WZ4K Station Details

  • HF
    • Yaesu FTdx 3000 is my primary radio in the shack!
    • Yaesu FT-950 serving as back-up.
    • Yaesu FT-857D adds mobile/portable operations.
    • Heil PR781 boom-mounted Microphone
    • LDG AT-100Pro Antenna Tuner
    • SignaLink USB External Sound Card for Digital Operations
    • LP-PAN 2 Panadapter
    • Bencher Iambic Key with Chrome Base
    • G5RV antenna at 35 Feet
  • VHF/UHF
    • ICOM ID-5100 – Mobile
    • Yaesu FT-7900 – Winlink/Packet
    • Yaesu FTM-350R
    • Kenwood TH-D74A Handheld – D-Star
    • Anytone AT-D868UV – Handheld DMR
    • Yaesu VX-8DR Handheld
    • (2) Diamond X300 at 30 Feet

Computers

  • ASUS Desktop with 16GB RAM and lots of storage i7 Quad Core
    • DXLab Suite
    • WSJT-X
      • JT-AlertX
    • Winlink
    • N1MM+ Contesting Software Suite
  • Raspberry Pi 3B – for DMR and D-Star
    • MMDVM HAT
  • DV-MEGA – DMR and D-Star
    • BlueStack

3 thoughts on “WZ4K Station Details”

    1. Paul,

      You can use a hardware Packet Terminal Node Controller (TNC) or you could use a virtual TNC. With the HW TNC, you would connect the TNC to your computer (USB or serial connection) and then the TNC to the radio via the data port(6-pin Mini DIN) on the back of the radio.The Pinouts will depend upon the TNC you use. I use a very old PKP-232MBX from AEA(now Timewave).

      In Winlink, you select Packet Winlink and when the Packet Winlink Session window opens, Select the Setting menu and select TNC Type and Model; COM port and serial port speed to establish the data link from the computer(Winlink) to the TNC. You can also set the 1200 and 9600 baud rate settings there depending on what band you’re using and the connection link desired. You can buy the 7900 data cable for the TNC you would be using on-line or, as in my case, make one.

      I realize this is a bit of a simplification but, really, those are the broad strokes. The Virtual TNC eliminates the HW TNC and emulates that in SW so now you have a link from computer through a Soundcard interface to the radio. I have no experience with that method and the 7900.

      Here are some Virtual TNC links:
      https://www.soundcardpacket.org/
      https://www.sv2agw.com/Home/Packet#pepro
      http://n4ser.org/2014/winlink-getting-air-without-modem/

      73, Howard, WZ4k

  1. Paul,

    I had a SignaLink USB soundcard and the correct cable for the FT-7900 so I downloaded Packet Engine Pro shareware and was able to easily get it up and running in less than 10 minutes with Winlink. The Pro version is $$ after a 30 day trial.

    You will also need the SW described here (free) and there is a clear install guide:
    http://w2ygsoftware.com/Home/WinlinkExpress

    73, Howard, WZ4K

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