[drats_users] d-rats data transmission problem

[Dan Smith]

Hi Bud,

> -IC-91AD and external antenna (very good into the repeater on low power- I
> have LOS to the 10,500' repeater site)

Remember that you can sound like you're 100% into the repeater on voice, 
and still have lots of data troubles.  The data is not error corrected 
like the voice.

> -Windows Vista on an HP laptop with no serial ports
> -USB > Serial converter on COM 4 set to 38400, and I've tried XON/XOFF,
> none, and Hardware as far as flow control in the port settings

What kind of adapter?  If you're not sure, go into device manager and 
get the name of the driver vendor.  Prolific variants are known to not 
work on Vista.

> I can receive chat and form data no worries, but my transmissions are dirty
> to say the least. I have been testing using the echo command in the UR field
> to get my transmission echoed back by the repeater, and most of them are
> garbled. Any hints? Do I have any other options wrt the USB > Serial
> converter?

The echo tool on the repeater is not well-suited for data.  On my local 
repeater, I get almost nothing back but a little bit of data and garble. 
  I've talked to Robin about this and he thinks the turnaround time on 
the echo playback is too quick.  Definitely test with another station to 
be sure.

Good luck!

-- 
Dan Smith
dsmith#danplanet.com, s/#/@/
www.danplanet.com
KK7DS