Forgive my naivety in the area, I'm still definitely learning the basics in this area (don't even have a rig yet, obviously).
I was shopping around on Ebay trying to see what might be a good set of price ranges to start looking for a used transceiver that can work with AX.25. I noticed a whole lot of older, more vintage equipment, that appears to be analog, that is within the outskirts of my [current] price limitations.
Assuming that the mic in is matched with a line or audio out jack (and not just a built in speaker-- though that could be worked around easily on this older & bigger equipment), that is really all I'd need to work with for AX.25, no? At least if it's handled at the kernel level of my machine; I understand that for OpenBSD I might need to actually get a modem that'll dump the in/out to my serial port.
Can anybody tell me if there are any inherent limitations of this analog equipment that I'm not aware of that'll keep me from being able to utilize AX.25 from it? I don't know any, but obviously I haven't even taken my test yet; I want to make sure that my first system is capable of packet as well as voice xmission.
The one I was just looking at, for instance, was a National NCX-200 w/matching power supply.
Thanks for your time!

-Damon
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On 02/21/15, Damon A. Getsman pondered and said...

Forgive my naivety in the area, I'm still definitely learning the
basics in this area (don't even have a rig yet, obviously).

Don't worry I'm still learning all of this too!

I was shopping around on Ebay trying to see what might be a good set
of price ranges to start looking for a used transceiver that can work
with AX.25. I noticed a whole lot of older, more vintage equipment,

price limitations. Assuming that the mic in is matched with a line or audio out jack (and not just a built in speaker-- though that could be worked around easily on this older & bigger equipment), that is really
all I'd need to work with for AX.25, no? At least if it's handled at

I have used a Icom IC-2720 before for packet, it does voice also but offers a data port that I wired a cable for that ran into an interface that I could connect via it to my PC. That was some time ago but that was the jist of it. From memory I used some packet modem software to do the TNC heavy lifting and not a dedicated TNC in hardware form.

I'd say there would be many VHF/UHF bits of kit out there that could do
packet.

Over the coming winter (I'm in New Zealand and it's summer) I plan to play around with packet again and hope to hook my BBS up to local VHF gear to give local HAMs a chance to check it out.

Best, Paul


--
Agency BBS, New Zealand | bbs.geek.nz | telnet: agency.bbs.geek.nz:23

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Re: Re: Using AX.25 packet w/older analog equipment
By: Paul Hayton to Damon A. Getsman on Sun Feb 22 2015 20:30:39

Don't worry I'm still learning all of this too!

Well I'm sure you're not as green as me but it's good to be with other people that are learning, for sure.

I have used a Icom IC-2720 before for packet, it does voice also but offers a data port that I wired a cable for that ran into an interface that I could connect via it to my PC. That was some time ago but that
was the jist of it. From memory I used some packet modem software to do the TNC heavy lifting and not a dedicated TNC in hardware form.

*looks up that model*
Ah yeah, I was looking at some OLD stuff. It's good to know that some mobiles can handle packet though, too. That should help out the price gap area between the handhelds and the base stations a bit, I'd think.
I think for OpenBSD that I'm going to be stuck with having TNC in hardware, provided that's the sound to data modem bit that you're speaking of. I know that Linux can handle that stuff at the kernel level, but I want to keep this on my BSD machine, and unless there've been recent improvements in the 5.6 kernel, I believe there is still no AX.25 support. I wonder how Synchronet will handle piping that straight to a data [presumably serial] port.

I'd say there would be many VHF/UHF bits of kit out there that could do packet.

Oh for sure. I'm just having a hard time finding something that seems like it's going to be good in my price range. Hopefully that range expands soon. ;)

Over the coming winter (I'm in New Zealand and it's summer) I plan to
play around with packet again and hope to hook my BBS up to local VHF
gear to give local HAMs a chance to check it out.

Nice! On all counts, actually. What BBS software are you planning on hooking up via this data port, if you don't mind my asking?
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On 02/22/15, Damon A. Getsman pondered and said...

been recent improvements in the 5.6 kernel, I believe there is still no AX.25 support. I wonder how Synchronet will handle piping that straight to a data [presumably serial] port.

I'm aware of AX.25 support for Synchronet, check their wiki and look for an author with the handle of echicken.

Over the coming winter (I'm in New Zealand and it's summer) I plan to play around with packet again and hope to hook my BBS up to local VHF gear to give local HAMs a chance to check it out.

Nice! On all counts, actually. What BBS software are you planning on hooking up via this data port, if you don't mind my asking?

I want to offer access to my Mystic BBS system rather than some rather dated and unfriendly HAM software...but the trick will be figuring out how to do
so. I did start a conversation with echicken (see ref above) about what he
had coded for Synchronet. My hope is in time I will be able to work something out that does the same for Mystic, it's early days.

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Agency BBS, New Zealand | bbs.geek.nz | telnet: agency.bbs.geek.nz:23

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