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TNC's vs. Soundcard Interfaces	Reply
by N7GR on January 17, 2002	Mail this to a friend!
I am considering getting into the digital modes and need some advice on whether to purchase a traditional TNC or a soundcard interface. Are TNC's antiques? Do they still have a place in amateur radio or have they been essentially repaced by the soundcard interface box? Any advice is appreciated. 73's, N7GR

RE: TNC's vs. Soundcard Interfaces	Reply
by K0HZI on January 17, 2002	Mail this to a friend!
TNC's are mostly used for the AMTOR, PACTOR, and VHF PACKET modes. Most of these modes are being used less now days, just a few die hards and I guess some MARS message nets use TNC's for the "TOR" modes. Sound card programs work well except for the the "TOR" modes and most are freeware. See: http://www.digitalham.net/ PSK31 seems to be the most popular keyboard mode of choice.

RE: TNC's vs. Soundcard Interfaces	Reply
by NB6Z on January 18, 2002	Mail this to a friend!
If you expect to find QSOs on the HF digi bands, then you will want to first get setup to operate the sound card modes. TNCs are almost exclusively being used for ARQ operation for the purpose of handling traffic. I operate all digi modes (including ARQ) on HF and you can view my log if you want to get an idea of the ratio: http://home.teleport.com/~nb6z/log.htm Get started here: http://home.teleport.com/~nb6z/start.htm See you on the screen... Griff

RE: TNC's vs. Soundcard Interfaces	Reply
by KA0MR on January 30, 2002	Mail this to a friend!
I have an older AEA PK-232MBX and bought the PSK31 upgrade hardware board for it and the new CSS Pacterm-99 softeware for mine. It will allow you to do all of the soundcard type digital modes as well as all of the other digital modes, Amtor,Pactor,Packet. You can use it on HF or VHF this includes all of the Highspeed CW as well. The reason I went this way was that I already had the PK-232 for one thing but if I didn't you would have to run a Rigblaster or similar to operate the PSK31 etc resulting in wire city all over the place tying up another comm port which you may are may not have. The PK-232MBX works superb on all modes. I only use PSK31 and RTTY,PActor Packet etc. BTW the PK-232MBX is for more better for RTTY and Packet than any soundcard type I have tried. If you bought a new Timewave (they own AEA now) you will get DSP built in and you will notice a difference but since I use a Ten-Tec Pegasus (Jupiter in a white wrapper) for HF and a Ten-Tec 526 for 6m and 2m it has fantstic filtering that work beyond belief in digital mode. So I didn't need the DSP in the PK-232MBX an option you can also order for older TNC's like mine. Just my 2 pennys Bob KAØMR

RE: TNC's vs. Soundcard Interfaces	Reply
by KE4MOB on February 6, 2002	Mail this to a friend!
It depends on what you are after. For the newer modes, soundcards are the way to go..primarily because it's the only way to get on the air, as nobody makes TNC's yet (if they ever do) that really handle these modes. Where do you find most of the TNC's today? RTTY, HF Packet, AMTOR, PACTOR, and VHF Packet. Why? It's hard for a computer with multiple taks running to maintain a constant clock rate that is necessary for the "linked" modes. And a diehard minority of the RTTY ops are "FSK purists" and refuse to go the AFSK route. Me? I run RTTY and PACTOR...so I'm in the TNC crowd! Steve, KE4MOB

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