RadioBanter - View Single Post - Need help: Packet with Yaesu VX-5R HT and no-serial, USB-only notebook PC

December 22nd 04, 09:18 AM

wrote:
If your newsreader is text-only, I've got the text and all links at
http://kiloseven.blogspot.com/2004/1...r-ht-and.html#

I've got a one-kilo featherweight notebook, a a
href="http://www.gotocol.com/fujitsup1032.html"Fujitsu P1032/a (700 MHz
Transmeta CPU, about like a Pentium III-450MHz) I picked up for travel. It
has no serial port, and the thought of adding a serial-USB adapter plus a
spendy TNC has kept me from adding packet to my Yaesu VX-5R. I'd have to
tote around:
1. HT
2. HT's power brick
3. HT's antenna
4. Cable into HT
5. Laptop computer
6. Laptop's power brick
7. USB to serial adapter
8. Serial cable to TNC
9. TNC
10. TNC's power brick

I suppose I could add the $67 a
href="http://www.tigertronics.com/sl_main.htm"Tigertronics Signalink/a (
QST a href="http://www.tigertronics.com/sl_rvw.htm"review here/a with
its a
href="http://www.tigertronics.com/sl_main.htm#Optional%20Cable%20Accessory%20Kit%20( P/N%20SLASSY)%20Includes%20The%20Following:"cable
kit/a and then add the fitting for the four-pole 3.5mm connector and a
$10 power brick for it... but I wanted iportable/i operation.

There's a comparison chart of other sound card interfaces a
href="http://www.westmountainradio.com/products.htm"here/a and a
href="http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/53"here/a. The $80 USB a
href="http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1741http"RigBlaster/a a
href="http://www.westmountainradio.com/Image/StoreConfigs/nomicu_comp_usb.htm"nomic/a
appears to be the simplest but does require a a
href="http://www.westmountainradio.com/USB_RIGblasters.htm"USB-serial
adapter/a as well as a a
href="http://www.westmountainradio.com/Image/usb_rb1.jpg"tangle of
cables/a plus an adapter cable for the four-pole Yaesu VX-5 cable.

Here's packet software for sound cards. What have y'all used which works
best when starting with a USB-only laptop, and does adding a dedicated
sound adapter help (and if so, which)?
a href="http://www.baycom.org/~tom/ham/soundmodem"Multiplatform Soundcard
Packet Radio Modem/a by Thomas Sailer, HB9JNX/AE4WA (PC Flex/Net &
DirectSound-compatible drivers required)
a href="http://www.afthd.tu-darmstadt.de/~flexnet/intro.html"PC
Flex/Net/a
a href="http://www.baycom.org/~tom/pcf/winsm"PC sound for packet
overview/a with a
href="http://www.afthd.tu-darmstadt.de/~flexnet/soundmodem/soundmodem.html#ptt"PTT
circuit ideas/a
a href="http://www.nvbb.net/~jaffejim/mixwpage.htm"$50 MixW software w/
14d trial (req. 'SoundBlaster compatible')/a
a href="http://patmedia.net/ralphmilnes/soundcardpacket"$49 Packet Engine
Pro/a plus a href="http://www.raag.org/sv2agw/otherp.htm"various packet
programs/a
a href="http://www.patmedia.net/ralphmilnes/soundcardpacket/"AGWPE/a
a href="http://www.packetradio.com/rascalmkv.htm"Rascal GLX/a (with
some a hrefe="http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3841?page=1"interesting
reviews/a)
a href="http://www.tapr.org/tapr/html/pkthome.html#Org"Other Packet Radio
sites/a

Here's a a href="http://www.westmountainradio.com/pdf/Ins&Outs.pdf"QST
reprint/a on the subject.