Pactor Modem Connection Problem

[Petronella]

I have an old ICOM700 HF radio and a Pactor PCT-IIex modem. In a busy marina in S Turkey last year with a big cliff behind me I got this set up working but it was very slow.

So I upgraded the modem software from Pactor 2 to Pactor 3. I'm now in the Greek islands far from radio interference and I hoped transmission speeds would improve. But my new setup will not connect at all any longer!

I've not made any other significant changes and I have up to date software but when I try to send an email I get a "no response from [servername]" message. PC to modem seems to work fine and the lights dim like they used to do on transmit. Is Pactor 3 less tolerant of interference than Pactor 2?

Any ideas?

 

[Bilgediver]

I have an old ICOM700 HF radio and a Pactor PCT-IIex modem. In a busy marina in S Turkey last year with a big cliff behind me I got this set up working but it was very slow.

So I upgraded the modem software from Pactor 2 to Pactor 3. I'm now in the Greek islands far from radio interference and I hoped transmission speeds would improve. But my new setup will not connect at all any longer!

I've not made any other significant changes and I have up to date software but when I try to send an email I get a "no response from [servername]" message. PC to modem seems to work fine and the lights dim like they used to do on transmit. Is Pactor 3 less tolerant of interference than Pactor 2?

Any ideas?

There are many things which could be wrong. You suggest it might be 12 months since you upgraded the modem but make no suggestion that it
never worked after the upgrade. Is this correct???? Can you control the modem with software to switch to Pactor 1 or Pactor 11 and have you tried this.


Do you have another SSB receiver on board to monitor the transmitted signal. If you do this then DO NOT connect an antenna to the receiving station
as you will blow the front end.

Does the transmitted signal sound sharp and clear or is there interference on the signal ??

Have you checked the available stations to confirm the station you are calling is available and have you tried calling other stations?

Some stations might not have Pactor 111 connectivity.

Sailmail usually provides all Pactor modes. Do you use this and have you checked the station list?

http://www.sailmail.com/

 

[Petronella]

Thanks for your detailed reponse.

There are many things which could be wrong. You suggest it might be 12 months since you upgraded the modem but make no suggestion that it
never worked after the upgrade. Is this correct???? Can you control the modem with software to switch to Pactor 1 or Pactor 11 and have you tried this.

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I TRIED TO CONNECT FOLLOWING UPGRADE TO PACTOR 3. IM AFRAID I DONT KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT USE P1 OR P2. I HAVE JUST MADE A SAILMAIL CONNECTION IN THE PAST.


Do you have another SSB receiver on board to monitor the transmitted signal. If you do this then DO NOT connect an antenna to the receiving station
as you will blow the front end.

NO OTHER SSB ON BOARD IM AFRAID.

Does the transmitted signal sound sharp and clear or is there interference on the signal ??

I AM UNABLE TO TELL.

Have you checked the available stations to confirm the station you are calling is available and have you tried calling other stations?

Some stations might not have Pactor 111 connectivity.

Sailmail usually provides all Pactor modes. Do you use this and have you checked the station list?

YES I USE SAILMAIL. I HAVE UPDATED STATION LIST AND TRIED P2 AS WELL AS P3 STATIONS.

http://www.sailmail.com/

 

[Bilgediver]

The M700 is an old radio. Although I have used one on an oil rig for Pactor and Sitor many moons ago I am trying to remember what facilities it offered.

With Amtor and Pactor modes it is necessary to be exactly on frequency. Some radios help achieve this by having separate modes on a switch for SSB and telex. ie Pactor. This ensures that when in data modes the radio is making a compensation of 1700 hz to arrive at the correct centre frequency.

Sailmail also makes this correction in the software set up. Are you using the software to set the radio frequency and have you input the 1700 offset in the sailmail program. If setting the frequency manually using the radio then you have to set the dial 1700 down . this means for Airmail station on 6357 you would tune 6355.3.

The M700Pro certainly can be tuned by software but I believe the M700 might require manual set up?????? If so you might have a frequency problem as above.

Most M700 radios seen in the UK only operate on USB however some from America also have LSB . If you have one of these then ensure it is on USB.


If your radio is being programed by software in your computer each time you select a station then you should be tuning correctly however if you are programiing certain channels into the manual selector you might have to compensate.

One other thing is that with many data modems they have a forward and reverse setting. Does yours have this in the set up and is it set correctly.


If I was there I would try and find an active pactor station and confirm that the signal peeked at the exact frequency I expected it to as it is easy to
be off frequency . Try monitoring the Belgian frequencies. Propagation has been pretty bad recently so you might not hear much. I use Winlink and have noticed how poor communications have been across Europe recently.

 

[Petronella]

Success

Fixed it!

Maybe using the Belgian frequencies and getting away from harbour helped but using one particular USB port on the PC seems to be the key. Maybe this is the USB 2.0 port but I'm not sure about that. Anyway if I use that port it works, if not it doesn't. Speed of 2800 characters per minute so gribfiles come down in around a minute. Great stuff.

Thanks again for your help. John

 

[RobbieW]

Glad you've got it working. Its not clear whether you use Sailmail or Winlink ? The Winlink service has lost at least one station because the sysop died, ON0FS in Belgium, and PA3DUV doesnt seem to be on-air anymore. It may be that one thing you should do is update your list of stations if using Winlink. btw, I'm pretty sure we were anchored in Vliho together a couple of weeks ago - when it blew up a bit - Spring Dawn.

 

[Petronella]

It's Sailmail we use so the missing Winlink sysops won't have affected us. When I did the Pactor upgrade I also refreshed the Sailmail stations so they were all up to date.

Spring Dawn? Yes, I remember seeing you in Vliho. Shame we didn't get to meet up.

We are now in Syracuse, Sicily waiting for weather to cross to Sardinia and thence to Gib, Canaries and the Caribbean.

 

[RobbieW]

...We are now in Syracuse, Sicily waiting for weather to cross to Sardinia and thence to Gib, Canaries and the Caribbean.

Hence the desire to get the SSB back in action, safe trip. My SSB probably wont work well till I give the ground plate a good soak in acid to clear all the shell out of it

 

[Bilgediver]

Hence the desire to get the SSB back in action, safe trip. My SSB probably wont work well till I give the ground plate a good soak in acid to clear all the shell out of it

You can always trail about 10 metres of copper wire over the stern andconect to earth on tuner when wanting to make contact.