Exactly Bob. All you have to go on is the rave reviews given by
users who paid a $1000.00 for PactorII. With PactorI you can buy hardware
that works for $150.00 and it is completely documented. The performance is
adequate for a local Mountain Zone network to have been in service for 4
years so far. AA5BJ Dusty has a schedule he runs and like 10 users that
hit his Winlink system daily on 40 or 30 meters.
I know Dusty and he is doing what he says he is using PactorI.
When the documentation for PactorII becomes available due to lack of sales
of the hardware, then plain people can decide if it's worth going to that
length to get HF packet.
On Tue, 9 Mar 1999, Bob Nielsen wrote:
} On Tue, 9 Mar 1999, Damian A Ivereigh wrote:
}
} >
} > I am looking at another modem manufacturer for HF operation: Halcomm
} > (http://www.halcomm.com/). Their modems natively use the CLOVER
} > protocol, but also have a "P-mode", which is claimed to be 100%
} > compatible with the PACTOR protocol. So hopefully one can kill two
} > birds with one stone. The external modem is around $400 and about $300
} > for the internal PC card.
} >
} > They too only have code for Windows, however as soon I can get hold of
} > some of these modems, I will be working on a packet driver for Linux.
}
} There are two versions of PACTOR, PACTOR-I and PACTOR-II. I recall from
} some QST articles that PACTOR-II had quite good performance. IIRC, CLOVER
} was a ways back and PACTOR-I was not quite as good as CLOVER.
}
} The problem here is that both PACTOR-II and CLOVER are proprietary
} protocols. I guess after using Linux for nearly five years I have a
} real problem with that (also APRS).
}
} Bob
}
} ----
} Bob Nielsen Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
} Tucson, AZ AMPRnet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
} DM42nh http://www.primenet.com/~nielsen
}
}
Best wishes
- Karl F. Larsen, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (505) 524-3303 -
