MiniSport Laptop Hacker - Vol 16 Oct 1993
Copyright (c) 1993 Brian Mork -- "not to make money, but to keep it that
way for others, too."

>>> ADMIN
Welcome back!  Saudi Arabia was not so rewarding this time.  I brought
back rugs & gold, but the enforcement of the southern no-fly zone on Iraq
has become almost routine.  Forces are getting spread thin to other
theaters, so I guess it's good that there's little unexpected activity in
this arena.  Remember, MLHacker is now distributed on several nets.  Be
sure to use the easiest method for you.  I need to hear if R95 is working
for you folks (the program used to split this issue into 2K parts).  I
want to get the $15 registration fee off to the Texas Packet Radio Socie-
ty once "testing" is completed.  I can even send binaries to you with
this utility.  You can get copies on disk of any software or text files I
refer to by sending me a disk and SASE.  I'll put a variety of other
MLHacker related goodies on there, too.

Please forward your MLH contributions--otherwise it's just me rambling
about what projects I'm working on.  My computer now has its own number
(509-244-9260).  Until I get everything "glued" together, it will be up
intermittently accepting logins as an Internet host or FAX receiver.  I'm
available on Internet, Packet, or USMail, too (see below).  Please, con-
tribute!

>>> TECH HELP REQUESTED
I have the PMP (Poor Man's Packet) running in the modem slot of my Minis-
port, thanks to the help of a local ham.  The receive works fine, but
upon transmit, the software chokes.  I'm convinced that on the Minisport,
the algorithms coded in C just aren't fast enough.  Has anybody out there
rewritten critical sections in assembly?

Even *more* people have reported in with dead power supplies.  This is
the single biggest weakness of the Minisport.  If you're an intrepid
hacker who has figured out the power supply board or you're an insider
with releasable information, please contact me.  Thank you, Steve, for
the info you've been able to forward.

>>> RADIO SCANNING WITH COM2
The previous issue quoted a segment by N9IYJ on how to turn your modem
port into a second PC-compatible serial port.  If you're really atten-
tive, you've noticed that besides the MLH series, I just distributed re-
views of Optoelectronics new counters onto the same nets that get MLH.
Guess what?  The data port on OE's 3000A and M1 counters are perfectly
compatible with the MiniSport COM2 modem header!  I just built another
plug in board (the first being my Poor Man's Packet board) that hosts
N9IYJ's circuit for a PC port, plus the feed through to a 1/8 phone jack
to communicate with the counters.  A little toggle switch selects which
set of circuitry to use.

I set about to write a program to acquire the data in order to avoid OE's
steep price for the same.  As I reduced the requirements to a flow chart,
I realized the logic was trivial.  The communication package I use has a
script, or command language, that can do it with no normal "programming"
on my part.  Now I just run the terminal program, plug the MiniSport into
the M1 counter I own, and run the command file.  Admittedly, some ad-
vanced features go away, but it cost NO programming effort and NO dol-
lars.  It generates a LOT of data, quickly!  Feel free to expand the log-
ic to your taste (e.g., check validity of the filename).  Here's the Pro-
comm equivalent:

---------------------------cut here-------------
  set port com2     ;Minisport's modem header
  set baudrate 4800 ;3000A docs say 2400 baud. Typo?
  set parity none
  set stopbits 1
  set cr_in cr_lf   ;map each inboudn CR to a CR/LF pair
  message "Enter filename for frequency data: "
  kflush            ;flush the keybord
  get S0
  message "^MReceived filename:"
  message S0
  isfile S0
  if success
    message "Requested file already exists, appending data."
  endif
  message "ESC to terminate command script & not save data."
  message "Turn off meter or disconnect cable to terminate & save data."

  rflush            ;flush the receive buffer
  log open S0
  if failure
    message "Can't open the requested file; exiting command file"
    goto exit
  endif

request:
  transmit "^M"     ;A "^M" generates a carriage return
  waitfor "^M" 3     ;Wait for the counter's CR
  if waitfor
     goto request
  else
     goto nodata    ;to stop data collection, turn off meter!
  endif

nodata:
  message "Incoming data timeout: saving previous data."

exit:
  log close
---------------------------cut here-------------

The hardware to connect the M1 and the MiniSport is electrically trivial.
Connect the 1/8 phone jack shield to Pin 4 of the Minisport modem header
(see the numbering convention in MLHacker Volume 8).  Connect the 1/8
phone jack ring to Pin 7 of the header; phone jack tip to Pin 9.

I post-process all my data with SuperCalc. From there it can be collated,
sorted, plotted, averaged, etc.  What can you do with this combo? Try
parking your car across the street from the police station.  Turn on the
two battery powered units and read the newspaper for a few minutes.  Save
the data on disk and head home.  Whip out SuperCalc (or Lotus or whatev-
er) import the frequencies and manipulate to your heart's content.  A
histogram of how many hits on each frequency looks neat. The short stacks
at frequencies different than what you know about deserve attention with
your scanner.  Voila!

MLHacker isn't the place for the full story, but I figured since I en-
joyed getting this system working, others might like to know about it.
See the previously mentioned reviews for the full story on the counters.
Internet and Compuserve have reviews on scanners, and I'm writing up
procedures for the full data collection and processing to be release lat-
er.

73, Brian Mork (Opus-OVH)     KA9SNF@wb7nnf.#spokn.wa.usa
                              Internet BMORK@opus-ovh.spk.wa.us
                              6006-B Eaker, Fairchild, WA 99011