Trunker help needed

[laser21012]

I have installed trunker, but cannot get it to work. I ran the slicer program and it sees a signal on the CTS pin of com1. I have installed a directory in the root C: called trunker, in this directory I have 2 files.
1. trunker.exe
2. trunk.bat, which reads:
SET TRACKENV=C:\TRACKEN.TXT
TRUNKER
I have a shortcut on my desktop with trunk.bat to launch the trunker program.
Also in C: directory I have installed a file TRACKENV.TXT which I have the information on TRACKSLICERPORT, TRACKSLICERPIN,TRACKSLICERMODE,ETC. when I launch the trunker.bat the trunker executes and I get the trunker screen. After a few minutes I get the "wants cts". I have tried normal and inverted, but with no results. I have tried DSR,DTS,CTS still nothing. I am using an old PRO 34 as a discriminator tap. I wanted to see if this will work before I try to tap my Pro 95+96. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Bob

 

[crayon]

Bob,

It sounds like you have all your ducks in a row here. Can you describe your slicer setup, which circuit is it?

I know that many people run Trunker in windows enviroment without any problems, but since you are having problems, I would suggest you booting into DOS to achive a baseline from which we can work from.

If you do not have DOS 6.22 go here:

http://www.bootdisk.com

and download a copy of 6.22.


Be sure to let us know what you find out .. :wink:

 

[troymail]

Bob

Hopefully this is just a typo:

SET TRACKENV=C:\TRACKEN.TXT
---------------------------------^

or missing a character?

 

[crayon]

Hopefully this is just a typo:

oooooo .. good catch. :wink:

 

[troymail]

that CAN'T be it.... can it?

 

[laser21012]

Good work Troymail, that was typo. I do have a "v" in that file. Crayon I downloaded the dos 6.22 on disk and I'm trying to figure what to do with it.
If I go to the shutdow window and select "restart in Dos" it comes up with driver information. It does not go to a dos prompt. The only way to get to the dos prompt is to select start, programs,ms-dos prompt. its like I'am in windows but can't get to just dos. Thanks for all the help.
Bob

 

[troymail]

Post a copy of what is in your TRACKENV file... here's what I have:

TRACKSLICERPORT=COM1
TRACKSLICERPIN=CTS
TRACKSLICERMODE=INVERT
TRACKSCAN=BC245
NEWRADIO=10
NEWGROUP=8
FILTERLOG=0
TRACKCOLORS=0,6,7,14,14,4

 

[crayon]

I downloaded the dos 6.22 on disk and I'm trying to figure what to do with it.

laser21012,

Once you get a boot floppy made .. boot your computer from that floppy. Have another floppy handy to put trunker on and adjust the config's so that stuff that points to c:\ is pointing to a:\.

What type of slicer circuit are you using?

 

[laser21012]

Crayon,
That was it!!!! I booted from the floppy(Dos 6.22) and then I put a disk in that contained the trunker directory and opened it. It came right up. I went back and looked at the version of Dos in my machine and it was a windows version.
I guess I have to run this on a seperate version of Dos. My next question is can I load the floppys on to my hard drive or do I have to use the floppys? Its been a long time since I have used Dos and had to dig out my old books.
By the way the slicer that I built was the same one Troymail built, I believe. Its the one thats on www. bookshock.com. I too had trouble getting it to work, so I saw an old thread fom Troymail about some changes that he made and modified mine.
I guesss the next step is to get a scanner that I can listen to while the program is running, any suggestions? I want to thank you and Troymail for helping me, its nice to know there are people out there willing to help others. I really appreciate it.
Bob

 

[crayon]

sweet.

I was beginning to sweat it out for ya there a bit. The answer to your question about having DOS on your hard is going to depend on what flavor of Windows that you are running.

XP perhaps? If so, is your hard drive formatted with NTFS?

 

[laser21012]

Crayon,
No I have Windows 98. Does'nt sound good does it. I found out I have alot of reading to understand all the information that is displayed on the screen.This will keep me busy for awhile. Do you have any recomendations on a scanner that I can buy to listen to the calls? Thanks again.
Bob

 

[crayon]

Actually, Windows 98 is going to make it really easy for you to multi-boot your computer.

There are plenty of boot loaders out there .. but I would just keep your bootable floppy handy and pop it into your computer whenever you want to run Trunker.

Keep all of your Trunker files on the c:\ drive. Next, edit your autoexec.bat on your boot floppy so that it will change to c:\ and then cd into the Trunker dir and fire up Trunker for you automagically.

Do you have any recomendations on a scanner that I can buy to listen to the calls?

I am somewhat confused by your question here.

Is this only scanner that you currently own? Are you wanting Trunker to control another radio so that you can run Trunker and listen to the activity?

I usually recommend to anyone that is running Trunker to get a cheap-o radio to do the grunt work of feeding the slicer. If you want to use Trunker to control another radio ... it will have to be one that it can talk to, so that narrows the selection down a bit.

Lastly, if you want to just buy a scanner to have another one, set a price as to how much your willing to pay and buy the most radio for your money.

HTH's

 

[jomak]

I'm confused. If you are running Windows 98, why run Trunker off of a floppy? Simply boot up to a DOS prompt using F8 during bootup or if Win 98 is already running, you can use the shutdown procedure to boot into DOS. And why is the CTS line in your batch file? Maybe I missed something in this thread?? I'll go back and re-read it.

JT

 

[crayon]

I'm confused. If you are running Windows 98, why run Trunker off of a floppy? Simply boot up to a DOS prompt using F8 during bootup or if Win 98 is already running, you can use the shutdown procedure to boot into DOS.

And why is the CTS line in your batch file? Maybe I missed something in this thread?? I'll go back and re-read it.[/quote]
Most people are able to get a copy of Trunker running in a DOS window in Windows or, as you observed, booting into Windows DOS.

Since Trunker was not designed for either methods, and because he was having problems, getting back to a baseline is how I like to troubleshoot. As with everything, there is a million ways to solve a problem.

And why is the CTS line in your batch file?

Have you read the FAQ that ships with Trunker? You can spec out which line you want to read data off of .. you just seeing that hardcoded into the the config file.

 

[jomak]

Trunker was not designed for either methods, and because he was having problems, getting back to a baseline is how I like to troubleshoot.

Trunker wasn't designed for either method?? Booting into DOS via F8 is essentially the same as booting from a floppy disk.

Have you read the FAQ that ships with Trunker? You can spec out which line you want to read data off of .. you just seeing that hardcoded into the the config file.

Read the Trunker FAQs?? Heck, for as many years as I've been using Trunker, I could almost recite them! My point was that, until any user is sure what pin their slicer/PC is using, they shouldn't put a line like that in their initialization file. A new inexperienced user should simply use only TRACSLICERPORT=X at first to get the program running and then work their way up from that once Trunker has at least started. If they put too many wrong variables in from the start, Trunker may never run for them.

JT

 

[pro92b]

There is futher info in an old thread http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=12124&highlight=

The configurable boot files allow customization for DOS boot up.

In trackenv.txt I think CTS is the default if nothing else is entered.

 

[loumaag]

Lets not forget, if you run slicer it will report what pin is being used, and of course you get a good judge of the quality of the signal being delivered to the PC. :wink:

 

[scannerfreak]

Lou,

I can't find slicer.exe, where can I get it?

 

[pro92b]

First thing Google came up with:
http://home.ica.net/~phoenix/wap/slicer.htm

 

[scannerfreak]

:lol: Never even thought of google, My Bad....Can't believe I was guilty of that....