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Coastal TNC-Pi User Manual

Raspberry pi packet radio board
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TNC-Pi Assembly Instructions &
Operating Tips
By John Hansen, W2FS
Portions by
John Wiseman, G8BPQ – Linux configuration
Jim Whiteside, M0HPJ – Xastir
Paul Fischer, KC9RGZ – Headless iGate
Document editing support by
Ed Slingland, N2WD
Website
http://tnc-x.com/TNCPi.htm
TNC-Pi User Guide
-1-
6/25/2017

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  • Page 1 TNC-Pi Assembly Instructions & Operating Tips By John Hansen, W2FS Portions by John Wiseman, G8BPQ – Linux configuration Jim Whiteside, M0HPJ – Xastir Paul Fischer, KC9RGZ – Headless iGate Document editing support by Ed Slingland, N2WD Website http://tnc-x.com/TNCPi.htm TNC-Pi User Guide...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Get and set parameters ....................19 Running Applications other than LinBPQ with TNC-Pi in I2C mode....... 20 Steps to create an APRS receive-only igate using the Raspberry Pi and TNC-Pi ..... 21 Equipment needed ......................21 Instructions ........................22...

  • Page 3: Introduction

    Introduction Thank you for purchasing a TNC-Pi: TNC-X for Raspberry Pi or TNC-Pi 2. Figure 1: Two TNC-Pi’s stacked on one Raspberry Pi Figure 2: TNC-Pi mounted on a Raspberry Pi Figure 3: TNC-Pi 2 mounted on a Raspberry Pi 2.

  • Page 4: Assembly Instructions

    R1, R2, R3 100K resistor Brown, black, yellow   R4, R17, R19, 1K resistor Brown, black, red   R5, R11, R14, R16, 10K resistor Brown, black, orange   24.9K resistor Red, yellow, white, red, brown TNC-Pi User Guide 6/25/2017...
  • Page 5 One 16-pin, one 18-pin and two 8-pin sockets   JP3, JP4 2-pin header Combined into one 2x2 Not included in newer pin header kits   2 x 13 extra long header 2 x 20 in TNC-Pi 2 TNC-Pi User Guide 6/25/2017...

  • Page 6: Assembly

    Note that all of the components except for the 26 ( or 40 in TNC-Pi 2) pin header are installed on the side of the board with the silk screen.
  • Page 7 Connecting the Radio, for more information.  Solder in the 2 x13 header. With the TNC-Pi 2 kit this is a 2 x 20 header. This part is somewhat tricky. It is the only part that is installed through the bottom of the board.
  • Page 8 USB connector just to be on the safe side. You can then solder the pins that come through the top of the board. These pins will allow you to stack a second TNC-Pi on top of the first one if you choose to do so.
  • Page 9 ICSP marked Note: As of late June of 2017 my supplier of the 40 pin header for the TNC-Pi is out of stock. Fortunately I have a work around that will allow me to continue to supply TNC-Pi’s. During this time period I will supply two headers that are significantly shorter than the usual one supplied with this kit.
  • Page 10 Schematic Diagram (see next page for parts layout diagram) TNC-Pi User Guide -10- 6/25/2017...

  • Page 11: Parts Layout

    Parts Layout (for TNC-Pi) TNC-Pi User Guide -11- 6/25/2017...

  • Page 12: Connecting The Radio

    Parts Layout (for TNC-Pi 2) Connecting the Radio You can either wire up a 9 pin D-Sub plug to mate with the one on the TNC-Pi, or, if you’d prefer, you can use the four holes below labeled to hard wire a radio Radio connection.

  • Page 13: Adjust Transmit Audio Output

    One way to set this is to use two radios, one to monitor the transmitted signal and the other connected to the TNC-Pi. 1. Key the radio connected to the TNC-Pi manually by pushing the PTT button on 2. On the other radio you will hear a continuous tone (even though no data is being transmitted…...
  • Page 14 In order to use the TNC-Pi with the Raspberry Pi serial port, you will need to make a couple of changes to the Pi configuration. Edit the /boot/cmdline.txt file in the boot directory and make the following change:...

  • Page 15: Keyboard To Keyboard Connections

    The serial rate must be at , because that is the only baud rate support by 19200 TNC-Pi. The next two values ( in the above example) are the values for . Don’t leave any blank lines in this file.

  • Page 16: Support

    Support If you have any questions about your TNC-Pi or are having hardware issues with it, please contact John Hansen, W2FS at john@coastalchip.com. Software issues, particularly with regard to the Linux version of BPQ are best addressed to the author, John Wiseman, G8BPQ.

  • Page 17: Application Notes

    For example, if the process number is 2335, issue kill the command: sudo kill 2335 At this point it may be a good idea to rerun the command to be certain that the process was successfully killed. kissattach TNC-Pi User Guide -17- 6/25/2017...

  • Page 18: Start Xastir

    Xastir you’ll be asked to put in your station parameters. Then you’ll need to specify the port that the TNC-Pi is on. Click on Interface and then Interface Control. Click “Add” and pick “Serial KISS TNC” off the list. Push Add and it will bring up a properties list.

  • Page 19: Configuring Tnc-Pi For Use With The I2C Protocol

    I2C device on that bus. TNC-Pi is shipped with both of these parameters set to 0. An I2C device number of 0 means the TNC is using the serial port rather than the I2C port.

  • Page 20: Running Applications Other Than Linbpq With Tnc-Pi In I2C Mode

    John Wiseman, G8BPQ, sends along the following information about running other applications using I2C: The TNC-Pi can be used with applications that use the Linux ax.25 stack, or applications that expect to see a KISS TNC on a serial port. Program I2ckiss converts the I2C protocol to a standard KISS presentation on a virtual serial (pty) port.

  • Page 21: Steps To Create An Aprs Receive-Only Igate Using The Raspberry Pi And Tnc-Pi

    One copy is run for each TNC-Pi. The first two parameters to I2ckiss are I2C bus, I2C device. If using the kernel ax.25 code, then specify the port number (from axports) and the ip address. To use with other software, specify symlink and a symbolic name - I suggest com1 - com255 For example, to use with the Linux ax.25 stack:...

  • Page 22: Instructions

    6. Login with login “ ” and password “ ” raspberry 7. Upgrade to root privileges “ ” sudo su 8. If the monitor doesn’t display well (mine didn’t), edit the file /boot/config.txt and uncomment the line: overscan_left=16 TNC-Pi User Guide -22- 6/25/2017...
  • Page 23 Then issue the wget command for that file instead of the one referenced above. tar xvf aprx-2.05.svn485.tar.gz cd aprx-2.05.svn485/ ./configure make make install mkdir /var/log/aprx Save a copy of the original aprx configuration file cp /etc/aprx.conf /etc/aprx.conf.orig TNC-Pi User Guide -23- 6/25/2017...
  • Page 24 Reboot shutdown –r now Log back in and verify the processes are running ps aux|grep aprx Connect the radio and ensure you are gating data to the aprs network (check the files in /var/log/aprx Enjoy! TNC-Pi User Guide -24- 6/25/2017...
  • Page 25 Use a file type of “Raw image (dd image) (*.img)”. Hit Continue, then Start. 3. Restore is done by reversing the source and destination (use the file as the source and the SD card as the destination). TNC-Pi User Guide -25- 6/25/2017...

This manual is also suitable for:

Tnc-xTnc-pi 2

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