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Introduction
Overview
Computer requirements
Packet Engine Pro
Configure AGWPE
Download and Install
Basic AGWPE Setup
2 Radio Setup
2 Card Setup
Sound Device Setup
Basic Device Settings
Rename Sound Device
Additional Settings
Using the Tuning Aid
Problems?
Program Behavior
Receiving
Transmitting
Connections
Firewalls
AGWPE Features
AGWPE on a Network
Baud Rates & Modes
Remote Control
TCP/IP Over Radio
Tips and Tricks
Traffic Parameters
Compatible Programs:
Setup Help
Radio Interface
Getting Started
Kits and Pre-assembled
USB SignaLink
Receive Audio Cable
Transmit Audio Cable
PTT (TX Control) Cable
2 Radio Modification
About Packet
Packet Overview
Exchange Modes
TNCs and AGWPE
What
To Do with Packet
Common Frequencies
Frame Headers
Further Reading
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MixW and AGWPE
AGWPE and AGWPE Pro are not the only programs that
you can use for sound card packet. AGWPE was the first to provide host
services to client applications and continues to be a great application
for that need. Other sound card packet programs are
MixW , Fexnet32 and UZ7HO Modem.
I do not have any experience with Flexnet. The web
site is at
http://www.afthd.tu-darmstadt.de/~flexnet/intro.html . There is a
Flexnet/32 to AGWPE linking program called
XGlue (XGlue
Setup Guide) if you want to couple the two programs. If someone
wants to send me a layman's description of Flexnet/32 (its advantages
and disadvantages and why you would want to run it), I would really
appreciate it. The Flexnet website isn't very helpful to me.
MixW, however, does have some features of
interest to packet users and even AGWPE users.
MixW (http://mixw.net/
) is a $50 multi-mode sound card program that includes 300 and
1200 baud packet. Some users feel MixW does a better job
with 300 baud HF packet than AGWPE or Packet Engine Pro. But even if you
use MixW for HF packet,
you should still be able to link it to AGWPE via virtual
serial ports (see below). This lets you continue to use AGWPE for its
multi-program/multi-device management services while using MixW's HF
packet engine.
Paraphrasing Stephen WA8LMF: "MixW far outperforms
any hardware or software on noisy HF packet. It produces a waterfall
display on HF packet
that makes tuning extremely easy ( similar to the PSK31 programs it
evolved from). You can click on the center of the
lingering waterfall display even AFTER the packet burst has ended
to adjust the tuning and be ready for the next packet. (AGWPE has a
waterfall display but you can't tune using the display. You must tune
the radio and then wait for the next packet to see how the waterfall now
aligns.) MixW is
also far less cantankerous to
configure than the AGW Packet Engine sound card modem.
On HF, the 300 baud 200-hz-shift
mode is fully tunable to any arbitrary tone pair -- not
just KAM or PK-232 pairs. Since the HF modem is tunable and not locked
to any arbitrary tone pair, you can switch in a 500 Hz CW filter on SSB, and then make the HF tone pair fit
whatever audio band pass results. (The shape and
position of the band pass of various SSB, RTTY and CW
filters, and the effect of band pass tuning, shows
dramatically in the waterfall display of background HF
noise.) If anything, the main problem is that Mix is
"too good"; the brick wall steep-skirted selectivity of
the mark and space channel filters cause problems with
the many users not exactly on frequency. However, if
they ARE on frequency, it will FAR out-copy a KAM, PK232
or AGW.
At the click of a mouse, you can
select almost a dozen different packet modems including
the specialized ones used for satellite operations. If
you want to try weird new baud rates and shifts, MixW
will let you define your own combinations of baud rate
and shift. If you REALLY want to turbo charge HF APRS,
try the add-in Q15X25 modem which is an simultaneous
multi-tone FSK system mated to standard X25 packet
protocol that can deliver a reliable 1200 or 2400 baud
throughput on HF in a 1 KHz bandwidth! At the
input/output of the TNC emulator, it looks just like any
other packet mode, just faster.
It also seems to work on a much larger variety of
soundcard hardware than AGWPE, including many of the cheapie
built-in-to-the-motherboard ones that won't work with AGWPE. The
audio level adjustments are much less critical and easier to set. The
only thing you lose is the ability to operate VHF and HF simultaneously."
MixW now has the capability of
allowing client programs, including AGWPE, to connect to MixW using
its "TNC Emulation" feature. In TNC
Emulation mode, MixW appears as a TNC to a client packet program. MixW
sends and receives packet data to one serial port, either actual or
virtual, while the client application attaches to a different serial
port, actual or virtual. If actual serial ports are used, a null modem
cable is used to connect them (one port could even be on another
computer). If virtual serial ports are
used, they are automatically connected in software. In this way ,
UI-View or AGWPE can hook to MixW and use MixW's sound card packet
modem!
To create the virtual serial ports, you'll need another add-on component, the MixW Serial Port
Emulation Driver, downloadable from the MixW website at
http://www.mixw.net/index.php?j=related
.
The software will install two virtual serial ports on your computer. You then assign MixW's
"TNC emulation" feature to one of these
virtual ports, and configure the client application to connect to the other.
Unfortunately, the MixW emulator only works on Win2000 or XP, but
Windows 95/98/Me users can find a virtual serial port driver at
http://www.pearsoncomputing.net
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