SCS - the PACTOR creators

The PACTOR G3 Bridge.

A standard fax machine is directly connected with the radio via the PACTOR G3 Bridge and sends and receives faxes via shortwave.

It's possible with PACTOR. The new PACTOR G3 Bridge enables you to send your faxes via high frequency. The new development from HinzTec doesn't need a computer. You just connect a standard fax machine via a normal telephone cable with the PACTOR G3 Bridge, dial your number and get connected. On the other side, hundreds of kilometers away, without any telephone line, another PACTOR G3 Modem, connected to a shortwave radio, receives the fax and transmits the data to another fax machine, which prints the message as usual. The function is especially useful for business communication between distant locations. For example adventure holiday resorts, research and military stations as well as catastrophe and emergency services. Depending on propagation and content of the pages, that have to be transmitted, it takes between 3 and 8 minutes for an A4 page to go through. The quality of the transmission matches the one via a normal telephone line. In the same manner as the conventional fax traffic, the destination number has to be selected. The number is unequivocally and will be generated from the call sign. For an even faster operation you can also save the number in the memory of the fax.

The TRXPTC. The Transceiver integrated PACTOR Modem.

Communication between the built-in TRXPTC and your computer works wireless via Bluetooth.

More and more often modern and inexpensive data communication requires traditional radio technologies on HF and VHF frequencies. Reliable transceivers from well-known manufacturers like ICOM, YAESU and KENWOOD are the core of such systems. But often one faces problems when fitting an external modem into the system, e.g. lack of space or cable length. However, many transceivers still have space for an additional PCB inside the device. For this reason SCS now fitted the well-tried PTC-IIusb modem with Bluetooth option on a 80 x 90 mm, double-sided PCB. Because of the standard connections, radio amateurs, radio technicians and manufacturers are able to build the modem into the transceiver easily, for upgrading the device with the functions of a High Speed PACTOR-III modem.

Download brochure in PDF format.

For the end user folllowing SCS dealers provide tranceivers with already built-in modems:

Yachtfunk.com specialized on modern and inexpensive email communication on yachts via shortwave radio. All current transceivers are available with the built-in TRXPTC.

ICOM 78 with TRXPTC and Bluetooth
ICOM M802 with TRXPTC and Bluetooth
ICOM M801E with TRXPTC and Bluetooth
ICOM M710 with TRXPTC and Buetooth

e-mail: info@yachtfunk.com
webl: www.yachtfunk.com

Lunatronic upgrades the most popular ICOM M710 with the TRXPTC and Bluetooth for a very attractive price. Also the 718 HAM SSB and M802, international version, are available with TRXPTC and Bluetooth.

ICOM 718 with TRXPTC and Bluetooth
ICOM M802 with TRXPTC and Bluetooth
ICOM M710 with TRXPTC and Buetooth

e-mail: info@lunatronic.net
web: www.lunatronic.net

Bluetooth option for the PTC-IIusb.

The BT board is installed inside the PTC-IIusb and provides error free communication with the Bluetooth network of your computer.

The BT board is installed inside the PTC-IIusb so that the antenna can radiate at the backplate of the PTC-IIusb.

The PTC-IIusb is now available with optional Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a low power high frequency (2.4 GHz) radio link which serves as a cable replacement for short distances.

The data stream signal of a USB interface is located in the middle of the shortwave bands. Therefore, the USB data signal cannot be separated from the shortwave signal being transmitted or received by simply filtering. Mutual interference is possible, especially where the antenna is located close to the modem/PC setup (ship borne installations). Mutual interference in this case means that the transmitted HF-signal can disturb the USB data stream between PC and modem, as well the USB data stream can disturb the radio reception of shortwaves.

Bluetooth can help solve this problem, as Bluetooth and shortwave radio signals don’t interfere with one another. Additionally, eliminating the USB cable connection, the danger of ground loops and parasitic currents distorting the radios signal modulation are removed, which will lead to a better transmission quality.

You can order the PTC-IIusb with Bluetooth option already installed, or you can get an existing PTC-IIusb extended for Bluetooth by an authorized dealer or by SCS. For the prices for both versions please refer to the price list or ask your dealer.

Quite often one doesn’t need a PACTOR Multicontroller with all its features and costs, for example if only position or weather data, beacon signals or other repeating informations have to be transmitted via HF/VHF. SCS has understood this need and developed under the motto “small, efficient and reliable” an inexpensive addition to the SCS appliance family. Base of the TNC forms the AX.25 protocoll, equipped with the, from SCS developed, “Robust Packet Radio” (RPR) modulation for HF. As a result the tracker is a complete TNC, with full APRS ability, interfaces for a switch to the TRX and NMEA GPS data. The tracker communicates via optical separated USB interface with the PC, is almost QRM free and equipped with a sleep mode for the APRS functionality.

APRS with the PTC-IInet
(Automatic Position Reporting System)
With the newest software release the PTC-IInet can easily used as position data (APRS) "collector". As the PTC-IInet has a flexible DSP frontend, it can decode all possible modulations currently used to transfer position data via VHF/UHF and HF links. This certainly includes the new Robust-Packet waveform for shortwaves, developed by SCS in 2005. The received position data is extracted by the software running on the integrated Linux computer and can be transferred via the LAN interface to any Internet location in the world. The destination of the data is easily configurable with the usual web-interface of the PTC-IInet. SCS has established an example application on the SCS server, which can be viewed here:

http://www.scs-ptc.com/tracker

The data displayed here is collected by PTC-IInet located at the SCS facilities in Hanau. Then the data is automaticly forwarded to the SCS server where it is stored in a data base. From there the data is merged into a map-system adopted from "Google Maps" and can be displayed with any web browser. This is an easy application that can be run and installed by everybody who has private or commercial interrests in collecting and displaying position data. With the help of the PTC-IInet, receiption, pre-processing and forwarding of position data is automaticly done without the need of much knowledge or programming skills.

Solutions for Professionals
In the last few months SCS has continued the development of the PIB under the motto „TCP/IP everywhere.“ Once the PIB is installed at the host station, the user can connect to the Internet through the network-installation on any operating system via PTC-II Series modem and HF shortwave radio system. Theoretically, all features are possible: E-Mail (STMP-POP3), FTP, HTTP, etc. The limitation is naturally the speed of the connection. Typical applications that are possible through PIB are the use of E-Mail clients like Outlook, Netscape Mail, Eudora or similar. One navigates through their typical Windows interface and simply uses the new virtual modem to recall their mails.

For example, to make information available on the internet browser, these internet sites must be built in the data-reduced form, which means: no photos, no graphics but only pure text. The German PACTOR® Service Provider Kielradio, for example, supplies in such a way the weather information needed by the specific user.

In TCP/IP Protocol one very large part is entrusted to the protocol information, which is negligible in the communication via wide band operating system. Here comes in PIB. This overhead is automatically greatly removed by the PIB and only the important data is transferred further.

From the perspective of the service Provider the PIB software can be installed directly to the standard PC with an internet connection and a modem. One needs only the PIB software CD, which is self installing on Linux computers. Since the Summer 2005 there is one yet easier solution for the advantages of the PIB without the PC, namely the PTC-IInet. This modem has a Linux server already integrated, thus permitting to run the processes of the PIB. One needs only a connection to the internet via DSL router and the usual SSB radio cable connection. The PTC-IInet is then configured through a web interface for your use.
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New: The PTC-IInet

The new PTC-IInet is a clever combination of a PACTOR® modem and an embedded Linux computer.Thus the construction consists of the complete base-station with the internet gateway for the PACTOR®-IP-Bridge network. You therefore only need to hook-up the PTC-IInet to an existing router and then to configure it via the web interface.
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New: The PTC-IIusb

Like the name already indicates, the PTC-IIusb fills one of the long wished features for the PTC with the direct USB connection. So with that an external RS232/USB-Adapter is not longer needed. The PTC-IIusb falls into place precisely in the middle between the PTC-IIex and the PTC-IIpro. It is a "Single-Port-Modem" like the PTC-IIex, as it has only one connection for the transceiver. Thus, one can operate alternatively Packet-Radio and PACTOR®, but not simultaneously. However the PTCIIusb comes with a transceiver remote control like the PTCIIpro. Therefore one can control the shortwave transceiver via USB-Port. As for the housing, the PTC-IIusb is the same size as the PTC-IIpro. In contrast to the previous modems we have given up on the buffering of the RAM capacity through the Lithium battery, since every now and then they tend to lead to problems especially in the maritime environment. Additionally, the on-off switch is now on the front of the housing, also as a result of many requests.
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What is PACTOR®?
PACTOR® (lat.: the mediator) is a fast and reliable ARQ teletype mode, developed by Hans-Peter Helfert (DL6MAA) and Ulrich Strate (DF4KV) to overcome the shortcomings of AMTOR/SITOR and Packet Radio on short wave.

Today the PACTOR® mode has evolved from a pure Amateur Radio mode into a mode for world wide professional data transmission on shortwave. Based on our modems we offer a wide variety of solutions for your worldwide data communication problems: from pure chat mode, to FTP like data transfer, to a true TCP/IP transparent link for e-mail services over shortwave!
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