W0LED-10 Hardware Changes

I mentioned earlier (I think!) that I'm using a TNC-X in my setup. I got a couple reports that my station wasn't connecting. I've used this same TNC-X for some basic keyboard-to-keyboard packet so I know it works. And it works on Winlink Express for basic email. But, as I watched it running under RMS Packet, it never appeared to transmit. After 24 hours of that nonsense I decided to try a KPC-3+ in it's place. The TNC had all necessary cables still connected from the last time I had used it so swapping the two TNCs was a no-brainer. The only noticeable difference was that the TNC-X was USB-powered and the KPC-3+ needed a DC supply -- trivial.

Getting the KPC-3+ to talk with the computer was another issue altogether. At first it worked with Putty but not with RMS Packet -- using the identical setup. -- baud rate, handshaking, parity, all that stuff. Then I tried RMS Simple Terminal and it worked, sort of. Then -- nothing. No combination of parameters could "put Humpty together again". I opened the KPC-3+ up and did a hard reset. No luck. I tried this and that with no sucess. I tried another hard reset of the TNC, powered up, and, at least with Putty, it worked.

Unfortunately, after doing a hard reset on a KPC-3+ you are in NEWUSER mode and you can't change baud rate or much of anything else. So every time I tried starting RMS Packet or resetting the TNC from the Settings menu the response would start out green but then the last two lines kept showing up red. Not good. I finally remembered I had to get out of NEWUSER mode. Then I made sure that the baud rate was the same in the TNC and the .aps file. There were a few other items in the .aps file that needed to be cleaned up.

Then, I powered everything down, restarted everything from scratch, and it all worked. Miller Time!