I have an ic 718 and a laptop that i received from a friend. I used to do
wacars with my scanner and was wondering if there was something that simple in
amateur radio. To use a laptop with my radio, do I always have to have a tnc
or some other peripheral or are there modes that just require a sound jack at
the laptop and the radio?

Thanks

73
Greg

Well, first things first....Ya gotta give PSK31 a whirl.
In fact, to get started, you don't even need a hookup to your Icom.
The microphone built in to the laptop will work just fine!
That is, to receive. Which is fun enough to start with!!
....Dave
"Greg Doughty" wrote in message
...
I have an ic 718 and a laptop that i received from a friend. I used to do
wacars with my scanner and was wondering if there was something that
simple in
amateur radio. To use a laptop with my radio, do I always have to have a
tnc
or some other peripheral or are there modes that just require a sound jack
at
the laptop and the radio?

Thanks

73
Greg

Well, first things first....Ya gotta give PSK31 a whirl.
In fact, to get started, you don't even need a hookup to your Icom.
The microphone built in to the laptop will work just fine!
That is, to receive. Which is fun enough to start with!!
....Dave
"Greg Doughty" wrote in message
...
I have an ic 718 and a laptop that i received from a friend. I used to do
wacars with my scanner and was wondering if there was something that
simple in
amateur radio. To use a laptop with my radio, do I always have to have a
tnc
or some other peripheral or are there modes that just require a sound jack
at
the laptop and the radio?

Thanks

73
Greg

I have an ic 718 and a laptop that i received from a friend. I used to do
wacars with my scanner and was wondering if there was something that simple in
amateur radio. To use a laptop with my radio, do I always have to have a tnc
or some other peripheral or are there modes that just require a sound jack at
the laptop and the radio?

It's quite common to do PSK31, conversational RTTY, PACTOR, MFSK, and
1200 bit/second AX.25 packet radio using a sound-card interface. The
basic pretty-good interface provides electrical isolation between the
PC and the radio... most commonly audio-transformer coupling for the
audio signals, and transistor or (better) optoisolated coupling for
the PTT.

http://www.packetradio.com is one source for such interfaces, and for
links to various software for Windows, Linux, etc.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

I have an ic 718 and a laptop that i received from a friend. I used to do
wacars with my scanner and was wondering if there was something that simple in
amateur radio. To use a laptop with my radio, do I always have to have a tnc
or some other peripheral or are there modes that just require a sound jack at
the laptop and the radio?

It's quite common to do PSK31, conversational RTTY, PACTOR, MFSK, and
1200 bit/second AX.25 packet radio using a sound-card interface. The
basic pretty-good interface provides electrical isolation between the
PC and the radio... most commonly audio-transformer coupling for the
audio signals, and transistor or (better) optoisolated coupling for
the PTT.

http://www.packetradio.com is one source for such interfaces, and for
links to various software for Windows, Linux, etc.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!