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1. WHICH MODEL SHOULD I GET? It depends on your operating desires, your budget and to some extent which radio you have. The simple answer is, if you want a temporary or mobile setup, or NEVER wish to operate phone using your mic., get a nomic. If you wish to operate using your computer and also with your mic., you should get a RIGblaster M8. If you wish to do all of the above, plus have the capability to operate direct keyed CW or FSK get a "plus" model. If want to do all of that and also control your radio with your computer, process your transmit audio, use a headset mic. in addition to your main mic. you definitely want our new PRO model. If you are an avid phone, CW or RTTY operator or contester consider that the pro will do both keyed CW and true FSK, it will also allow recording entire contests and DVK messages. Two pro's on two radios may be configured for SO2R phone contest operation. The standard RIGblaster M8 is a full featured RIGblaster in that it is designed to work with EVERY existing ham radio sound card software program that is in existence. The nomic will operate with EVERY existing or future sound card program also but it will not allow you to speak to the people you are sending pictures to on SSTV nor will it allow you to use contest voice keyer programs while in a phone contest. In addition to all the features of the RIGblaster M8, the "Plus" model provides the capability to transmit CW or true FSK using lines on the serial port with "non" sound card software. The "plus" has both automatic PTT control and audio switching, plus it has a second keying circuit that supports NON sound card programs to transmit serial port controlled CW or FSK. Our "plus" model also has a front panel 1/4" phone jack for headphones in addition to a rear panel computer speaker output. Another extra feature of the "plus" is a rear panel RCA jack for an external PTT foot switch or any external PTT control. The "pro" incorporates all the features of the other models along with many more additional features. The pro is has the ability to do everything that is possible using a computer with a radio! Besides being a full sound card interface the "pro" also incorporates a built in rig control interface. Software such as HamScope and MIXW will do both multi mode sound card operation and rig control simultaneously. Normally you need two serial ports to run those programs but with the "pro" you can do it all with a SINGLE serial connection to your computer. With radios that have direct RS232 control port you may still use a single serial port by looping through the RIGblaster. If you wish to use two programs, one for sound card operation and one for rig control the "pro" may be configured to use two serial ports. 2. STATION HOOKUP DIAGRAM for M8 or Plus  3. WHAT DOES YOUR SOFTWARE DO? We do not write or supply software for the RIGblasters. We only provide a very up to date collection of ALL of the transmit/receive ham radio sound card software that we could find on the Internet. We do try to work as closely as possible with all the ham radio sound card authors and we have been instrumental in developing new software. We do not have ANY business arrangements with any of the software authors. We only make a hardware interface that is compatible with all 3rd party sound card ham software that we are aware of. Our hardware is greatly software independent, it will work with all present and probably all future ham radio sound card software. This software was written by many very talented and dedicated hams and it comes in the form of demos, freeware and shareware. Almost every operating mode is now supported by freeware. Our CD is included for free with a RIGblaster, as a convenience, simply to make it easy as possible to get started. We are not in a position to properly support all of the software but we try. The original author of the software is the only persons that can really help. Try not to ask us about software as we do not know what the author of the software should know. Usually there is all you need on the authors web site or included in the software's help files. In the spirit of our hobby you should experiment and learn. We do have a good working relationship with most of the software authors and we hope that you support their efforts with your encouragement and/or purchase their software. There is software on our CD for microphone equalization, noise gating and speech compression for use with the PRO. These programs are available for professional studio use but there are inexpensive and free programs. We are presently writing a custom ham radio transmit and receive processing application that will be available to RIGblaster PRO owners We do not know what the price will be, we hope it will be free or very inexpensive, no promises. We expect it to be available early Summer 2003 4. WHAT DOES YOUR SOFTWARE COST? Again, we do not write or supply software for the RIGblasters therefore we do not sell it. Sound card software that works with a RIGblaster is either free, cheap or expensive, it depends on the author, not us. Free software is called "freeware", makes sense, doesn't it! There is also beer ware, bet you can't guess what beer ware is. The good news is that almost every mode of operation has freeware a vailable. You should understand that freeware isn't free, somebody put a lot of effort into it and you should at least pay them with your thanks. Shareware doesn't cost anything to try but you are expected to pay for it if you keep using it. If you are sleazy, and do not pay for it, We hope you at least feel guilty. The author wants you to try his software and like it before paying for it. Usually the program will incessantly remind you until you do pay for it, and you should. There is also "demo ware", demo ware works great. Sometimes it functions for a period of time and then quits, otherwise it has limited operation of some sort. You must pay for it if you wish to continue using it. There are no licensed commercial applications on our CD. Our CD is simply a collection of Amateur Radio - Sound Card Software that we include FREE with every RIGblaster (except the nomic experimenter). You can purchase the CD-ROM separately for about $10 Which is less than our production and manufacturing cost, as we have spent hundreds of hours collecting, updating and organizing our CD. We think you will appreciate that when you get it, and you will understand why we lose money selling it for only $10.00. We hope our CD makes it easier to get on the air with all of the great ham sound card software that has been written. 5. WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED TO USE A RIGblaster? You need a compatible radio: see "Will it work with my radio?". You need a computer in your ham shack with a properly functioning Windows sound card: see; "What kind of sound card do I need?". An available serial port is desirable: see: "Do I need a serial port?". There is a nice program for a Mac computer and there are even a few Linux applications. 6. WILL IT WORK WITH MY RADIO? The RIGblaster PRO, Plus and RIGblaster M8 models come with cables and instructions for any radio that uses an 8 pin screw on mic. connector or an RJ45 8 wire Modular telephone style jack. To use any of these models with a 4 pin metal screw on jack radio you need to order our 4 Pin to 8 Pin Conversion Kit. The RIGblaster nomic model is supplied with the mic. cable of your choice. An important feature of the RIGblaster PRO, Plus and M8 is that all the features of your mic. will work. All the wires are connected through. The only functions that we intercept are the mic. audio and PTT. The grounding is also maintained for rigs with common or separate PTT and Mic. grounds. You can use any microphone that currently works with your radio with the exception of Yaesu FT-90, FT-100, FT-1500, FT-2600, FT-2800M, FT-7100, FT-7800R, FT-8100, FT-8500, FT-8800, FT-8900 and Icom, V-8000, IC-2100H, IC-2800H, IC-207H, IC-208H, IC-2720H & IC-2725E (see FAQ #7 below). You may also easily adapt one brand of microphone to another radio by switching our plug in jumpers around accordingly. We cannot guarantee this possibility. Some microphones have built in pre amps or require power from the radio in order to operate properly This may make that mic. incompatible with another brand or type of radio. Our PRO model has a electret microphone bias circuit built in to all the use of an electret mic. when the mic. is directed to the sound card and it is disconnected from the radio. 7. WHAT RADIOS WILL NOT WORK WITH A RIGblaster? As far as we know all model RIGblasters will work for sound with every radio that was ever made as long as the cables fit in to the radio. There are some new radios that work but their supplied mics. do not. These mics. have microprocessor control of PTT that do not use PTT switch contacts to activate the radio. Those mics. will not work with our interface or any other interface. This is not an issue with a RIGblaster nomic model as the mic. must be unplugged to use a nomic (no mic.). Icom V-8000, IC-2100H, IC-2800H, IC-207H, IC-208H, IC-2710H, IC-2720H, & IC-2725E stock mics. have a peculiar circuit. When they are plugged in to the radio they disable the PTT wiring on the radio's mic. jack and control PTT by a digital buss. This causes the RIGblaster only to control PTT when the mic. is unplugged from the RIGblaster. The mic. works through the RIGblaster but the RIGblaster cannot activate the radio's PTT terminals as they are disabled by the digital mic. The RIGblaster works perfectly when the mic. is unplugged from the RIGblaster. The work around for this problem is to use any normal mic such as the Icom HM-118 or HM-103 that has a conventional PTT circuit. Also you can simply unplug the High Function ICOM mic. when using the RIGblaster in digital modes. The Icom mics that incorporate this digital method of PTT are the HM-98, HM-133 however there may be others. Icom only told us about these two. The Yaesu FT-90, FT-100, FT-1500, FT-2600, FT-2800M, FT-7100, FT-7800R, FT-8100, FT-8500, FT-8800 & FT-8900 have a Yaesu Modular 6 jack so our standard cables do not fit. They are the only radios we have seen that use this somewhat unusual microphone jack and plug. The RIGblaster nomic Yaesu Modular 6 Complete is designed for use with these radios. However you can use any other RIGblaster with the FT-90, FT-100, FT-1500, FT-2600, FT-2800M, FT-7100, FT-7800R, FT-8100, FT-8500, FT-8800 & FT-8900 if you purchase the extra accessory Yaesu Modular 6 Custom Mic Cable. This will let you use your computer with these radios. You will not be able to plug in the mic. that matches these radios, only your computer will work. The accessory mic. cables only will allow you to plug the RIGblaster into the different style radio's mic. connector. You will still have the wrong connector on the front of the RIGblaster so you can not plug in the matching mic. see above. 8. WILL MY COMPUTER WORK WITH A RIGblaster? The question should be, will my computer work with ham radio sound card software. The RIGblaster only needs to be compatible with the audio output of your computer. It also is automatically controlled by the simple on/off signal of a serial port for PTT control and audio switching, no data flows, just on or off. The software compatibility has the much more complicated task of communicating with your computer Far and away the best way to tell if your computer will work is to install some software and try it! Download whatever software for whatever mode you are interested in from the links here on our web site or search the web. You will be able to install and run software without a RIGblaster with a simple receive audio connection between your radio's audio output and your computer's audio input. Make sure you try "transmitting" with the software. You will not actually be on the air but you should be able to hear the transmit audio tones coming from your computer. If you can receive signal and hear the transmit audio tones with your computer, it works. We highly recommend doing this before buying a RIGblaster. You will be all ready to go when you get your RIGblaster and you will know what to expect when you actually get on the air. Note: if you are interested in PSK31 try WinPSK or WinPskSE; for RTTY try MMTTY; for SSTV try MMSSTV; for MFSK16 use IZ8BLY's Stream. If you are unsure about what to try, try them all, but that will keep you busy for some time. If you would like our recommendation there isn't a bad one in the bunch. All the programs on our links are great. 9. CAN I USE MY USB PORT IF I DON'T HAVE AN EXTRA SERIAL PORT? Yes but you must purchase a USB to Serial converter like we have for sale as a RIGblaster accessory. All of the software was written for serial port control so it will not work directly with a USB port. With the USB to RS232 serial adapter you can add the function of a serial port to a computer that doesn't have one or doesn't have and extra one. Another solution to having extra serial ports is a serial switch or extra interface card, this is the way to go on an older computer without USB ports or enough serial ports. This adapter does not support 5 bit data used for FSK RTTY transmission, therefore it will NOT do RTTY/FSK. 10. WHAT CABLES DO I NEED TO USE OR HOW IS A RIGblaster HOOKED UP? Unlike the competitor's products we really supply everything you need to get on the air. We include a plug in mic. cable, two audio cables, a serial cable and a power supply. Check the competition carefully! In addition to what our other models come with the PRO comes with a mic. to computer mic. input cable, an extra receive audio cable, 3 mini to mini plug cables you can use to connect CW, FSK or rig control. The extra cables may need adaptors or different plugs installed on the other end to match your radio CW, FSK or rig control connectors. Icom CI-V rig control jacks will accept a mini plug. Right out of the box you will be able to get on the air without making anything, finding anything or downloading anything. The other brands don't give you a power supply or even the power supply cable. One of them does give you a power supply plug but you have to solder it on and figure out how to eliminate the power supply ground loops. We give you an isolated power supply ready to plug in. Since we are fully isolated from the computer's serial port and radio mic. circuits our audio connections are easier and simpler than our competition. We supply a stereo mini cable for the receive connection to your radio's audio output. You may use any audio output on your radio: speaker, headphone, data, monitor, record, phone patch, whatever is more convenient. Most radios have a mini jack speaker output so our supplied mini plug cable is compatible. You may wish to have a "Y" cord when using an external speaker on your radio's speaker output, you may decide to use another connection with fixed level audio. With the connection between your radio and computer, you can now monitor your radio using your computer speakers. You will also be able to use high performance DSP filtering, recording and equalization software. Our Plus model gives you two audio outputs, one for computer speakers and another for computer headphones to take advantage of this. The use of a fixed level output on your radio, if available, is usually more convenient. You will have to provide the appropriate plug or adaptor to adapt the mini plug cable we supply or purchase a ready made fixed level accessory cable from us. Check our order page for any custom accessory cables that you may need or want. 11. DOES A RIGblaster WORK WITH THE JACKS ON THE BACK OF MY RADIO? You can use the nomic with back panel jacks but we do not supply ready made cables for that purpose. You may wish to make your own using one of our stripped and tinned cables. If you go in to a line input on the back of your radio your will probably have to remove a 100 ohm voltage divider resistor R2 to increase the audio level. The rear panel connections on some radios may work, but others will have certain problems. Rear panel data, phone patch or auxiliary jacks may leave your mic hot while transmitting with the computer causing illegal emissions the CW/data portions of a band. This problem is avoided, with our standard direct mic. jack connection. Rear panel inputs may not function with VOX and they may not work on many modes. Some will work on FM but not SSB others may work on LSB not USB, beware of this before spending time making your own cables for rear panel connections. As we recommend the mic. jack will always work properly! You can see why we use the mic. jack in order to make the "standard" and "plus' model RIGblasters compatible with all rigs by avoiding problems with rear panel jacks. A mic. connector interfaces also allows us implement our special Mic. Override and PTT Interrupt features. The nomic will work properly into your mic. jack but you may want to go into your rear panel connections if you know your rear panel jacks are designed to work properly and you know how to make your own cable. We do not support connections using your own home brew cables or connections. 12. Will A RIGblaster DO CW OR TRUE FSK? You can copy CW with a RIGblaster station hookup or without a RIGblaster, a RIGblaster is only for transmit. All RIGblasters will transmit keyboard CW using sound card transmit such as "HamScope" by KD5HIO. This software sends a pure CW audio tone to the mic. jack with your radio in SSB mode. This will work very well provided you set your transmit audio level for a clean linear output (less than full power). With the nomic there are no relays so the nomic's optoisolator PTT output may be used for serial port controlled CW keying direct to your radio's straight key jack, instead of PTT keying. You may purchase our ready made CW cable for that purpose. You must use NON sound card transmit software such as CWtype by UA9OSV. Our PRO and Plus models do sound card CW and RTTY by directly keying your radio's straight key jack. Get our plus model if you wish to do true keyed CW. Get a pro model if you wish to have your station permanently set up to do both CW and FSK, the PRO has two keying outputs one for CW and one for FSK, plus has one jack that may be used for one or the other not both. 13. WILL A RIGblaster WORK WITH MY SEQUENCER ON MY HIGH POWER VHF STATION? If you microphone's PTT button works with your sequencer the RIGblaster will also. The RIGblaster simply does the same thing as your mic's PTT button. The RIGblaster PRO has two PTT RCA jacks, in and out, they may be separated by removing a jumper to accommodate a sequencer control loop. If you are not sequenced and have been doing it manually you may run WSJT safely. WSJT was written by an avid VHF operator; Joe made sure that his software has transmit and receive delays built in to eliminate the problem. WSJT will operate safely with a station that should be sequenced, but isn't. WSJT will also work properly with a station that is sequenced. This is not necessarily the case with other sound card programs, be careful if you run any other software and you station needs sequencing. The RIGblaster can make it easier to hook up a sequencer as it provides header pins to easily intercept the PTT line to your radio's mic. jack. Be aware that a sequencer connected only to a mic. jack PTT connection is NOT SEQUENCED for break in CW or MOX button operation! 14. WHAT ABOUT GROUNDING AND WHY IS A RIGblaster EASIER TO CONNECT? Unlike our competition there is never any need to connect any extra grounds or experiment with grounding. One other sound card interface actually needs an extra ground connection in an attempt to get it to work without hum or feedback. All RIGblasters are totally isolated from microphone ground loops. There is ONLY ONE GROUND connection, your mic. jack. The power is isolated with a isolated wall supply and the computer serial connection is totally isolated with optoisolators. The isolated circuitry allows a simpler station hookup with less connections. You receive connection may be direct from your radio to your computer as there will not be a ground loop for the mic. transmit circuit. Mic. audio is at a .010 volt level and is very sensitive to ground loops, the receive connection is at about 1 volt making it 100 times less sensitive to ground loops. There is no need to isolate your receive connection as your computer should be grounded to the same AC outlet as your station's power. Having your computer on a different house wiring circuit is a bad thing for your ham station in many respects, especially lightning damage. The PRO model has many more connections than our other models so it has much more extensive ground isolation. It uses an isolated wall supply, a isolated DC to DC converter, three optoisolators, three shielded audio isolation transformers and three relays! 15. WHAT PRECAUTIONS SHOULD I TAKE OPERATING THE RIGblaster FROM 12 V DC? This is not an issue with the nomic as it is powered directly from the serial port. With the PRO, PLUS and M8, or with any 12 VDC station accessory, it is extremely important to have a solid and reliable 12 V negative return connection for your radio's power feed. If the negative lead powering your radio accidently becomes disconnected and a RIGblaster or other station accessory is connected directly to that same 12 V power supply negative connection, 20 amps or more will go through part of the RIGblaster and through a circuit in your radio that wasn't designed for that much current. That may burn out the RIGblaster and possibly your radio, voiding warranties. Carefully follow the simple precautions on our support page and the instructions provided with our DC cord set. Using the wall cubes that we supply with 120V and 230V RIGblasters you do not have to worry about this. Wall cubes are separate power supplies, independent of your other power supply providing full ground isolation. 16. CAN I SWITCH ONE VERSION RIGblaster TO ANOTHER STYLE RADIO? Yes you can use any RIGblaster with any radio provided you can plug in the cables. RIGblaster PRO, PLUS and M8 models work with an 8 pin mic. jacks and RJ45 Modular radios. A 4 pin conversion kit is available to make those RIGblasters work with Ten Tec and older radios that use 4 pin screw on mic. connectors. You can use some other type or brand of mic. with a different type or brand of radio if you configure the jumpers correctly, you don't have to solder anything just use our jumpers as a patch to make the appropriate connections for mic. audio, mic. ground, PTT and PTT ground. We do not have support for doing this but you should be able to figure it out if you have the mic. wiring diagrams that came with your mic. and radio. Be careful not to hook up anything else besides audio and PTT. You will have to have a standard dynamic mic. and mic jack to mix radios and mics. Amplified or electret mics may be a problem. I use a Yaesu wired boom mic. with my Icom. Note that you will have to re configure the RIGblaster jumpers when you switch radios and mic. cables. You could switch the wires around inside an M8 mic cable so you do not have to switch jumpers, but again, you will have to figure out the pin numbers, we cannot help with this. 17. DO I EVER NEED TO UNPLUG RIGblaster FOR NORMAL OPERATION? On with our nomic has to be disconnected to hook your mic. back up, that is why we call it a "no" "mic". All other RIGblaster models allow completely normal operation of your station while connected. The audio quality will be the same. There are no ground loops and everything is isolated. The RF cannot get in to your audio easily either. The PTT control and VOX operation are normal also; you can even override the computer with your mic's. PTT button. Your MOX button on the rig and your foot switch will work normally too. On the PRO and PLUS models there are foot switch jacks that will allow you to have our PTT override and PTT interrupt features with your foot switch. 18. HOW DOES THE MIC. SWITCHING WORK? Except for the nomic, RIGblasters have two modes of operation, AUTO and VOX or with the PRO, AUTO and PROCESS. In the VOX or PROCESS mode the computer audio is routed to your mic. jack and your mic. is disconnected from the radio. This mode allows the computer audio to key your rig using the vox circuit in your radio. There is however, a PTT override function that allows you to stop the computer from transmitting and use your mic. In the VOX mode, pushing your mic's. PTT button will disconnect your computer audio and activate your mic. With the PRO in the PROCESS mode pushing the mic. PTT button will put your radio in to transmit and route your microphone audio through the computer and back in to the radio, it will also mute your computer speakers preventing acoustic feedback. In the AUTO mode your mic. is connected by default but when a transmit command is received on the serial line from your sound card ham software the RIGblaster automatically disconnects your mic. from your radio and hooks up the computer audio. As in the VOX mode you can always override the computer at any time by pushing your mic's PTT button. This is especially handy for SSTV operation. 19. DO I NEED A SERIAL PORT? No, but it is much more convenient. Most ham radio sound card software can control your PTT via a serial port. If your software doesn't have serial control, unlikely, or you don't have a serial port connected, you can use all of the RIGblasters with your radio's VOX. In that mode the sound card audio is fed to your radio and your radio's VOX circuit will activate transmit. If your rig doesn't have VOX or you don't have serial control available you could still manually key the PTT via your MOX button. If you do not have an extra serial port you can add a serial port selector switch, install a computer serial interface card, or use a USB to serial converter. All inexpensive computer accessories. 20. CAN I SWITCH BETWEEN RADIOS OR HOOK UP MORE THAN ONE? Our answer is, not easily. Even two identical radios would require switching the mic. cable and the receive audio connection. If you have two different radios you will have take the cover off the RIGblaster and switch around the plug in jumpers. See our Op Tips page for a tip on how to hook up dual RIGblasters with two radios to one computer. 21. CAN I USE MY LAPTOP COMPUTER? Yes, if it has sound it will work, the only difference with a laptop is they usually do not have line inputs so you have to use the mic. input. The line output is usually referred to as "headphone". You may have to disable the I/R feature of your laptop to prevent I/O conflicts with it's serial port. 22. DO I NEED A SOUND CARD INSIDE MY COMPUTER? No, you don't actually need a sound card but your computer must have that capability. Many computers have sound but some don't actually have sound cards that un-plug. As long as there are jacks on the computer for headphones, microphones or speakers it should work. Your computer must have the Windows, Mac OS or Linux sound card driver software properly installed for your computer hardware. 23. DO I NEED A REAL SOUND BLASTER BRAND SOUND CARD? No, most of the software will work with any sound card that works with Windows, Mac OS or Linux, you do have to use software that works with your operating system.Only if it is DOS software that says it requires a true Sound Blaster or the author of the software says it was written for a particular brand card will there be an issue. You must read the documentation that the software author supplies and figure out if your card is compatible. Perhaps five of the over 100 ham radio programs require a particular sound card, the other programs don't care about the sound card, only the operating system. The RIGblaster will work with any computer that has sound. 24. WHAT SOFTWARE WORKS WITH A RIGblaster? Any software that uses a sound card for transmit. If the software controls PTT via a serial port or is controlled via a serial port that will work the PTT also, check the software features. 25. DO I NEED A RIGblaster TO RECEIVE WITH A SOUND CARD? No, the RIGblaster only handles the transmit audio and PTT control to the rig's mic. jack. You can hook up your sound card to your radio for receive with just a cable to your radio's. I is a good idea to set up for receive before getting a RIGblaster, you are more likely to want one! 26. HOW DOES THE RIGblaster CONTROL PTT? The nomic uses an optoisolator to control the PTT of a solid state radio. The other RIGblasters uses an relay contacts to keys PTT, even tube rigs should work. The mic. PTT button also controls the relays. Most software is able to control PTT via the serial port's DTR or RTS lines. You will have automatic PTT control and automatic audio switching. When the RIGblaster is set up to use VOX your radio's VOX circuit will control transmit. 27. WHAT IS PTT OVERRIDE? Except for the nomic if your computer is transmitting and you would like to talk instead, you simply push the mic. button and you can talk on your mic. This is convenient if you have to re-start a SSTV signal or a voice keyer message. 28. WHAT IS PTT INTERRUPT? Software such as VK Express, provides contest voice keyer operation, it calls CQ or any other message in a loop mode (the same sequence again and again). Pushing your the mic. button will automatically stop this loop sequence with a RIGblaster PLUS or RIGblaster M8 via the serial port DSR or CTS lines. In the case of the PRO the PTT interrupt circuit may be used to signal software to switch from receive to transmit processing. 29. IS THERE A MODEL FOR MY COUNTRY WITH 220/200 VOLT OR CAN I OPERATE WITH 12V DC? There are 120VAC, 230VAC and 12V DC models. Do not order a 12 Volt without reading our 12 VDC operating precautions. The 12 Volt model is a is exactly the same as the other models except that it comes only with a DC cord. We offer a 12 Volt version only to save on international shipping. The 120 VAC models have a 120 VAC to 12 VDC wall power supply with a standard US plug. The 230VAC models have a 230 VAC to 12 VDC wall power supply with a European style plug, we do not offer other plugs. The nomic models are powered by the serial port, they do not need any other power supply. 30. WHAT ABOUT PACTOR? A RIGblaster will do Pactor 1 using a sound card with either of two programs. One of these programs is PSATOR by Johan B. Forrer KC7WW a shareware program that may be licensed for $20. The other is freeware for amateur radio use only called TERMPSA by Tom Sailer, HB9JNX. Both of these programs will do only Pactor 1. They are DOS programs and require a specific PSA chip set sound card. Sound cards that use the PSA chip set include: Echo Personal Sound System - Echo Speech Corp., Cardinal Pro 16 (plus) - Cardinal Technologies, Orchid SoundWave 32 - Orchid Technology, Wearnes Beethoven ADSP16 - Wearnes, Western Digital Paradise 16-DSP - Western Digital, Adaptec AME-1570 - Adaptec. Right now, SCS Corporation holds the licenses for PACTOR 2 and PACTOR 3, which have largely replaced PACTOR 1 in common use. SCS will not allow software developers to create sound-card-based programs for those modes. They have a monoploly. These PACTOR programs are not supported by email via radio programs like Airmail, Sailmail or WinLink2000! Business email via amateur radio is, of course, not permitted according to Part 97 of the FCC regulations. |