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- TTY VERSION 3.7 ... A HALF DUPLEX RADIOTELETYPE PROGRAM FOR THE IBM PC
- Written by AA4L Bob Johnson 11305 Rums Hill, Raleigh NC 27614
- 919/847/5606..... April 5,1985
-
- TTY37 provides half duplex baudot and ascii radioteletype
- communications for the IBM PC. The program requires a 128K system, at
- least one disk drive SS or DS, an 80 column display mono or color, and
- an async com adapter installed as "COM1:". It has not been tested with
- any of the "compatibles." It will not run on the PC Jr.
-
- TTY37 is written in IBM PC Advanced BASIC Version 2.0 and Assembly
- language. It was assembled, compiled and linked using the Macro
- Assembler, BASIC Compiler 1.0, and Linker 2.1. The program is
- distributed on a DOS 2.1 single sided disk as an EXE file. The EXE file
- has been placed in PUBLIC DOMAIN by the author, and may be freely
- copied and distributed. Experienced programmers who are licensed
- amateurs may obtain may obtain source code from the author for use for
- the benefit of the Amateur Radio Service.
-
- Files used by TTY37:
-
- TTY37.EXE The program file...enter "TTY37" to run the
- program.
-
- TTY.TXT This documentation file
-
- MSG1 & MSG2 Standard ascii file to be transmitted by
- the F1 and F2 keys in transmit mode.
- Intended for use as "brag tapes", net
- callups, etc. Create these files offline
- using a text editor.
-
- MSG3 Default file to be transmitted by F3 key.
- However, the F3 key may be re-programmed
- from the menu to transmit a file of any name.
-
- PERSNLIZ.TXT Created from the menu. This file contains
- information unique to your station. It is
- loaded automatically whenever TTY37 is
- loaded.
-
- PARMS.ARF Created from the menu. Contains unique
- ascii transmission parameters for the
- "special ascii" mode.
-
- RECEIVE.TXT File to which received messages may be
- copied under control of the F3 key. May
- be renamed from the menu.
-
- TTY37 uses the COM1: async comm adapter. Pin 2 (TD) and pin 3
- (RD) perform their normal functions. Pin 4 (RTS) is active in transmit
- mode and inactive during receive mode. It may be used for TU and
- transceiver control. Pin 7 is signal ground. Other pins are not used by
- the program. The program was not designed to interface with any
- particular brand of TU.
-
- The program has three modes: Receive, Transmit and Menu. Switching
- between modes is accomplished by the <up arrow>, <down arrow>, and F10
- keys. The Menu mode is self documenting. If you switch from Receive
- mode to Menu mode and back to Receive, the program continues to receive
- while you are in Menu for up to 2048 characters. The screen will catch
- up when you return to Receive. Switching to Transmit mode terminates
- Receive. The program may seem to hang when you try to exit Transmit
- mode. This is normal, and is caused by the fact that characters to be
- transmitted are printed to the screen at the time that they are placed
- in the BASIC transmit buffer. Hence the screen may be 128 characters
- ahead of the comm adapter. Transmit mode will not terminate until the
- buffer is empty. When you switch to Transmit mode the program sends
- eight ascii DEL characters (hex 7F) if you have selected an ascii
- speed, or eight Baudot "ltrs" characters if you have selected Baudot
- code. These characters are sent for the purpose of synchronizing the
- receiving station's equipment. They are not displayed.
-
- The upper screen is active only in Receive mode. The lower screen,
- in Receive mode, displays data which may be keyed into a fifty line
- keyboard buffer during Receive mode. The backspace key may be used for
- limited editing capability when keying into the keyboard buffer. In
- Transmit mode the lower screen displays characters as they are
- accepted by the BASIC transmit buffer.
-
- Function Keys -- Receive mode
-
- F1 (Toggle) The normal communications line ending sequence is
- one or more <cr> folowed by <lf>. Since <cr> and <lf> mean
- essentiallly the same thing to the PC, <cr> is normally
- stripped from the receive data stream to avoid multiple
- line spacing. If the F1 toggle is ON, <cr> characters are
- printed and filed as received.
-
- F2 Toggles the printer (LPT1:) ON and OFF.
-
- F3 When ON, received data is appended to the disk file named
- from the menu. (The default name is RECEIVE.TXT).
-
- F4 For best copy under poor conditions, the program normally
- operates in the amateur standard "unshift on space & <lf>"
- mode. If this toggle is OFF, the unshift feature is
- disabled. This key has no effect in the ASCII modes.
-
- F1+ALT Select Baudot speeds 60, 75, and 100 wpm and ASCII speeds
- thru 110, 150,300 and the "special" speed from the file
- F7+ALT PARMS.ARF. Selected speed is displayed on the screen
- separator.
-
- F10+ALT Clears the communication screens.
-
- F9+SHIFT Clears all data from the keyboard buffer, without
- transmitting.
-
- Function Keys -- Transmit mode:
-
- F1 & F2 Transmits disk message files MSG1 and MSG2.
-
- F3 Transmits the message file named from the Menu. The default
- name is MSG3.
-
- F4 Transmits your personal CQ message. (From PERSNLIZ.TXT)
-
- F5 Transmits your personal DE message. (From PERSNLIZ.TXT)
-
- F6 Transmits a test message.
-
- F7 Transmits a date/time group.
-
- F8 A "temporary" one line message (such as the callsign of the
- station with whom you are in contact) may be entered from
- the Menu. This message remains resident until changed or
- until the program is terminated, and may be transmitted
- repeatedly by the F8 key.
-
- F9 Transmits the keyboard buffer which was generated while in
- Receive mode.
-
- The program will transmit and receive at baudot "60","75" and "100"
- speeds. In ascii mode, the embedded speeds are 110, 150 and 300 baud.
- However, provision is made to enter "custom" ascii speeds and protocols
- via file PARMS.ARF. The program has been tested from 75 to 1200 baud,
- but 2400, 4800 and 9600 may be entered, and will probably work in some
- applications. The speed currently in use is displayed at the left end
- of the screen separator. Speeds are selected from Receive mode.
- Function keys alt-F1 through alt-F7 select speeds 60 Baudot through
- "special" ASCII.
-
- In Receive mode, function key alt-F10 may be used to clear the screens.
-
- Menu selection <6> allows you to enter a "header" which will be
- transmitted whenever you enter Transmit mode. Similarly, a "trailer"
- may be entered which will be transmitted whenever you leave Transmit.
- This function was provided for use with certain types of store and
- forward repeaters, but it may also by used to transmit your callsign at
- the beginning of each transmission, and "K" or "ga pls" at the end.
- The header and trailer remain resident until changed or until the
- program session is terminated.
-
- The program contains enough error trapping routines to keep itself from
- crashing under normal conditions. A missing disk file, an open drive
- door, or a not ready printer will not dump you back to DOS. The error
- recovery philosophy is primarily not to disrupt communication. For
- instance, if the printer is out of paper, the error recovery scheme is
- to beep once, close the printer file, and keep going. Most (not all)
- missing disk files or drive not ready conditions will print out some
- kind of a notice. I am sure that there are some hardware or media
- errors that are not trapped. In this case you may receive a cryptic
- message from DOS or from the compiler library. These are probably
- "fatal errors" anyway, so do the best that you can. The program has
- been in use for several years on a couple of machine configurations,
- and most, if not all, of the software bugs have been beaten out of it.
- If you convince yourself that you have found a bug, let me know, but
- please check your hardware first. 73
-
- GL de AA4L.