[aprssig] Agw tracker and Agw packet engine

[Stephen H. Smith]

flknbry at netzero.net wrote:
> Hi
> I Have a laptop running Xp and a baycom BP-2 modem.I would like to 
> utilize the modem and laptop.Now i know i will need the Agw packet 
> engine is it tough to configure?.Also
> does the AGw tracker include the packet engine or will it
> not work with the baycom modem?.
>               


1)   You will have to purchase the Packet Engine Pro.  The freeware 
version won't work with the Baycom modem on Win 2K or XP . 

2)  Even the Pro version (which you can try free for 30 days to "test 
drive")may not work,   since any laptop modern enough to run XP probably 
either a) doesn't have serial ports at all or b) has ACPI [power 
managed] serial ports which won't work with AGW. 

The Baycom isn't really a modem at all.  It's a high-gain audio amp that 
feeds clipped and saturated receiver AUDIO (not demodulated serial data) 
into one of the hand shaking lines of the serial port (not the data-in 
line).  Software on the PC counts how many times/second the pin is 
flipped up and down to determine what audio tone freq is being heard.  
In other words, the "modem" is in software inside the PC. This requires 
that the program running on the PC have direct access to the serial port 
HARDWARE, bypassing Windows' overhead.  This can be done in DOS, Win 
3.x  and Win 95/98 but is nearly impossible to do in Win 2K or XP.


You will be better off trying to use AGW's soundcard mode instead.




--

Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
EchoLink Node:      14400    [Think bottom of the 2M band]
Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.com  --OR--   http://wa8lmf.net

NEW!   TNC Test CD
  http://wa8lmf.net/TNCtest

JavAPRS Filter Port 14580 Guide
  http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/JAVaprsFilters.htm

"APRS 101"  Explanation of APRS Path Selection & Digipeating
  http://wa8lmf.net/DigiPaths

Updated "Rev G" APRS            http://wa8lmf.net/aprs
Symbols Set for UI-View,
UIpoint and APRSplus: