North East Maryland Amateur Radio Club Introduction

N3FJP's Packet Monitor

Packet is a lot of fun! With a packet network you can:

- Have "real time" keyboard to keyboard chats, either one or one or with a group of stations (and that is really fun if you have never tried it).

- Use it with a contesting group to apprise each other of needed stations.

- Exchange important information during an emergency situation such as lists of people at a shelter, needed supplies, etc. MUCH more quickly than can be done with voice.

- Pass general message traffic.

- Display HTML data in web page format!

I started working on a packet program several years ago. I never had time to work all the bugs out of the program, but with the renewed interest in packet, I decided to blow the dust off of the old code and make it available for anyone who wants to use it. One of the neat features of this program is that you can use it to chat with multiple stations simultaneously when you select conference mode. All stations connected to you will see each other's comments.

Click here to download N3FJP's Packet Monitor (BETA 0.4.8):

http://n3fjp.ky1v.com/PAKETMON.exe

(Upgrade Instructions: If you have already downloaded a previous version, click here to download the updated .exe file: http://n3fjp.ky1v.com/VBPKEng.exe and save it in c:\program files\N3FJP Packet Monitor.)

N3FJP's Packet Monitor program interfaces with the freely available AGW Packet Engine to send and receive packet using your sound card or TNC. To install the AGW Packet Engine, please follow these steps:

1. The AGW Packet Engine interfaces with other software to communicate with your sound card. Create a directory on your hard drive for this project and click this link to download the AGW Packet Engine:

http://www.elcom.gr/sv2agw/agwpe.zip

2. Unzip the file.

3. Using Windows Explorer double click the .exe file.

- A new icon will appear on your task bar.
- Right click the icon.
- Click Properties.
- Click New Port.
- Select the COM port that is used to key your rig.
- Select the TNC (select sound card from the list if you are using your sound card as the TNC).
- Click OK.
- You may have to check the single Port option.
- Right click on the taskbar icon and click exit.
- Double click the .exe file to start the program again.
- A TNC icon should now appear on your taskbar.

Now the AGW packet engine is configured. You may want to put a shortcut to the packet engine in your Windows Start folder so it is ready to go whenever you start your packet software.