Serial TNC with GPS on AUX port interfaces

Some hardware TNCs have one serial port for connecting to a computer, and a second serial port for connecting to a serial GPS unit. These TNCs can send both APRS and GPS data to the computer.

Units like the Kantronics KPC3+ fall in this category, and default to streaming their TNC data to the computer. If these TNCs are sent a Control-E character, they switch to sending the GPS data.

The Kenwood APRS-enabled mobile radios such as the D700 and D710 also have the ability to send both TNC and GPS data to the computer, but do not require any character to be sent to do so; they simply stream both types of data to the computer continuously.

• Activate on Startup?: Click to have Xastir start this every time you run Xastir. Unclick if you don't want that (say, because the TNC is not always connected)
• Allow Transmitting: unclick to disable transmission on this port
• Add Delay: This is here ONLY for certain very old TNCs that might not properly enter converse mode if the converse command is immediately followed by other information. You probably don't need it.
• Set System Clock from GPS Data?: Only works if Xastir is SUID root.
• Send Control-E to get GPS Data?: Click this ONLY if your TNC requires a control-E character to be sent in order for it to send GPS data.
• TNC Port: The serial port on which the TNC is connected
• Converse CMD: What character to send to the TNC to put it in "converse" mode. Most TNCs use "k" for this command. Some require "conv". Consult your TNC manual.
• Comment: For your use, appears in the Interface Control dialog's list of interfaces.
• Port Settings: The baud rate used to communicate with the TNC
• Port Style: bits, parity, stop bits
• IGate Options: whether or not to gate some data between internet and RF, and in which direction
• Unproto paths: Paths to use on each packet sent. Use WIDE2-2 unless you know for sure what you are doing.
• TNC Setup Filename and TNC Stop Filename: Files of commands to send to the TNC to get it ready to use. See Serial TNC for more detail.

Important

The Kantronics KPC3+ MUST have "Send Control-E to get GPS Data?" clicked or you will never get GPS data.

The Kenwood radios must NOT have "Send Control-E to get GPS Data?" set, or their input buffers will have a bunch of "Control-E" characters they don't understand, and the first real command that gets sent will be corrupted by their presence. The TNC will reply "Eh?" every time your station tries to transmit, because that first command is getting ignored.