Saw the ad for the http://www.pactor4.com web site.  Unfortantely it is in German so it is hard for me to fully understand what the new unit will do.

WOW! Incredible! Another winner from the SCS folks, can't wait until they are avaliable in the US. Can use them on our commercial HF system, terrific idea.

P4dragon missing FEC PACTOR and the other modes?

I think it is imperative for SCS to make the new P4dragon support all the modes the older PTC-II series modems did.

As it is P4dragon is not 100% useful to Radio Amateurs, but only to the die hard Pactorists and mostly to the ones who are only interested in the Winlink2000 system.

It would be great if they could also support PSK-31, RTTY, SSTV, WEFAX, NAVTEX, perhaps ALE 141 and perhaps other exotic soundcard modes (MFSK, Olivia etc.) as well as Pactor.

Also a Pactor listen mode is imperative because as it is now we cannot have any Pactor QSOS with the P4dragon, and QSOS are the best part in Amateur Radio.

It is a shame to tell you that I have read in the newsgroups that people are thinking of using MULTIPSK (a soundcard program) for calling CQ Pactor on 100 baud Pactor FEC and for decoding FEC Pactor CQ calls from others and then switching to their P4dragon for a Pactor 1/2/3 or 4 QSO. Instead P4dragon should have this ability of listening or transmitting FEC Pactor.

Previously Demetre Valaris wrote:

P4dragon missing FEC PACTOR and the other modes?

 

I think it is imperative for SCS to make the new P4dragon support all the modes the older PTC-II series modems did.

 

As it is P4dragon is not 100% useful to Radio Amateurs, but only to the die hard Pactorists and mostly to the ones who are only interested in the Winlink2000 system.

 

It would be great if they could also support PSK-31, RTTY, SSTV, WEFAX, NAVTEX, perhaps ALE 141 and perhaps other exotic soundcard modes (MFSK, Olivia etc.) as well as Pactor.

 

Also a Pactor listen mode is imperative because as it is now we cannot have any Pactor QSOS with the P4dragon, and QSOS are the best part in Amateur Radio.

 

It is a shame to tell you that I have read in the newsgroups that people are thinking of using MULTIPSK (a soundcard program) for calling CQ Pactor on 100 baud Pactor FEC and for decoding FEC Pactor CQ calls from others and then switching to their P4dragon for a Pactor 1/2/3 or 4 QSO. Instead P4dragon should have this ability of listening or transmitting FEC Pactor.

 

73 de Demetre SV1UY

Pactor 4 and the current modem are a tremendous product from SCS. I have been a user and SySop for many years with the SCS product line as the basis for my remote E-Mail needs.

The Dragon modem does what it is advertised to do and I am very satisfied.

I operate the only, (current), P4 RMS HF for amateurs in Mexico, thus south of the U.S.A. I just purchased a second Dragon modem to use for my own portable needs. 

The connectivity and data transfer for all the legacy Pactor modes is very much improved with the P4 modem.  Seeing a 124K photo, sent at max P4 speed is a thing of beauty.

As far as needing all the other data modes and hobbiest protocols, there are many other ways to operate them. I see no need to complicate nor add them to this modem.

I am waiting, like many, for the packet side to be activated via a firmware upgrade.

When this occurs, the P4 Dragon will be the only HF/VHF modem that serious EmComm, sailing community, or other remote email users, should have to purchase.

Very pleased... Mike  n6kzb/xe2

It's too bad the symbol rate on P4 is so high.  US Ham probably won't be able to use it below the 6 meter band unless there is a rule change.

Without P4, amateur users probably won't spring for it.  It will be great for commercial networks however.

Frankly, a soundcard interface is cheap enough, and non-tor modes are all via soundcard for free, or nearly so.  The lack of other modes on this modem really isn't too important.

The lack of FEC is annoying but on the other hand, how many Pactor CQ's do you hear these days?  P4 is serious overkill for anything other than message traffic.  P2 is faster than pretty much anyone can type, so no need for the two higher speed modes for keyboard QSO's.

I'd love to get one, but can I really justify the slightly better P3 performance over my PTC-IIe?

73 Jeremy N1ZZZ  

Hi  again,

I believe many of us, including myself, would buy a P4dragon straight away if it supported all the modes the PTC-II modems supported! As for Pactor CQ calls, try 14,111 KHZ center frequency. You will find quite a few of use there lurking and ready for a Pactor QSO. Pactor 4 is not only good for fast e-mail, but good for fast file transfers, including DIGITAL SSTV if you use Simple32Gold as a terminal program!

I hope the SCS guys read this FOrum and they will include all or at least most of the modes that the old PTC-II series modems supported! I am sure they will see more customers from the Amateur Radio community this way! PSK31 can be left out because Soundcard programs are OK for PSK31, although I believe that the PSK31 decoding of PSK-31 is FB!

As I see SCS has already included the commands for RTTY etc in the latest firmware, albeit they do not do anything yet! I hope this is an indication of their intend to support the old modes!

73 de Demetre SV1UY