Kenwood: TM-D710G and Winlink issues

[N8SHA]

I'm having an awful time making a Packet Winlink connection to a node that is only about 1.5 miles away.

I have a Kenwood TM-D710G, the internal TNC is Packet12, A Band, freq of 145.090, using low power of 5 watts. Winlink communicates fine with the TNC, but never connects to the node. Monitoring the data over the air using a receiver and SoundModem, I see the following data:

1:Fm N8SHA To W8CMN-10 <SABM C P> [19:08:52R] [-++]
1:Fm N8SHA To W8CMN-10 <SABM C P> [19:08:55R] [-++]
1:Fm N8SHA To W8CMN-10 <SABM C P> [19:08:59R] [-++]
1:Fm N8SHA To W8CMN-10 <SABM C P> [19:09:02R] [-++]
1:Fm N8SHA To W8CMN-10 <SABM C P> [19:09:05R] [-++]

After that, Winlink returns a "Disconnect reported" message.

If I crank the power up to high, it finally connects.

Switching over to APRS mode, I can hit a digipeater 43 miles away on low power with no issues.

I’m feeding a Diamond X50NA with about 50 ft of LMR400. I checked all of the connections. SWR is good, and my RigExpert analyzer doesn’t show any faults in the line. I'm not sure what else to check with the analyzer.

The owner of the node indicates everything seems to be working well on his end and hasn't seen any traffic from me since my attempt connecting at high power

Attached are screen shots showing various settings. I'm honestly at a loss. Any thoughts for things to check would be greatly appreciated.

-Matt

 

[AK9R]

Your configuration matches mine. I'm sending you a Winklink message using my TM-D710A as I type this.

 

[tweiss3]

If the config is confirmed by AK9R above, there are a few things left to check, not radio specific:

1)When attempting to connect, can you verify/observe the radio going into transmit?
2)Have you tried higher power? I understand you can hit the iGate much farther, but sometimes things don't always make sense.
3)What is your squelch set at? With packet, you often have to turn squelch down to 1 notch above completely open.

 

[belvdr]

If you're connecting to a digipeater at 43 miles on low power but cannot connect to the node at 1.5 miles on low power, that indicates either a problem at the Winlink node's antenna or a line of sight problem.

 

[N8SHA]

1 - Yes, it definitely transmits. I see the radio react as expected and the SoundModem screenshot above shows the decoded output via another radio.
2 - As noted, I tried high power and did make it in at least once. Medium did not. I might try one more time on high. It just kind of freaks me out to have to run 50 watts for this, though. (Not to mention the power supply fan kicks in and sounds like a jet taking off.)
3 - I double checked and it's just above open.

If the config is confirmed by AK9R above, there are a few things left to check, not radio specific:

1)When attempting to connect, can you verify/observe the radio going into transmit?
2)Have you tried higher power? I understand you can hit the iGate much farther, but sometimes things don't always make sense.
3)What is your squelch set at? With packet, you often have to turn squelch down to 1 notch above completely open.

 

[N8SHA]

Rats - I was really hoping there would be something simple I overlooked.

No joy in Mudville tonight.

Your configuration matches mine. I'm sending you a Winklink message using my TM-D710A as I type this.

 

[N8SHA]

I've kind of wondered about line of site. The packet node sits about 200 feet above my location. It's not a giant tower, though. It's on the tallest hill in the area, I think on a modest tower. Antenna to Antenna might actually have fair amount of trees in between. It might actually be worth trying this mobile to see what the results are.

If you're connecting to a digipeater at 43 miles on low power but cannot connect to the node at 1.5 miles on low power, that indicates either a problem at the Winlink node's antenna or a line of sight problem.

 

[N8SHA]

Your configuration matches mine. I'm sending you a Winklink message using my TM-D710A as I type this.

I'm still trying to figure out my Winlink issues. Going mobile only produced a modest improvement. Would you be willing to pass along your settings in the Data Terminal section of the Kenwood memory control program? I'm wondering if I need to adjust something here.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[KE5MC]

APRS is repeated from 1st digipeter to last depending on wide1-1, etc. Apples and potatoes comparison.

 

[N8SHA]

APRS is repeated from 1st digipeter to last depending on wide1-1, etc. Apples and potatoes comparison.

I can directly hit the digipeter- it's not being digipeted through multiple nodes. So, more like granny smith and golden delicious.

 

[AK9R]

I don't use Kenwood's MCP. When I was a kid, I had to walk 5 miles to school uphill each way in driving snowstorms, so I tend to do things by hand.

Here are my relevant menu settings:
Aux 517 -- B-band
Aux 518 -- 1200 bps
Aux 519 -- 9600 bps
Aux 528 -- 9600 bps
Aux 529 -- A-band

Here's my setup screen from Winlink Express:

 

[n5ims]

One thing to think of is that the locations reported by Winlink are often the license location, not the node location. These can be very different. You might try to connect to another gateway that on paper is further away but may actually be closer or have a better coverage area (higher antenna, better antenna, better coax, stronger antenna, etc.).

 

[N8SHA]

I don't use Kenwood's MCP. When I was a kid, I had to walk 5 miles to school uphill each way in driving snowstorms, so I tend to do things by hand.

hah! Totally understood - I think it would be safe to say that the settings I was looking for are set at factory default on your end. I just sort of stumbled across them - apparently they can't be set in the radio, but only through the MCP.

 

[AK9R]

I'm not aware of anything that can be set through MCP that can't be set through the radio's user interface. And, as far as I know the settings I gave are the only ones that impact configuration of the internal modem.

That said, I went back to your original post and see that you are using a TM-D710GA. It's firmware is a little different from the TM-D710A that I'm using.

Have you looked at the CD-ROM manual that either came with your radio or can be downloaded from Kenwood's website. There's a section in that manual for setting up the internal packet TNC.

You mentioned some time ago that you can connect using high power, but not mid or low power. It's possible that there is some sort of obstruction between you and the node that is making a connection difficult.

 

[N8SHA]

The setting is mentioned on the "Echolink-2" page of the full manual with the note "The settings in numbers 2 ~ 4 (above) can be performed only using a MCP-6A."



Honestly, it was a little bit of a last ditch effort. I'm really beginning to think it is something with the location of the node. Going mobile, I went about .5 mile west of my location to a large school parking lot in the open and still could not connect. I've then went almost directly north of the node, less that .25 mile from the QTH of the node owner (who says everything is working fine) and could connect, but performance was not great. I managed to get a simple email through, but trying to update the Channel List via packet took forever I finally gave up after about 15 minutes.

 

[AK9R]

update the Channel List via packet

Have you tried updating the channel list via Telnet? I think updating it over the air is kind of a last resort if you don't have Internet access.

 

[N8SHA]

Have you tried updating the channel list via Telnet? I think updating it over the air is kind of a last resort if you don't have Internet access.

Yes - that works fine. I was just trying to do it over the air to have a decent amount of data to try transferring. I even tried transferring the winlink email you sent a couple of weeks ago via RF and had to cancel that after 10-15 minutes.