HAM-Radio TI-99/4A - HAM Radio (Hamsoft/Kantronics/MFJ Enterprises)

[+acadiel]

Here's mine.  I can dump the EPROM inside if you guys want.  I don't have any manuals or an AC adapter for the Interface - no idea how to even use it.  But would love to learn.

[+Schmitzi]

Here are some manuals

 

hamsoft manual2.pdf

Hamsoft_for_the_TI-99.pdf

 

[+Schmitzi]

And I found 2 BINs in my folder. The one with the long filename is definitely my naming style,

but I cannot remeber that I did open it ?? But should so.

The 2nd file, I don´t know.

Maybe you read out your one to see if its the same version or not ?

 

HAMSOFT-RMSAS-SEEQ-DQ2764-25-as-NEC-UPD2764.BIN

 

hamsoft.bin

 

 

[+Schmitzi]

And some ads. (Maybe I´ve  posted them before...)
 

 

 

 

 

 

[+Schmitzi]

 

And here a video where they do strange things on a ViC-20

 

Note: yu doo nat wontto know wot ViC in german means, or sounds like
(I think, that´s why it is called VC-20 here)

 

 

 

[+Schmitzi]

 

And I found (and saved) this text here some years ago:

 

 

 

HAMSOFT FOR THE TI-99: A 99/4A-specific command module with a cable connecting the module to an interface, which in turn connects to a transceiver for Ham Radio use powered by the TI-99/4A. It was produced by Kantronics Inc. 1202 E. 23rd St. Lawrence, KS 66044 (913) 842-7745 copyright April 1, 1983. The Hamsoft module software features included:

- Send/Receive Morse Code at a rate of 5-99 words per minute,
- Send/Receive Radio Teletype at 60, 67, 75 and 100 words per minute,
- Send/Receive ASCII text at 100 and 300 baud,
- Optional upshift on space,
- Optional diddle,
- Parallel printer compatibility,
- Keyboard audio feedback,
- Optional automatic ID,
- Word wraparound,
- Optional automatic carriage return,
- Optional automatic linefeed,
- Message ports storage,
- Time transmission, and
- It was callable from TI BASIC.

 

[Omega-TI]

If you simply want to experiment, or "see if this is for you", and you have an appropriate transceiver, or a shortwave radio with an audio out jack, there are a number of programs out there in the PC world that use the sound card to take the audio and process it.  You'll no longer need extra hardware (other than an audio cable) to try it out.

 

[+acadiel]

Here's my EPROM copy in case it's newer.

hamsoft-ts2-0_2764.bin

[+acadiel]

41 minutes ago, Schmitzi said:

Here are some manuals

 

hamsoft manual2.pdf 1.42 MB · 1 download

Hamsoft_for_the_TI-99.pdf 511.11 kB · 1 download

 

Thanks.  Did you find one on the TU that I have?  I have no idea what it can/can't do - what the PSU specs are, etc.

 

[+Schmitzi]

1 hour ago, acadiel said:

Here's my EPROM copy in case it's newer.

 

 

I really wonder were I got "my" BIN-file from... If I made it, means opened the bottle, why did I take no picture ?

I think I will open it, again or not.

 

?

[+Schmitzi]

1 hour ago, acadiel said:

Thanks.  Did you find one on the TU that I have?  I have no idea what it can/can't do - what the PSU specs are, etc.

 

 

 

I´ll have to open that, too

 

 

[+Vorticon]

3 hours ago, acadiel said:

Free review of all the question pool:  http://arrlexamreview.appspot.com/

(Seriously, this is the ones they actually use...)

Thanks! I wish they'd do that with our Board re-certification exams

But seriously, are hams still actually talking or is most of the traffic now on RTTY or some other computer assisted means?

[+acadiel]

13 minutes ago, Vorticon said:

Thanks! I wish they'd do that with our Board re-certification exams

But seriously, are hams still actually talking or is most of the traffic now on RTTY or some other computer assisted means?

Depends.  Our local repeater is somewhat active.  A lot of things are happening in the DMR or other digital modes, but I don't have one of those receivers yet.

 

[ElectricLab]

2 hours ago, INVISIBLE said:

If you simply want to experiment, or "see if this is for you", and you have an appropriate transceiver, or a shortwave radio with an audio out jack, there are a number of programs out there in the PC world that use the sound card to take the audio and process it.  You'll no longer need extra hardware (other than an audio cable) to try it out.

 

You can even use a shortwave receiver and a nearby laptop running fldigi to decode some digital signals on HF, sans audio cable.

[ElectricLab]

24 minutes ago, Vorticon said:

Thanks! I wish they'd do that with our Board re-certification exams

But seriously, are hams still actually talking or is most of the traffic now on RTTY or some other computer assisted means?

On HF, there a plenty of hams using good old SSB voice. There are still some RTTY guys on there, but I'm sure they're all running software-based systems and don't have any real teletype hardware connected up. (I have a small teletype collection and one day I'll get real iron on the air) Other digital mods have taken over. Ones that use far less bandwidth, have forward-error correction, and some that use custom software to do a rudimentary frequency sharing in the time domain, like FT8. There are a ton of good open-source software packages out there to get a station on the air, and most modern HF rigs have a USB-B port on them, so you can plug them right into a computer and have multiple sound card interfaces. Software then has full control of the rig, so you don't need to do anything special to get PTT to work. My new Yaesu FT991 is this way, and I run Ubuntu Linux on my dedicated ham PC. I run WSJT-X for the super-popular FT8 mode, and FLDIGI for just decoding things for fun. 

[Omega-TI]

Sad thing for newbies and testing purposes is that few "average" people have radios with side band capability these days.

 

Are there still some links available out there for online interactive radios?  I'm thinking that FLDIGI, at least for audio purposes, might be "tweakable" for use with a browser based tuner.

[Omega-TI]

<< THIS LINK >> might get people started with some online SDR radios.

[ElectricLab]

16 hours ago, INVISIBLE said:

Amateur Radio was one of the most expensive hobbies I ever had.  Radios for each car, one for the house, an HT for portable use, then there were the amplifiers, specialized antennas and rotor, meters, super expensive coax, power supplies, TNC's, software packages, dedicated computer, hell it never ended.  I let my license expire in 2005.  I still have some equipment laying around that I've yet to get rid of.  Honestly, I don't miss it anymore mainly because 95% of the people I used to chat with are silent keys now.

I think you'll find ham radio to be a relatively inexpensive hobby these days. For working local repeaters, you can get a cheap Baofeng handheld transceiver for under $30 dollars. They're not half bad radios and if you live near any populated area, there're going to be repeaters on nearby hilltops and you can get on the air the same day. 

A decent outside antenna and feedline won't cost that much. For getting on HF, I've worked about every country you can with just wire antennas strung in the trees. You can do a lot with <100 watts and attic antennas if you can't put anything outside.

 

When it comes to budget, it's like many hobbies - you can get started for a few bucks and be perfectly happy. You can gradually add things as follow your interests and go deeper down the rabbit hole. There as so many facets to ham radio that you'll never be out of new fun/shiny things to chase. You can or course spend may kilobucks if you can afford it on high-end radios and amplifiers, but to me the hobby has always been about learning how everything works and building as much stuff as possible as part of the fun. To each their own.

[Omega-TI]

Yeah, 2M repeaters and even local simplex can be fun at first.  While the BaoFeng seems a little limited, wow, you're right, that's freaking cheap for a dual band HT.  I guess I'm looking at it from the 'wrong perspective', one that has already been down the rabbit hole and would need more to stay interested.  If I were getting back into the hobby today, I'd probably go with the Kennwood TH-D74A.  

[+acadiel]

So, Schmitzi has TS 1.2 and TS 2.2 on his EPROMs.  I have TS 2.0.  So there's at least three different software versions.

 

Schmitzi, please dump/name the 1.2 and 2.2 ROMs if you can.  I'll put the 2.2 in mine to see if it works.

 

[+Schmitzi]

1 hour ago, acadiel said:

So, Schmitzi has TS 1.2 and TS 2.2 on his EPROMs.  I have TS 2.0.  So there's at least three different software versions.

 

Schmitzi, please dump/name the 1.2 and 2.2 ROMs if you can.  I'll put the 2.2 in mine to see if it works.

 

 

yes. Which one out of the first 2 here is the 1.2 / which is the 2.2 ?

Edited April 10, 2020 by Schmitzi

[HOME AUTOMATION]

5 hours ago, acadiel said:

Ha, Ha, this looks very much like the simple interface I have in the plans for my HOME AUTOMATION controller, that are rusting away in the back of my mind. Oh, with the exception of the unneeded EPROM.

 

I'll bet the 7400 decodes the address lines required to place that 9901 at CRU >0400, >0800 or >0C00.

[+acadiel]

29 minutes ago, Schmitzi said:

 

yes. Which one out of the first 2 here is the 1.2 / which is the 2.2 ?

You're probably going to have to dump them again and compare them/rename them to their proper versions.  That's really cool that they were constantly updating the software, though!

 

[+Vorticon]

Thanks for input guys. Ham has come a long way from when I first started contemplating it back in the mid-90's at the prodding of a ham colleague! I have been a shortwave listener for several decades, although I'm not nearly as active as I used to be in that domain because the Midwest sucks when it comes to receiving international broadcasts without a massive antenna (good luck getting the wife to let me put up something like that in the backyard  ) but also mostly because a lot of the interesting stations have either curtailed short wave operations or discontinued them altogether. My radio is the Sony ICF 2010 from when Sony still made quality electronics. Sadly it's been long out of production... I have used it to decode RTTY transmissions initially with my Commodore 128D and more recently using a software solution, but it's been a while. I should go back to that.

 

http://www.mwcircle.org/mw_rec_2001d.htm

 

 

[Omega-TI]

3 hours ago, Vorticon said:

Thanks for input guys. Ham has come a long way from when I first started contemplating it back in the mid-90's at the prodding of a ham colleague! I have been a shortwave listener for several decades, although I'm not nearly as active as I used to be in that domain because the Midwest sucks when it comes to receiving international broadcasts without a massive antenna (good luck getting the wife to let me put up something like that in the backyard  ) but also mostly because a lot of the interesting stations have either curtailed short wave operations or discontinued them altogether. My radio is the Sony ICF 2010 from when Sony still made quality electronics. Sadly it's been long out of production... I have used it to decode RTTY transmissions initially with my Commodore 128D and more recently using a software solution, but it's been a while. I should go back to that.

 

http://www.mwcircle.org/mw_rec_2001d.htm

 

Well, if you think you'll be getting into Amateur Radio, and you want a great radio, blow your ENTIRE stimulus check on the ICOM 7300!  You can listen now, and get on the air later.

 

 

<< AMAZON LINK >>

 

Back in the day the JRC NRD-545 really got my attention, but it was way out of my price range.  Now days, SDR's with all the interface activity taking place on the computer's monitor is replacing many of those higher end radios.   And yeah, sadly many of the old favorites have gone off the air.  ☹️