[Xastir] Xastir and WB8WGA modemless

[Tom Russo]

On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 09:15:25PM +0200, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <f4fwh at shtsf.com> flavor, containing:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm trying to use XASTIR with a modemless WB8WGA, like this one : http://www.enide.net/webcms/index.php?page=wb8wga-tnc and with this firmware : http://www.pianetaradio.it/progetti/minitnc.htm , which work great with UI-VIEW, but I don't know how to configure XASTIR to make it works...
> 
> I've make an interface in XASTIR, trying to configure it with 9600bps etc... but I don't know how to setup up the tnc-startup & tnc-stop files...
> 
> Did someone ever try to make this TNC work ?

If there's an alternate KISS firmware for this TNC, you might have a better
experience in that mode, but you *should* be able to get a simple startup
configuration that will let it work in regular converse mode, too.

You will have to find a tnc-startup file that has commands that are similar
to the ones this TNC understands, and will have to copy and modify it.  Just
copy to tnc-startup.wb8wga and edit that file.

It looks like the TNC is roughly similar to a standard TNC like a TNC2 with
a limited command set, so you could possibly start by copying the file
tnc-startup.tnc2 and then pare it down to only the commands actually supported
by your TNC.

My guess is that a minimal startup file should be necessary:

BEACON EVERY 0
DIGI OFF
MONITOR ON

as it seems this TNC only implements a small subset of the TNC2 command set.
Then use "Serial TNC" as the TNC type.  If you are using an attached GPS,
you could try "Serial TNC with GPS on AUX port" --- if the TNC streams
GPS data unbidden or uses "Control-E" to switch from packet data to GPS data,
then Xastir will be able to use the GPS.  If it's different than that, it might
not work.

In your interface control panel make sure that "Converse Command" is set to
the one that this TNC uses to go into converse mode.  Many TNCs support both
"conv" and "K" for this, but some support only one or the other.

As long as Xastir knows how to put the TNC into CONVERSE mode and as long
as "Control-C" takes it OUT of converse mode, Xastir should be able to use it.

What start-up commands does UI-View send when you use this TNC?  Those should
be the same things you should put in your tnc-startup file.

Note that you needn't set mycall and uiproto in the startup file, as Xastir
will send those commands automatically each time it tries to transmit.


-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236        http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
"And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is
 one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh,
 oooh, the sky is the limit!"  --- The Tick