HK-232 TNC troubles

[George T. Baker]

Jay, the problem may lie with the serial cable you are using.

The AEA PK-232 (MBX) uses several of the pins in the serial port
connector to drive a printer. The documentation makes it clear that these
pins must not be connected to their mates in a conventional serial port
connector. The cable supplied by AEA originally was one connector to the
PK-232 and then the cable pig-tailed to one connector for the computer
serial port (with the "printer" pins not connected) and a third connector
for a printer.

In my system, I just clipped the "printer" leads of a conventional serial
cable and used that with no problem.

Your friend with the AEA probably is using the AEA-supplied special
serial cable which is why your unit worked there.

Just a guess . . .

72/73, George
Fairview, TX   30 mi NE Dallas in Collin county
Amateur Radio W5YR, in the 54th year and it just keeps getting better!
R/C since 1964 - AMA 98452   RVing since 1972


"Hawaiian Shirt Jay, kf6rmg" wrote:
>
>    I recently bought a Heathkit HK-232, which is supposedly identical to the
> AEA PK-232. The past couple of days I've been trying to hook it up to the
> computer in my shack with no luck. The computer simply doesn't want to talk
> to the TNC. I tried it at the house of a friend who has the AEA model and it
> worked just fine, but when I got it home, the software I'm using (PkGOLD
> TestDrive) just kept saying it couldn't find the TNC. So I tried everything
> I could think of. I tried switching the software to a simple RTTY program I
> downloaded from qrz.com with no luck... I tried attaching the TNC to the
> printer port and the serial port, neither of which worked... I even tried
> dragging this computer I'm using now into the shack, but still no result.
> I'm completely out of ideas, so does anyone have any thought on what I
> should try next?
>                                                         73,
>                                                        Jay, KF6RMG

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