[aprssig] FW: Elcom uTNT TNCs

Thu Jan 6 18:29:57 EST 2005

I've been waiting over a month for mine.  Apparently some have been waiting
more than two months.  Not a big problem in itself, but I've received no
notice of any delays, and my email asking for status two days ago hasn't
been answered yet.

I think the biggest deficiency in this product (and it's not a problem for
most users, I imagine) is the lack of openness.  I don't like buying ham
equipment that doesn't at least include a schematic.  I'm not even sure what
type of CPU it uses.  And apparently there's no hope of having the firmware
open-sourced.

I bought mine for SAR use, though, so none of that matters particularly.  I
just wanted something simple to put on a laptop to use with mapping software
that doesn't support AGWPE.  Might have to order a TNC-X to fill that
requirement in time for a demo, since I still have no idea when to expect my
uTNT.  Kudos to John for making that such an open product, and being so fast
to answer questions and provide help.

Scott
N1VG

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric H. Christensen" <kf4otn at earthlink.net>
To: "'TAPR APRS Mailing List'" <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>;
<aprsfirenet at yahoogroups.com>; <CarolinaAPRS at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 3:17 PM
Subject: [aprssig] FW: Elcom uTNT TNCs

Forwarded information...

-----Original Message-----
From: Loring Kutchins [mailto:kutchins at comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 17:41
To: wl2kemcomm at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [wl2kemcomm] Elcom uTNT TNCs

I promised to report my experience with Elcom's neat new micro-TNC,
called the uTNT. I received my order, after a long delay, just after
Christmas. My first impression of this little gizmo is that it is
exactly what a modern-day 1200-baud TNC should be. Easy to set up and
use, extremely small, portable, and a dream for portable operators
who want to be burdened by nothing more than their laptop and a
lightweight rig. With the uTNT, the TNC becomes a lump in the cable
between your USP port and the data socket on your tranceiver. Mine
lives with my cables in my laptop case. No extra power wires, no ugly
hassle. The little unit operates as a full TNC2 clone in command
mode, a computerless APRS tracker, an APRS (UI) digipeater, and as a
KISS TNC. It is directly supported by Packet Engine Pro and software
that supports KISS and TNC2 commands. It is powered from the USB
port, an internal battery, or from an external 12VDC source, your
choice. There is only one button and three LEDs on the case.

The first thing to do is to add the proper connector to the radio-end
of the supplied cable. It plugs into a 10-conductor RJ-45 connector
and supplies the normal TNC connections, plus an auxiliary power
input, a serial input and output for a GPS, and an analog data input.
Of course, you can wire the cable as you deem appropriate for almost
any application.

Then, plug it into your USP port, and insert the mini-CD containing
software. WinXP immediately finds the device, and asks to load a
virtual serial port driver. Simply point the wizard to the mini-CD
and click. It's installed an running.

Next, install the maintenance utility (written by George Rossopolous,
SV2AGW--Surprise! It looks like Packet Engine Pro's brother). Page
through friendly setup screens -- Serial Port, Flash Bios, TNC2 mode
setup, APRS Tracker setup, UNDigi setup, and Battery
Maintenance/charging. Setup is intuitive. From here, you can flash
the onboard memory with a new bios version, which means new features
are easily added from a file you can download from a website, with no
chip-changes. You can also monitor the on-board NiMH battery, and
charge it (about 4 hours to full charge).

I'm impressed! For less than $100, I'm really impressed. This is an
ideal, low-cost, no-hassle solution for operation with today's serial
port-less laptops, or with any computer with a USB port. For very
little more than a used, ancient KPC3+ costs, or a decent soundcard
interface, you can own a real, modern, and new USB TNC.

Oh, yes. It performs better than my KPC3+, KAM+ and PK-232mbx in the
Winlink testing I have done so far. I don't get any money for this,
BTW.

The only downside is that Elcom is a small company in Greece. There
is more demand than they can supply just yet. You may have to wait a
while for delivery. I would expect that this situation will quickly
improve. The principals are honest, something I can tell by dealing
with them while I waited a long time for mine to arrive.

Info is at www.elcom.gr

73,
Lor W3QA

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