UPGRADE-E to K3BC SSTV



          As in past upgrades, the detailed information is contained  in 

     the Instruction Manual, TVINFO.TXT. At the end of each item summary 

     below, the paragraph to read for details is listed in parenthesis.

          (1)  We  have added a REAL TIME copying capability  for  folks 

     with the TRUCOLOR video card and a reasonably fast computer  (esti-

     mated to be a 386-25 mhz or thereabouts). Hopefully this will  push 

     more of you to make the jump to TRUCOLOR. (RT.BAS)

          (2) We added a new B/W mode---sort of. It's really the  FAX480 

     mode   except it has a VIS code attached instead of the lengthy  20 

     line header of the original 480. In receive, you can manually start 

     it, as before, to copy FAX480. Or put it in AUTO  mode and it  will 

     automatically  pick up other B/W FAX pictures transmitted  by  this 

     system.  In  transmit, you can pick the B/W FAX (mode 9)  or  still 

     pick the old FAX480 header (mode 95). Since there are a  surprising 

     number  of  people just collecting pictures in the AUTO mode,  they 

     will  enjoy your B/W's if you use mode 9 in Transmit.  The  picture 

     files  are interchangeable and both use the .FAX  suffix.  (ANOTHER 

     MODE)

          (3) Added a new tuning screen to RT which can be used to  look 

     at  the  incoming  signal in a frequency vs. time format.  You  can 

     compare incoming  line SYNC and/or VIS frequencies with the  screen 

     reference  marks to see how far off the other guy's  frequency  you 

     are. This is available in real time as a series of snapshots, or to 

     avoid disturbing copying, the tune screen is available after  copy-

     ing and you can browse through the entire pix file. (RT.BAS)

          (4)  Added a tune-up 1200 cps pulsing tone to VT.BAS  to  give 







     others  a  reference to tune to before transmitting  your  picture. 

     This gets calibrated when you set HF in VT.BAS. It is activated  by 

     keying T (for Tone) before keying G to start sending.(VT.BAS)

          (5)  A  different technique for getting the  Transmit  program 

     calibrated on frequency is described using a standard VCR. (VT.BAS)

          (6)  KY1S  has chained together our  conversion  and  transmit 

     programs with the Alchemy (shareware) format conversion program  to 

     give seamless operation from choosing a GIF, PCX, or JPG file  name 

     to transmitting the pix in any mode chosen. Since some of you  have 

     asked about GIF, in particular, we include mention of Dennis's work 

     here.  His  latest version should be available on  Elmer's  BBS:tel 

     (302)945-7224 (give your call sign on first call and Elmer will put 

     you on access list). KY1S's address is 748 Cooper Road,  Alexander, 

     ME 04694. or on packet WA1GAV @ ME.USA.NA.

          (7)  KY1S has located an old shareware format conversion  pro-

     gram called ALCHEMY. As I was wrapping up this revision, I received 

     a  copy of Alchemy from Dennis. Using the batch file  chaining  de-

     scribed  in  revision D, I made a quick pass at  transmitting  GIF, 

     PCX,  JPG, etc. The batch file created, TR.BAT, uses modified  ver-

     sions   of  TIFCONV.BAS  and VT.BAS. We  called  them  ALCHCONV.BAS 

     (lines  25, 205, 250, 282, and 240 in TIFCONV.BAS are changed)  and 

     ALCHVT.BAS  (lines 13, 14, 15, 150, and 151 are deleted  and  lines 

     40, 140, 143, 152, 170, and 2092 are changed in VT.BAS). Note  that 

     you need to change the SYSTEM  CONFIGURATION in these new  programs 

     to match what you've already put into TIFCONV.BAS and VT.BAS.

          Now  to  transmit from any format that Alchemy accepts  as  an 

     input, just type:







               C:\TV>tr Path\FileName(with suffix) RAMDISK

          That  is,  if you have a GIF file named EARTH.GIF  in  the  E: 

     drive in a subdirectory named GIF and your RAMDISK assigned  letter 

     was "d", you type:

               C:\TV>tr e:\gif\earth.gif d

     Now  just  answer what mode you want and the  picture  will  appear 

     ready to transmit. As in VT, just hit G to start transmitting.

          Read ALCHEMY.DOC to find  out what it covers. Also read TR.BAT 

     to  see how easy it is to chain with batch files. Further look   at 

     the  lines changed in TIFCONV and VT to see how simple this all  is 

     and why the lines were changed (ie; LIST changed lines after  load-

     ing ALCHCONV---do the same for ALCHVT). Adding the PCXLABEL program 

     is left to the reader (Hint; exit ALCHCONV with d:b.p, etc. instead 

     of d:a.p). You can avoid typing the RAMDISK every time by replacing 

     %2 in TR.BAT with your RAMDISK letter. 

          Don't  forget to transfer your already determined SYSTEM  CON-

     FIGURATION  choices to the new program. Particularly note the  many 

     switch  choices now available in lines 3200-3300 in RT.BAS. If  you 

     only have a 256 color card be sure to set TC=0 (line 3250).



                                                  Have fun,

                                                  Ben Vester, K3BC

     8/5/94