBX and contacted Timewave to order the upgrades. The upgrades were fairly easy to install. I got the latest PROMs, the DSP upgrade, and also got the soundcard upgrade (PSK). I think the soundcard upgrade is nice because it uses audio transformers and does a great job. I use my PK-232 for my soundcard interface and I get great reports on PSK31, MFSK16, and other modes. I have no problems with RFI, ground loops, or any other complications. I remoted the two "new" LEDs (DSP overload and soundcard active) to the front panel by punching a couple of new holes. It has worked great.
I've used my upgraded PK-232 with AMTOR, PACTOR, RTTY, CW, packet (both VHF and HF), and a host of soundcard modes, including HF fax, MT63, PSK31, MFSK16, and SSTV. I've probably left a few off the list, but everything I have tried has worked perfectly. The upgrades were not cheap, but the box has done everything I have asked of it.
JDC
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KG4PFO
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 26, 2004 23:25
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Nice TNC
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have used this TNC for only three days now and I have to say...I love it!, I previously owned a Mfj 1278 which in my opion is junk, the pk-232 works great, I bought it after reading the other reviews list here, It is all everyone says, This is what a TNC is suppose to be !
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SM0RWO
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 12, 2003 04:34
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Excellent
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've been using an MFJ-1278 for more than ten years and
over the years I've become used to its behaviour and
bad performance.
It's forced me to open it up so many times, for
readjusting the modulator and demodulator, that I can
no longer put it together completely. There's RF chokes
everywhere, as it produces so much RFI, and performance
has not been good at all.
I started looking for alternatives when pactor performance
was so bad that I could no longer stand it. I wanted to buy
an SCS PTC-II but those things are way too expensive and so
I talked to owners of all the other makes to try to find
a controller capable of at least Pactor-1. Everyone told me
that the KAM Plus was the best at packet radio but was no
good at all on pactor and a PK-232 was probably the best I
could get. I bought an old PK-232MBX and called Timewave
for all the upgrades (new firmware, DSP add-on and the low
power kit). Those upgrades were ordered on a friday afternoon,
delivered wednesday morning (I'm in Sweden !) and I had them
installed before lunch. Excellent service Timewave !
The performance of the PK-232 is much better than what I
ever experienced with the MFJ-1278. Pactor works nicely even
with really faint signals. RTTY is really very good also,
signals can be almost inaudible and it still prints. In fact
RTTY performance comes close to some military modems such as
a Harris RF-5710 and that is a 5000$ modem.
Some have complained about the tuning indicator but I find it's
much easier than what I had on the MFJ. I find it easier to
align properly with this indicator and I've usually had an FFT
analysis running in the background but I see no need for it now.
What I don't like about the PK-232 are the Molex connectors
for Radios 1 & 2, they are hard to find and I'm not sure about
the quality of those either. Also, without "the low power kit"
the unit got warm and needed more than 1 amp to even start.
Now that I've got that low power kit it's much better.
I haven't seen anywhere that I can control the DSP of the modem,
it would be interesting to be able to try performance with
or without that DSP.
In summary I'm really glad I bought this unit, it's the best hf
modem I've had and I'm sure it will work fine even when I bring
it along on my boat (thats why I wanted that low power kit).
If you are looking for a good hf multi mode then this is the one.
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K5CFW
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 24, 2003 22:46
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Well made, good support
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bought it on e-bay 2 months ago, and ordered the new EPROM and DSP upgrade from Timewave. I was delighted that this 11 year old design could be so easily brought up to date. It's my first TNC and the Signal Identification Mode really helps me to figure out what I'm hearing. What others have said about difficult tuning is true, so I run Digipan on my sound card in parallel with the PK-232MBX. This way I can see the spectrum of the incoming audio signal, and it's easy to tune the squeals and chirps up to the 2100 Hz center frequency that the PK232 wants so it can demodulate.
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KB3FUT
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 23, 2002 17:08
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Great unit, good service
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I recently got the MBX off Ebay and then sent it for upgrades and alignment. AEA' service was superb. Turn around was fast.Their tech's are helpful and patient. I've tried Rigblaster, MFJ and KAM and found the PK232MBX/DSP by far the best. It pulls in PSK31 that I can't even hear. Does a fine job with RTTY/CW/WeFAX too. Works smoothly in APRS w/ UIVIew too. Tuning on some modes is a bit of a challenge though. The meter is hard to read. I can't say enough good things about the unit and the company.
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KC2HTV
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 5, 2001 17:26
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An oldie but goodie!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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For a mear $100.00 I bought this gem with all the possible upgrades that were available before the great demise of the company...or this production line anyway...The TNC performs excellant on any mode, or configuration that I could come up with except, APRS...There is probebly a way to tie it in with software, but here is where running one of these past giants becomes a little hairy...No windows based software around that takes advantage of this units capabilities...The version 2 software that I obtained is time consuming and hard to decipher, although it does provide help on demand...For the money that these can be picked up for, they pack a big bang for the buck...
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