[Coco] Look what Daniel got his scrubby dirty hands on.

[Gene Heskett]

On Sunday 23 February 2014 15:10:25 billg999 at cs.uofs.edu did opine:

> > On Sunday 23 February 2014 10:32:22 billg999 at cs.uofs.edu did opine:
> >> > On Sunday 23 February 2014 09:39:15 Juan Castro did opine:
> >> >> Some googling told me this is a ham radio interface, and another
> >> >> guy on
> >> 
> >> the list, Alexandre Souza, informed us that's a Brazilian clone of
> >> the original Kantronics board. (Heh, they didn't even bother to
> >> translate the messages.)
> >> 
> >> >> https://plus.google.com/photos/+DanielCampos/albums/59835770709922
> >> >> 728 17
> >> 
> >> I know nothing of ham radio. How is this supposed to plug into the
> >> radio? Is something like a modem needed in addition to that?
> >> 
> >> The cable you see coming off one corner would connect to a ham
> >> transciever.
> >> 
> >> > Note, neither hand here is any where near a bible so I'm not
> >> > swearing to
> >> 
> >> anything..
> >> 
> >> > I believe that is an interface for sending and receiving morse
> >> > code,
> >> 
> >> Much more than CW.  Does RTTY (5 level BAUDOT) ASCII (7 level), AMTOR
> >> (all the common modes, including FEC which was (is?) used for
> >> broadcast messages.)
> >> 
> >>  although it could probably be re-programmed to work with a full 8
> >>  bit
> >> 
> >> wide
> >> 
> >> > data path.
> >> 
> >> Not sure what that means.  It does ASCII.
> > 
> > ASCII is usually 7 bits wide, but a full byte, 8 bits, would let to do
> > a VT-220 emulation where the esc codes are all 128 decimal and above.
> 
> Well, the interface (and what hams send) does 8-bit, but the charset
> is still just 7-bit.  What woiuld a ham do with a VT-220 emulation?
> This is not a modem for connecting to a remote computer, it's a device
> that l;et's two guys talk to each other.  And sometimes, even xfer a
> file or two (but very seldom as the media tends to be rather unreliable
> for lengthy messages.)
 
However, since it is a two way medium, multiplexing the modes, I see 
absolutely zero reason that a file transfer protocol such as zmodem, (our 
rzsz-3.36) sending and receiving in 256 byte plus overhead packets, with 
the window locked at 256 bytes, could not be used to move several megabytes 
of stuff, an os9/drivewire .dsk would at 720k per, be a piece of cake 
needing only adequate time.  And because its checking a 16 bit crc for 
every 256 byte packet sent, resending it till it gets it right (or gives up 
but thats a lot of errors), if the .dsk gets there, you can pretty much 
take it to the bank it is bit accurate at the other end. TCPIP for the coco 
IOW when it comes to moving files.

When I did the VT220 conversion of Brian M's (thanks Brian, that was _very_ 
well organized code, a true joy to work on) VT100 code, something of an 
emergency at the time, I found it was a piece of cake to insert the sending 
and receiving rzsz triggering strings, and the detection of them, for fully 
automatic zmodem transmissions of dish waving schedules to/from the 
controller in our 7 meter main CBS rx dish, from the coco3 in my office, by 
having a 2400 baud modem dial up the system, this when the VT220 on that 
system died, and DEC wanted about 3.8 grand for a fresh VT550 they would 
not guarantee was 100% compatible to the VT220 it would replace.  Dec got 
hungry, their field techs were helpless when staring at a PDP-11/23a that 
was crashing 4x a day.  I could go on about that another 2-3 paragraphs, 
but its already in the list archives 2 or 3 times already. :-)

> >> >            To send, it replaces the keyer, and to receive, it could
> >> >            be
> >> 
> >> listening to the BFO output from the radios speaker circuit.
> >> 
> >> Hooks up to the KEY jack, the microphone jack and the
> >> speaker/headphone output.  Ham radio don't real use a BFO as you are
> >> probably thinking of it.  That was a feature to allow AM type
> >> receivers to decode CW and Single Side Band (SSB) audio signals.

And this is NOT a keyed CW?
 
> >> >                                                              One 
thing
> >> 
> >> is
> >> 
> >> > certain, its old.
> >> 
> >> Old is a matter of opinion.  To some of us 1984 really isn't all that
> >> old. I have a number of these knd of interfaces, but none for the
> >> COCO.
> >> 
> >>  But I did have programs that lett the COCO receive CW, RTTY, ASCII,
> >> 
> >> AMTOR and even Slow Scan TV using the cassette input.

Don't forget WEFAX. :)  I played with that, but found our weather folks 
didn't have the foggiest how to decode that millibar map it printed.

> >> I also had
> >> (actually, still have somewhere) a RTTY/CS interface for my TRS-80
> >> Model III.  Most were eventually replaced by all-in-one units that
> >> also did Packet Radio and connected tot he computer using a serial
> >> port.
> > 
> > Chuckle, old is relative, and 1984 is just last week to me since I'm
> > working on my 80th year. :)
> > 
> >> >                   The radio operator of course needs a ham license
> >> >                   of a
> >> 
> >> suitable class before you can "press the key" and
> >> transmit.
> >> 
> >> There is no radio component in what you saw in the pictures.  One
> >> needs a totally separet transmitter and receiver to actually use it
> >> although a non-ham couls hook it to a receiver and at least listen. 
> >> All of those modes are still in use today.
> >> 
> >> > Relatively famous in its day, I've no clue how useful it could be
> >> > today
> >> 
> >> as
> >> 
> >> > I am not a ham, although some would argue that point :), but a
> >> > retired
> >> 
> >> broadcast engineer.
> >> 
> >> Last I looked, Kantronics was still in business but probably does
> >> more
> > 
> > Apparently not in TV broadcast though.  ISTR they may have done some
> > stuff in cb radio back in the day,
> 
> Nope, never saw anything in CB as there was nothing they ever made that
> would have been legal (or of interest) for CBers.  As far as I know they
> started as a ham supplier and when things like commercial packet radio
> started taking off they offerec stuff there.  Of course, the amount that
> hams were willing to pay was much lower than what commercial guys were
> willing to pay so you can see where the money was.

Obviously. Cheap is in the hams blood from conception.  Got some of that 
blood myself. ;-)
 
> >                              but its been since the 70's that I was
> > 
> > servicing those, so my familiarity is (out-)dated there too without a
> > doubt.
> > 
> > What baud rates does it support?
> 
> Hams do 300 baud on HF and 1200 and up on VHF, UHF and SHF.
> 
> Believe it or not, my first Internet connection in my house was over
> a 1200 baud 145 Mhz half-duplex radio system I designed and built. It
> was a LOS distance of about 14 miles and I ran TCP/IP over it and got
> a kick out of listenting to other hams come up with all the reasons
> why it could never be done!!  :-)  That was in 1988.  Prior to that I
> ran a digital repeater on top of a mountain in Ellenville, NY that
> carried traffic from 6 states that I was aware of.
> 
> And to brng this back to relevancy, those were the days when, like the
> COCO, computers were actually fun and not just a job.
> 
> I wish I had a COCO and OS9 back then.  I could have done so much more.

Absolutely Bill, the sky was the limit, provided the sky included the moon 
for moon bounce.
> 
> bill
> 
Cheers, Gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
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-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

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