Elcom uTNT V2

UTNTplus_complete.jpg

These products are no longer available.

Elcom Research designed and manufactured 2 small versatile Terminal Node Controllers (TNCs). They are known as uTNC and uTNC plus. They both have the same capabilities but the uTNC plus adds functions beyond the uTNC. The plus adds AX.25 connection mode.

Both units can be used with a GPS to create an APRS tracker. They can become a digipeater. They are very versatile devices for any Ham radio operator that is interested in digital operations.

Because of their ability to become trackers you may see them referred to as uTNT.

Elcom Product FAQ
uTNT Troubleshooting
Radio Cable Construction

Feature uTNC uTNC Plus
APRS Tracker yes yes
AX.25 Connected mode no yes
KISS mode yes yes
1200 Baud yes yes
APRS WIDEn-N spec no yes

Elcom Product Documentation


Schematic of the original uTNT.

uTNT Manual 1-12-2004 Version.

Radio Cable Version 1

Radio Cable Version 2

Drawing of the top circuit board

Drawing of the bottom circuit board

Elcom Reference Material

Radio Cable Pinout

CableColorCodeV1.png CableColorCode.png

Battery Power

The micro USB TNT unit has an internal 120mAh rechargable battery to facilitate stand-alone operation for several hours. If you need to run it longer than that, you may need to use an External Power source. To run from the battery source the multi-purpose switch needs to be toggled to the 'in' position. When connected to an external power source or to the USB the switched should be toggled to the 'out' position.

The maintenance utility suggestes that you only charge the battery when you plan on using it and only after the battery has been run down.

The battery status indicator may not be correct. If you push the switch in and no lights come on, this may indicate that your internal battery is low and needs to be recharged for at least four to six hours. Remember that after you toggle the Charge on/off setting you need to click the upload button to save the state to the uTNT. The STA/BCH light should be red when the unit is charging.

When charging the battery the USB cable draws 15-30 mA.

External Power

This is mostly a collection of information on external power requirements from the micro USB TNT group on Yahoo. More official information (and updates and pointers to the documentation) are appreciated.


External Power Requirement

Use 11-14V (tested to work down to 8V and should work at 7V). It will draw 15-19mA when not charging the internal battery and should be fused at 200 - 250 mA. The uTNT has circuitry for protection against overvoltage and reverse polarity. It should work fine off unfiltered "12V" car power.

(So I guess it won't work "off the shelf" to power it from a DJ-596 5V mic port power output.)

PTT Wires

Why are there two PTT lines in the micro USB TNT (µTNT/uTNT/mTNT) and what is the difference?


You use PTT MOBILE if your transceiver has a dedicated PTT line. This is usually the case in mobile transceivers.

A handheld transceiver generally has the ptt and mic wires connected with a resistor and capacitor. The µTNT has a resistor and capacitor internally to work with the mic ptt circuit in most handheld radios.

If your cable to the mic jack already has the resistor and capacitor, use the PTT Mobile lead. Otherwise try the PTT Handheld lead. It may "just work".

Command List:

Command Shortcut
MYCALL "MYC"
CONVERS "CONV"
KISS "KISS ON"
RESET "RES"
MONITOR "MON"
MCOM "MCOM"
UNPROTO "UN"
TXDELAY "TXD"
TXTAIL "TXT"
PERM "PERM"
PERSISTANCE "PER"
BTEXT "BT"
BEACONEVERY "BE"
TXVOLUME "TXV"
TRACKERCALL "TRKCAL"
TRACKERICO "TRKICO"
TRACKERITABLE "TRKITBL"
TRACKERBE "TRKBE"
TRACKANGLE "TRKANG"
TRACKDISTANCE "TRKDST"
TRACKSTATUS "TRKSTA"
TRACKWAYPOINT "TRKWAY"
DIGIENABLE "DIGIEN"
DIGITRACEN "DIGITRACEN"
DIGITRACE "DIGITRACE"
DIGICALL "DIGICALL"
DIGIALIAS "DIGIALIAS"
DIGIRELSUB "DIGIRELSUB"
DIGIWIDELIMIT "DIGIWIDELMT"
DIGIWIDESUB "DIGIWIDESUB"
DIGIWIDEN "DIGIWIDEN"
DIGIWIDE "DIGIWIDE"
DIGIICON "DIGIIC"
DIGIITABLE "DIGIITBL"
DIGILAT "DIGILAT"
DIGILON "DIGILON"
DIGIPHG "DIGIPHG"
DIGISTATUS "DIGIST"
DIGIBE3 "DIGIBE3"
DIGIBE2 "DIGIBE2"
DIGIBE "DIGIBE"
DIGIVIA3 "DIGIVIA3"
DIGIVIA2 "DIGIVIA2"
DIGISSLIMIT "DIGISSLMT"
DIGISS "DIGISS"
BATSTATUS "BATS"
BATCHARGE "BATC"
MODEM "MODEM"
GPSMON "GPSMON"

UTNT Troubleshooting

The uTNT is a very robust and simple device that should "just work". It was tested before it was sent to you.

If it isn't working for you, double and triple-check your wiring, power connections, possible ground loops, radio, gps, and serial port drivers before assuming that you must have a defective uTNT. Hopefully the topics on this page and the musbtnt group posts they reference will help you find the answer to your trouble.

Wiring

The uTNT comes with a ten wire cable with a 10C/10P connector at one end to plug into the uTNT. The other end is free for you to wire up to your devices. Be sure to reference the wiring diagrams on this site and at http://www.elcom.gr/. There are two versions. Compare them to your wire. To be on the safe side do a quick check with a multimeter.

Troubleshooting

GPS

Connect your GPS serial out the uTNT and enable it's NMEA 4800 baud output. If the micro USB TNT recognizes the strings you should see the CON/GPS (L1) LED flashing. Run the Maintenance Utility and select Terminal or use another terminal program to connect to uTNT. Type GPSMON ON<enter>. Now you should see the NMEA sentances passed through from the uTNT to the USB/Serial port.

If you see data passed through, but the LED is not flashing, the uTNT may not understand the data stream because it isn't sending the right NMEA sentances. You may need to upgrade your GPS unit's firmware. The uTNT supports all GPS units that send a serial 4800 baud GGA or RMC NMEA (NMEA183) sentance.

Testing transmit

Hook a multimeter between radio ground and ptt and then at the terminal type K and then hit enter many times.

It still doesn't transmit

Your radio may require a higher or lower transmit volume (TXV) than the default before it will work.

GPS OK and it can transmit but it still doesn't Track

TRKBE (tracker beacon) value is in seconds, not minutes like some versions of the manual indicate.

Extra Beacons

The uTNT is designed to operate as a Tracker, a Digi and support KISS mode operation for computer software at the same time. If you don't want the extra beacons from the uTNT when operating in KISS mode, set their beacon time to zero.

Icon not showing up on the map?

Maybe your coordinates are wrong:

ECHO command does nothing

Support of the ECHO command was removed from uTNT. You may need to enable local echo in your terminal program (like Hyperterminal) if you don't see what you type.

Buggy uTNT sends my messages To random strings

Actually this is part of the mic-e specification. Part of your location is encoded into the To field.

It doesn't work with UIView

UIView trouble? Relax... OR KISS.

Either check the relax boxes in the settings or better yet, use the uTNT in KISS mode or through AWGPacketEngine*.

Maintenance Utility won't work

It doesn't run correctly off of the CD-ROM as it expects to be able to write a config file in it's current directory. Copy the folder containing the program to your hard disk.

Maintenance Utility won't see the serial port

You may need to set the settings file by hand.

I can't exit CONVerse mode

Type /C instead of ctrl-c.

My program doesn't work because the message is split

Your software may require the HEADERLN OFF setting.

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