***PREAMBLE WinPack-TF uses a Virtual TNC - what appears to the user as the TNC responding to TNC2-style commands is, in fact, part of the software. The available Virtual TNC commands are:- ***POSTAMBLE Availability of some commands depends on whether you are using TF firmware, WA8DED firmware or TFEMU. Most commands can be abbreviated. The minimum abbreviation is shown in upper case. For help on a command use ?. Example: ?DISPLAY ***AUTOSSID Usage:- AUtoSSID ON or AUtoSSID OFF Default:- AUtoSSID OFF Purpose:- If AUtoSSID is on then an SSID is added to your callsign if you make an outgoing connect from a channel on the Terminal. The SSID is the same as the channel number, so if you make a connection from channel '2' your callsign will have an SSID of '2', etc. Outgoing connects from the main WinPack screen will not have an SSID. ***BEACON Usage:- Beacon Every n Beacon After n n is a number between 0 and 250. Example:- Beacon Every 90 Default:- Beacon Every 0 (disabled) Purpose:- Controls how frequently the beacon text (BText) is transmitted. "Beacon Every" sends BText every n*10 seconds, "Beacon After" sends BText only after n*10 seconds have passed with no packet activity on the frequency. ***BTEXT Usage:- BText is from 1 to 80 characters and can contain Winpack tokens. Examples:- BText $MYCALL running $VERSION BText % (this clears BText) Default:- No BText set. Purpose:- Specifies the text to be sent at the interval specified by Beacon. It is sent as an unproto frame to the address specified by the Unproto parameter. ***CHancall Usage:- CHancall Example:- Chancall G8MZX Purpose:- To temporarily change the callsign used on a channel. The callsign will be used until a connection and disconnection has occurred on that channel, at which point the channel callsign will revert to MYCALL. ***CONNECT Usage:- Connect [ ...] , etc. are optional digipeaters. Examples:- Connect G4IDE Connect G8MZX G4GZL Purpose:- Initiates a connect request. The result will be either a succesful connection being obtained, or a LINK FAILURE message. ***CONSTAMP Usage:- CONStamp ON or CONStamp OFF Default:- CONStamp OFF Purpose:- Enables or disables time stamping of the connected and disconnected messages from the TNC. Please note - this command is not available with WA8DED firmware. ***CONVERSE Usage:- CONVerse Purpose:- Put the Virtual TNC back into converse mode if you have used Ctrl_C to put it into command mode whilst you are connected. CONVerse is ignored if you aren't connected. ***CTEXT Usage:- CText is from 1 to 80 characters and can contain Winpack tokens. Examples:- CText You are connected to a channel on a WinPack terminal. CText % (this clears CText) Default:- CText Welcome to $VERSION. Sorry, no PMS facilities on this channel. Purpose:- Specifies the text that will be sent to stations connecting to a channel on the terminal screen, not to the the main WinPack system. See also WCText. ***DIGIPEAT Usage:- DIGipeat ON or DIGipeat OFF Default:- DIGipeat ON Purpose:- Controls whether your station will act as a digipeater for traffic between other packet stations. Please note - this command is not available when using TFEMU. ***DISCONNECT Usage:- Disconnect Purpose:- To disconnect a channel on which a connection exists.If there is no connection on the channel, the command is ignored. The TNC must first be put in command mode - you can put it in command mode by pressing Ctrl_C. You can also make a disconnect by using the Disconnect button, or by selection "Action", "Disconnect" on the main WinPack screen. ***DISPLAY Usage:- DISPlay Purpose:- Generates a list of all control parameters and their values. ***DWAIT Usage:- DWait n n is a number from 0 to 127. Example and Default:- DWait 16 Purpose:- Specifies the length of time, in units of 10 milliseconds, that the TNC will wait before transmitting, to avoid collisions with digipeated packets. Please note - this command is not available with TF firmware or with TFEMU. ***FRACK Usage:- FRack n n is a number between 1 and 15. Example and Default:- FRack 5 Purpose:- To specify, in seconds, how long the TNC should wait for an acknowledgement of a frame before it sends the fram again. Please note - this command is not available when using TFEMU. ***HELP Usage:- Help Purpose:- To show a list of the available Virtual TNC commands. ***MAXFRAME Usage:- MAXframe n n is a number from 1 to 7. Example and Default:- MAXframe 2 Purpose:- Sets a limit on the number of unacknowledged frames that will be allowed to be outstanding on a channel at any one time, and also the maximum number of frames that will ever be sent in one transmission on a channel. ***MCOM Usage:- MCOM ON or MCOM OFF Default:- MCOM OFF Purpose:- Controls whether supervisory frames will be displayed in monitored traffic. ***MHCLEAR Usage:- MHClear Purpose:- Clear the MHeard list - see also MHeard. ***MHEARD Usage:- MHeard Purpose:- Display a list of stations heard by the TNC. Up to 16 stations will be displayed. The list shows callsigns and the date and time at which each station was last heard. ***MONITOR Usage:- MONitor ON or MONitor OFF Default:- MONitor ON Purpose:- Controls whether monitoring of other traffic is enabled or disabled. ***MSTAMP Usage:- MStamp ON or MStamp OFF Purpose:- Controls whether monitored frames are time and date stamp when they are displayed. Please note - this command is not available with WA8DED firmware. ***MYCALL Usage:- MYcall Example:- MYcall G4IDE Purpose:- To specify the callsign used by the TNC. If MYcall is changed whilst connections on other channels are in progess, the callsign being used on those channels is not affected. ***PACLEN Usage:- Paclen n n is a number from 1 to 256. Example and Default:- Paclen 128 Purpose:- To specify the maximum length of the data portion of any frame sent by the TNC. ***PERSIST Usage:- PErsist n n is a number from 0 to 255. Example and Default:- PErsist 64 Purpose:- Sets the probability that the TNC will send a queued frame if it finds the channel is clear. A value of 255 means it will definitely transmit, a value of 0 means it will never transmit. It is one of the two persistance timing parameters, the other is SLottime. Please note- this command is not available with WA8DED firmware or with TFEMU. ***RAW Usage:- RAW RAW Example:- RAW L RAW 0F7 Purpose:- To send a raw command to the TNC. If the first character of the command is numeric then it is assumed to be a channel number, if it is a letter or '@' then the stream you are using is used for the channel number. DO NOT USE THIS COMMAND UNLESS YOU ARE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND YOU HAVE A GOOD KNOWLEDGE OF THE WA8DED AND TF2.7b COMMAND SET!!! The command may sometimes result in the response from the TNC appearing twice on the screen - this is unavoidable. ***RESPTIME Usage:- RESPtime n n is a number from 0 to 255. Example and default:- RESPtime 150 Purpose:- To specify the delay, in units of 10 milliseconds, between a frame being received and the acknowledgement being sent. The idea is to prevent collisions between the acknowledgement and another frame from the sending station. Please note - this command is not available when using TFEMU. ***RPS Usage:- RPS Purpose:- Returns the number of times that the TNC goes round its internal cycle in one second.(Rounds Per Second). It is a comparitive measure of TNC performance. Please note - this command is not available with WA8DED firmware or with TFEMU. ***SETTIME Usage:- SETtime Purpose:- Sets the TNC's internal time and date to the PC's time and date. The TNC uses the time and date for time stamping connections and monitored frames. SETtime is called automatically during TNC initialisation. See also CONStamp and MStamp. Please note - this command is not available with WA8DED firmware. ***SLOTTIME Usage:- SLottime n n is a number from 0 to 255. Example and Default:- SLottime 100 Purpose:- To set the frequency, in units of 1 millisecond, at which random numbers will be generated to determine if a queued frame will be transmitted if the channel is clear. It is one of the two persistance timing parameters, the other is PErsist. Please note - this command is not available with WA8DED firmware or with TFEMU. ***TRIES Usage:- TRIes n n is a number from 0 to 15. Example and Default:- TRIes 10 Purpose:- Specifies how many times the TNC will retry to send a frame before it gives up. Please note - this command is not available when using TFEMU. ***TXDELAY Usage:- TXDelay n n is a number from 1 to 500. Example and Default:- TXDelay 30 Purpose:- Specifies the delay, in units of 10 milliseconds (but see NOTE), between the push-to-talk being keyed and data being sent, to allow the rig to stabilise on transmit. I have been told that the SYMEK TNC3S TNC, which supports a version of TF, uses a unit of one millisecond for the TXDelay setting, which is why the upper limit of 500 is so high! The normal versions of TF and WA8DED will not accept a value above 127. Please note - this command is not available when using TFEMU. ***UNPROTO Usage:- Unproto [ ...] , etc. are optional digipeaters. Examples:- Unproto GB7IDE Unproto GB7OPC G8MZX Default:- Unproto CQ Purpose:- Specifies the address and optional digipeater callsigns to which unproto transmissions will be sent. ***USERS Usage:- USers n n is a number from 0 to the maximum number of channels available on the TNC. Example:- USers 2 Default:- The maximum number of channels available. Purpose:- To set the maximum number of simultaneous incoming connections allowed by the TNC. It does not restrict the number of outgoing connections that you can make. ***VERSION Usage:- Version Purpose:- Returns the version of the firmware being used. Please note - this command is not available with WA8DED firmware, and some versions of TF may return the AX25 version being used (2) not the the firmware version. ***WCTEXT Usage:- WCText is from 1 to 80 characters and can contain Winpack tokens. Examples:- WCText You are connected to a WinPack system. WCText % (this clears WCText) Default:- Welcome to $VERSION. Send /h for help... Purpose:- Specifies the text that will be sent to stations connecting to the main WinPack system (channel 1 on the TNC). See also CText. ***XMITOK Usage:- XMitok ON or XMitok OFF Purpose:- Specifies whether the TNC is allowed to transmit. Please note - this command is not available when using TFEMU.