[RTTY] Interface help

Dick-w0raa w0raa at comcast.net
Wed Jul 9 12:58:45 EDT 2008


Does anybody know if there is a BuxComm Rascal Reflector on Yahoo Groups?  I 
have a friend who just purchased one and is trying to get it setup to 
send/receive packet and is starting to pull out what little hair he has 
left.

If anybody can help him, please send an e-mail to:   frankweiss[at]aol.com. 
Just change the [at] to @.    I know he will appreciate it.  Or e-mail me 
with the reflector info and I'll pass it along to him.  Dealing directly 
with him will be the fastest.  His call is K6FCW in Mountain View, CA. 
Below is his text in an e-mail to me.

_____________________________________

"The big thing here is packet transmission, which the local county EmComm 
leader is pushing in case both the power grid is down as well as the 
internet.  So I bought a little thing called a Rascal which interfaces 
between your laptop's sound card and your HT.  Can't get it running.  I have 
put at least 12 hours into adjusting every sound level a micro decibel. 
Even took the friggin setup over to the local guru's house for 4 hours and 
he/we couldn't get the thing running.  Is anybody else having trouble with 
this stuff or just me?  Can't understand it.  Why me?"
_____________________________

I am BCC this to him, so he will see, from the text below, that he's not the 
only one with a problem.

Thanks,

Dick
W0RAA


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Chudek - K0RC" <k0rc at pclink.com>
To: <rtty at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 10:24 AM
Subject: [RTTY] Interface help


Stuart,

There's several things that could have gone wrong. The keying transistor in
the Rascal could have died, there could be a short in the cable going from
the Rascal to the FSK jack on the PRO, or the input circuit to the PRO could
have stopped working.

You can check the radio by shorting its FSK line to ground. This is what the
Rascal is supposed to do. So if you short it manually and the radio doesn't
shift tones, you have isolated the problem to the radio.

Next, you can check the connectors on the cable for a short or open.

Third, you can check the keying transistor in the Rascal (assuming that's
how they key FSK) for an open or short.

73 de Bob - NU1AW/Ø in 2008 IARU 15m SSB (this weekend!)


> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 10:33:49 -0400
> From: "Stuart Spatz" <slspatz at cox.net>
> Subject: [RTTY] Interface help
> To: <rtty at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <000501c8e1d0$cd6059b0$0201a8c0 at Radio>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I am having a problem and not sure how to troubleshoot it.
>
> I have a Buxcomm RASCLE interface from my computer using MMTTY to an ICOM
> 756 PRO in the RTTY mode.
>
> Everything was working fine and then just all of a sudden the radio put
> out
> a steady tone.
>
> The computer shows that the correct data is being sent, the red LED on the
> interface unit is blinking, showing me that data is coming into the
> interface, but the radio only puts out one tone.
>
> Any ideas on how to trouble shoot the problem?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Stu Spatz
> K4MIL/KG4SS



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