Re: Re: Using AX.25 w/older h   
     By: Ed Vance to Damon A. Getsman on Thu Feb 26 2015 00:23:00   
      
    EV> Probably there was some software/hardware like Digicom for the Atari,   
    EV> Don't know, Digicom afaik was for use with a C=64.   
      
     Oh there were bunches of non-Atari add ons that would give it all sorts of   
   capabilities.  I just never had the budget to be able to work with them at all,   
   unfortunately.  I'll totally do it once I get some income that is disposable   
   here once I get chance, though.   
      
    EV> We all learn a little bit at a time, don't we?   
      
     Indeed.  Just trying to push that curve towards the steeper as much I can   
   lately.  The age of 40 coming at me is making me value my time a lot more.   
      
    EV> I got the C=64, Floppy Drive and 300 baud Modem to start out with.   
    EV> I've seen how slow Tape transfers were and didn't want that, I wanted   
    EV> the FDD even though it was very costly back in 1984.   
      
     Yeah.  :)  I was donated my first Atari, a 600XL (with a WHOPPING 16K of   
   memory), and all it had was the analog tape drive.  God I even had 3 backups of   
   some of my programs.  That medium was actually volatile enough that I had times   
   when I still couldn't recover despite 3 backups.  That was horrifying.  Writing   
   one hundred lines of code back then (which would come close to filling up the   
   memory) really blew my mind; losing it was a horror.  This was very early 90s,   
   maybe a little bit in the late 80s, also.  Whenever it was, 180-360k floppies   
   were the norm, and 1.2m floppies weren't far behind, either.  Most people were   
   working with 640k of memory by that time, not 16k.  Eight-bit was definitely   
   quickly becoming a thing of the past, though many still used it.   
      
    EV> I just know pieces and bits, and had help learning what I learned from   
    EV> some other Hams who took their time explaining what's what to me.   
      
     Well I certainly do appreciate any of y'all that are taking the time to share   
   bits of this all with me now.  :)   
      
    DAG>> electronics theory going on behind that? I've been waiting   
    EV> This was back in the Mid-1970's when I assembled that stuff.   
    EV> I saw the 555 AFSK schematic somewhere, just as I copied the portion   
    EV> of the RTTY Reader project in PE Magazine.   
    EV> That Reader had maybe eight LED's on the front panel, that scrolled the   
    EV> words in the RTTY signal data.   
    EV> Can't remember if they were regular 7 Segment LED chips or what.   
    EV> Some letters in our alphabet would be hard to configure on a 7 segment   
    EV> display chip, I'd think.   
      
     Gotcha.  So more copying than comprehension?  I'm still working on the point   
   where I can understand the theoretical basis behind some of the electronics,   
   but it's taking me awhile to understand the nuances of it, despite my math   
   degree.   
      
    EV> When You get back into doing that High Voltage stuff be very very   
    EV> careful and don't let it 'talk' to You.   
      
     Okay, I've got to ask.  I'm having mad scientist visions here with people   
   falling into trances looking at tesla coil discharges and deciding that the   
   truth to everything lies within them, thus getting fried by the human bug   
   zapper.  I'm pretty sure that's not what you mean...  Can you elaborate?  :)   
      
    EV> Those two 10 Turn POTS came with a calibrated dial that could be locked   
    EV> to keep it from moving.   
      
     Those 'helipots' sound pretty useful for some stuff that I'm trying to work   
   on right now, I might have to see if digikey or some other retailer has them   
   for a decent price.   
      
    EV> The VEC Test Question Pool can be downloaded from http://www.ncvec.org   
    EV> if You want to study them.   
      
     I do very much so; synchronet has a door for it, too, but it'd be great to   
   have something I could put on hardcopy, also.  Thank you for the info!   
      
    EV> Yes, I wrote about the Netronics ASCII/Video board kit earlier.   
    EV> It was meant to be a Terminal with RS-232 output.   
    EV> I just grabbed my connections a little upstream of the output where it   
    EV> was TTL level.   
    EV> That's how I was able to connect the AFSK Keyer and Demodulator to   
    EV> the Netronics kit.   
      
     Gotcha.  I figured as much, but wasn't totally sure.   
      
    EV> What got me interested was I had read a book called the TV Typewriter   
    EV> Cookbook and it interested me because someone could get on RTTY without   
    EV> having the noise and buying paper for it.   
    EV> I used a cassette recorder to record the receiver audio as I was   
    EV> reading what was coming on the screen, so I could play it back to see   
    EV> it later on, if I wanted to.   
      
     Awesome.  :)  God I can't wait to be able to get into things.   
      
    EV> Yes, as long as the difference in the Mark and Space frequencies were   
    EV> 170 Cycles apart, my configuration worked like "Duck Soup".   
      
     I am floundering to know what this means.   
      
    EV> Hey!, Anyone who know me, knows that I'm ignorant about lots of stuff.   
    EV> I learned by asking questions, everybody does, unless they are inventing   
    EV> something new that's never been done before.   
      
     Well, we all are, outside of our niches.  It's pushing those boundaries that   
   makes us more valuable as people, and in some areas, more valuable to the   
   people in our lives as well.  I try to push the boundaries and test myself   
   every day, to quote Emilio Estevez in Young Guns.   
      
    EV> Everything I've been talking about pertaining to RTTY has been about   
    EV> AUDIO.   
    EV> The Digicom stuff I used later when I got the C=64 converted Audio to   
    EV> Data on the cassette port, and Data from the cassette port that I typed   
    EV> on the C=64 keyboard into Audio.   
    EV> -snip-   
    EV>> Years later I got a used Hallicrafter SX-42 for my shack.   
    EV>> 73 and wish You well with what You choose.   
    EV> There are many things that Hams are interested in, I've only done a   
    EV> tiny bit if what Hams do.   
    EV> But what I do I enjoy, You will enjoy it too, just only put one hand   
    EV> in the final amplifier, keep the other one in your pocket.     
    EV> 73   
      
     Gotcha.  Thank you so much for the info dump.  I greatly appreciate it.  :)    
   I've got lots of tabs open for things to look at now.  :)   
     Best wishes.   
      
     -Damon   
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