Troubleshooting

If you failed to connect to a Packet Radio cluster the following considerations apply:

As outlined in the paragraph on the cluster connect procedure the link to a cluster consists of:

•a link from your PC to your TNC ( trouble area 1 ) and

•based on this: The link which the TNC establishes to the cluster ( trouble area 2 ).

Accordingly you need to find out which area has caused the trouble.

If the TNC indicator on the status bar exhibits a green background color you can be confident that area 1 was successfully passed. The trouble has to be investigated in the connect strings though. Of course you need to exclude any trouble which may have been caused by your radio access point itself. Unfortunately they are by no means free of problems. If your old version of TurboLog 3.25 for example would manage to connect to the cluster the error is most likely in the connect strings. Please compare the strings carefully to those which were proven successfully in TL 3. Make sure they are really identical with respect to every single blank and character. If the connection still fails you need to fiddle around with introducing command delays ( " ~ ") before the next string is transmitted to the cluster since this is a sensible parameter too. At the end one of these measures should yield to a solid connection to the cluster.

If the TNC indicator on the status bar remains in yellow or gray background color you will have to investigate trouble area 1. This area has many a pitfall. First and most importantly you must check your COMport:

•Is it a unique ( = otherwise unused ) port?

•Is the COMport setup correctly in your WINDOWS operating system?

•Is it supported by your operating system, e.g. a serial port emulated by a Universal Serial Bus?

•Is the driver installed correctly ...and active?

•Is your cable to the TNC connected wired correctly?

•Does the pinning match?

A comprehensive COMport test sould include starting a simple terminal program, e.g. the Hyperterminal, PROCOM or the like. If you can "talk" to your TNC or any other serial port device from this terminal you can be sure you have setup your selected COMport correctly. By the way: The TNC Terminal in TurboLog 4 is well suited for this basic test as well. Of course you need to have some knowledge about the commands which your TNC "understands". Please check the TNC's handbook for details.

If you are sure the COMport which you intended to use for Packet Radio is working properly you need to check the setup of the TNC again. If you passed the TNC Terminal test you have evidence of a correct setup.

If the TNC intitialisation still fails although you selected the correct TNC from the list there must be something wrong with the TNC Script File. Latest at this point you should have activated the handshake window and in addition to this the Trace Window from the View menu. The task now is to find out where the procedure gets stuck. With a little bit of expertise the command in trouble will be identified. It then needs to be modified accordingly. Again, introducing a delay between command and expected resonse should be considered and tested at first.

Please note: 

Before you start editing a TNC Script File you should have tested similar TNCs from the list and check whether they perform or not. Then finally, if you feel you could manage to edit the file: Never save a modified TNC script file under its original name. You would thus loose your original. It is best practice to attach an additional letter to the name and save it this way, e.g.turn a TNC2S into a TNC2Sx.

If you traced the problem back to the TNC script we would recommend to the less experienced user to contact us for help. We would typically require the following data for our remote diagnose:

1.The ...\TRACETNC.TRC file from the Watch TNC Handshake window.

2.The ...\TNC.TRC file.

3.The ...\TNC.LOG file.

4.Info on the type of TNC you are using such as: Command list, port parameters, etc.

This Info should be provided by E-mail attachment.

This topic was last edited on  Monday, 03-Jul-2023,  at  23:57