I use SCS PTC IIs for years and I am very satisfied with their performance. I
can confirm the excellent performance of Pactor even under very poor conditions
but I don't remember when I have seen the last non-Winlink-transmissions ...
Others might have different experience. I have never used the transceiver
control facility of the PTC II.
If you decide to try DXLab you can use use the following DXLab programs in
combination with the PTC II:
- Commander to control the transceiver
- DXKeeper for logging (not explicitly needed but recommended)
- WinWarbler for communication with the PTC II
There are other programs which belong to DXLab as well but they are not needed
for this specific purpose. For more details please go to
http://www.dxlabsuite.com/
which provides all necessary information.
To use the PTC II and not the soundcard for PSK and RTTY you have to select
RTTY in WinWarbler (make sure that you have defined the PTC II as your RTTY
modem in WinWarbler's configuration). You can enter all PTC II commands in
WinWarbler's transmit window, i.e. switch between the different modes of the
PTC II which includes PSK31, RTTY, CW, Pactor etc. As to my experience the RTTY
performance of the PTC II is better than the decoding by MMTTY (included in
WinWarbler and several other programs as RTTY engine). You cannot use the
broad band decoding option of WinWarbler, however, because this would require
the soundcard of your PC to be connected to your transceiver.
73
Juergen, DL8LE
--- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, g4ilo jul...@... wrote:
I have been wondering about getting an SCS multimode controller, the PTC-II
USB. Primarily I am interested in getting the best performance for HF APRS
which is what my radio does most of the time while I am otherwise engaged.
I have no interest in Winlink but am interested in trying Pactor-II which
people have said can hold QSOs even under very difficult conditions. Is there
much activity on the mode?
I don't want to deny myself the opportunity to use PSK31 or RTTY but the SCS
would plug into the rear audio connections of my transceiver and I don't want
to have to grope around the back changing plugs just to use soundcard modes.
I understand these controllers can do PSK and RTTY as well but I don't see
how this works with the programs I am familiar with.
I'm also unsure how the transceiver control works. I currently have a
separate serial cable to my K3 for this.
If any users of the SCS controllers could pass on their experiences to a
prospective user I would be extremely grateful.
Julian, G4ILO
