


		     UPGRADES TO SSTV/FAX480/WEFAX SYSTEM



	       We have added a number of improvements to the  soft-

	  ware-based  system  described  in reference  1.  A  brief 

	  outline  follows with a much more  extensive  description 

	  being included in the instruction manual which is includ-

	  ed in the new software.

	       (1) Since the Wefax pictures take up a lot of memory 

	  space  to store the whole thing, we have added the  capa-

	  bility  to save a portion of the image in FAX480  format. 

	  This  gives  a  "blow-up" of the area  of  interest,  and 

	  provides another source of FAX480 files. Figure 1 shows a 

	  visual mode sample of this. Get out your magnifying glass 

	  and look at the surprizing amount of ground detail avail-

	  able  in these HF images when you have 64 shade  process-

	  ing. If the recipient of the image has our system, he can 

	  colorize the IR images to see cloud tops, ocean currents, 

	  etc.

	       (2) Automatic recognition of the VIS codes has  been 

	  added  as a mode in the receive program.  The  recognized 

	  mode is printed out and the machine continues to copy  in 

	  that mode. Manual choice of a mode is available while  in 

	  Automatic if the VIS header got QRM'ed out.

	       (3) Another automatic mode is identical to (2) above 

	  except  it has an automatic SAVE added for every  picture 

	  copied,  with the file names being sequential letters  of 

	  the  alphabet. I use the Ramdisk as the  recipient  store 

	  for  these  files while in unattended operation,  as  I'm 

	  afraid  I'll  forget it's turned on and fill up  my  hard 

	  disk.  The  VIS  recognition doesn't pick  up  very  weak 

	  signals, so most of the images stored are not too noisy.

	       (4)  We  added  an Automatic mode  to  the  SLIDESHO 

	  program. You set the dwell time you want for each  slide, 

	  and  when running, just hit A(uto) to start a  continuous 

	  sequence of all the current directory files in the  cate-

	  gory  chosen. The slide sequence  continues  indefinitely 

	  until you halt it. 

	       (5) KY1S added a feature to his copy of the transmit 

	  program  (actually the View and Transmit program, VT.BAS) 

	  that  automatically  provides a listing of all  the  file 

	  names  in  the  current directory which  match  the  mode 

	  chosen  (ie,Scottie 1, etc.) after you  activate  VT.BAS. 

	  You  pick  a file picture from this selection and  it  is 

	  displayed  for you to be sure it is the one you   wanted. 

	  This  only took a few BASIC commands to implement,  so  I 

	  added  it. Since not everyone might want this feature,  a 

	  switch  is provided in the CONFIGURATION list to turn  it 

	  on  or off. Dennis has provided a perfect example of  how  

	  you  can  adapt the program to your own  operating  style 

	  using the BASIC format.

	       (6) Since we found that 2-color files for the  LABEL 

	  program  were more available from the multitude of  Paint 

	  programs in a PCX format, we added a PCXLABEL program.

	       (7)  Some people objected to the "tone  tick"  audio 

	  cue  but were not satisfied with the loss of  information  

	  when  they turned it off with the program switch. I  find 

	  this  invaluable as a measure of the "heart-beat" of  the 

	  system. Since some computers have a fairly loud  speaker, 

	  you  can  combat  the noise by inserting  a  resistor  in 

	  series with the speaker lead to reduce the volume.  Some-

	  what  reluctantly, I have added a visual screen cue  that 

	  will  light when the machine is ticking if you must  turn 

	  off the speaker (lines 485-487 in RT.BAS).

	       (8) Since the program uses 262,144 color  processing 

	  and display, picture sources must support the high  color 

	  resolution.  Some  had difficulty  finding  image  format 

	  manipulation  programs which offered an output in  24-bit 

	  TIFF  format  to match my TIFCONV  program.  Listing  the 

	  people  who  have found solutions to this:  KY1S  reports 

	  using  Tempra  and Photo-Finish 3;  N9ARX  reports  using 

	  Paint Shop Pro For Windows;  WB7PAP reports using  Graph-

	  ics Workshop 7.0 (he found this on the same Steve  Rimmer 

	  BBS listed in reference 1 as a source for video  drivers: 

	  416-729-4609).  The last two of these are shareware  pro-

	  grams.  These programs accept different color  resolution 

	  files in GIF, PCX, etc. formats. The final SSTV files, of 

	  course, have no more resolution than the source files.

	       (9)  One  unexpected result that has arisen  as  the 

	  system has been tried on a larger number of systems is  a 

	  much wider dispersion of Time-of-Day clock frequencies in 

	  many  of the newer systems (mostly 486 systems). I  chose 

	  this source of system timing specifically because it  was 

	  generally  held to close tolerances. Since the Time  gets 

	  updated  from the battery-operated clock every  time  the 

	  computer reboots, this tolerance apparently was let slide 

	  due  to  competitive pressures. The line  timing  adjust-

	  ments,  LT,  in some cases required a  larger  correction 

	  than  expected, but most people handled that  well.  They 

	  report  that  you  only need determine  one  mode's  line  

	  timing  experimentally, and all the others come right  on 

	  using the LT formula. I have added another simple formula 

	  which makes the initial correction possible after copying 

	  only  one picture to ease the work if you have  a  system 

	  which diverges from the mean significantly.

	       A  somewhat more serious problem has arisen in  some 

	  of these systems, as the wider variation in frequency has 

	  moved  the  transmit header frequencies  (ie,  the  Frame 

	  Sync) far enough to exceed the acquisition window of most 

	  systems  with  automatic  VIS recognition.  This  can  be 

	  adjusted  out  with a few judicious Pokes. To  make  this 

	  easy  we  have added a 3 position switch  to  the  SYSTEM 

	  CONFIGURATION  in  VT.BAS  which allows you  to  put  the 

	  system  in  a Test mode so as to measure and  adjust  the 

	  header  frequencies  directly. In one extreme  case,  the 

	  frequencies  were far enough to break out of  SYNC.  This 

	  adjustment  should take care of such situations and  also 

	  satisfy those who want their signals "right on"  frequen-

	  cy.

	       (10) Some of my sailing friends who use laptops with 

	  only 16 gray shades displays wanted the improved process-

	  ing on Wefax incorporated into those programs. Also  some 

	  Wefax users prefer the 16 shade format since it uses only  

	  1/2  the memory for storage. A collection of  these  pro-

	  grams  including automatic scheduling for maps  has  been 

	  included  for  those folks and others who  only  have  16 

	  color display capability.

	       (11)  Another  problem which has shown up in  a  few 

	  cases  is noisy I/O cards. This shows up as noise in  the 

	  picture even with very strong signals. KY1S reported this 

	  first  and fixed it by replacing the offending card  with 

	  an  older type he had around. Others have used  the  same 

	  fix. I have no significant data on which brand cards  are  

	  faulty  and more importantly which ones aren't. If  those  

	  who have encountered this problem and solved it will send 

	  me the information, I will include it in later  revisions 

	  of the software for others to use. These cards are  cheap 

	  ($10 to $15) so replacement shouldn't be burdensome.

	       (12)  Other information gleaned from helping  others 

	  get the system working is included in the new instruction 

	  manual, TVINFO.TXT.

	       The  above additions are included in a  new  release 

	  available  on  the ARRL BBS (tel: 203-666-0578)  as  file 

	  VESTER-A.ZIP. By the time this gets published, the  revi-

	  sion may be beyond -A.



					     Ben Vester, K3BC

					     4921 Bonnie Branch Road

					     Ellicott City, MD 21043


	  Reference:

	  (1)B.  Vester,  "An Inexpensive SSTV  System",  QST,  Jan 

	  1994, pp 27-29.     





			   REVISION B UPGRADES



	       The following major changes were made in Revision B. 

	  There  are  complete  writeups  in  the  new  version  of 

	  TVINFO.TXT---the paragraph headings in parenthesis  below 

	  refer to the TVINFO section titles.

	       (1)  Routines  were added to RT.BAS  and  VT.BAS  to 

	  protect them from residuals left by other programs  (like 

	  JVFAX,  HAMCOM,  and others). Eliminates need  to  reboot 

	  (see VT.BAS).

	       (2)  Added a slide-show program,  TRUSHO.BAS,  which 

	  supports  True  Color (16.7 million  colors)  boards.  It 

	  includes both full screen pix and 4 pictures per  screen. 

	  See  your  saved pictures in their full splendor  ! This 

	  and it's associated TRUSHO.ASM and TSS.BAT are installed

	  in the DOS directory (see TRUSHO.BAS). 

	       (3)  Expanded routine for using VESA  boards/drivers 

	  by adding a Bank-switch function to cover wider field  of 

	  choices. Covers many Cirrus Logic boards (see VU.BAS).

	       (4) Cleaned up the transmit headers on the AVT modes 

	  and  on FAX480. Added adjustment for initial 244  cps  in 

	  FAX480 header (see VT.BAS).

	       (5) Included a description of what has been a source 

	  of  trouble on some 486 machines, particularly in  trans-

	  mit.  The source is "TSR" programs that are  "wired  in", 

	  but  switchable from a CMOS selection panel (see  initial 

	  paragraphs prior to  VU.BAS).

	       There are miscellaneous other  additions/corrections 

	  in  TVINFO.TXT, so it's worthwhile to re-read  it  (maybe 

	  for the first time !).



					     Ben Vester, K3BC

	  2/24/94 





			    UPGRADE-C to K3BC SSTV



	  This  revision  includes fixes for bugs that  crept  into  the 

     previous  upgrade plus adds the following major new additions.  The 

     paragraph  headings in TVINFO.TXT where each of these is  discussed 

     is listed in parenthesis at end of each item below.

	  (1) Capability to save pictures not only from RT.BAS, but also 

     from  SLIDESHO  and it's companion TRUSHO was added so pix  can  be  

     saved directly in either full or compressed format. This is  useful 

     particularly in the Automatic + Save mode. [RT, SLIDESHO, TRUSHO]

	  (2) Added a new program to create 3D picture files in the SSTV 

     format. Uses "two camera"  approach. Can use  camcorder to  capture 

     double pictures in the field for later reduction to 3D files. Has a 

     limited synthetic 3D capability. [3D]

	  (3)  Expanded  TRUSHO  so it covers  the  ATI  TRUCOLOR  card. 

     Changes made may also work with other TRUCOLOR cards.

	  (4) Added a "heartbeat" visual cue that can be used in lieu of 

     the tone-tick audio cue.

	  (5)  Added a completely new DX and high resolution mode,  Mode 

     96. Users of our system are urged NOT to transmit this mode on SSTV

     frequency 14230 until it is more widely available. [NEW MODE]

	  (6) Added a new paragraph, USER ADDED FEATURES, which will  be 

     expanded in future revisions. Ideas for function key use from  KY1S

     and AA7AU to facilitate TXMIT/RECEIVE operation were incorporated.

	  (7) Added a fix for some few computers which had  intermittent 

     operation with the transmit function. [VT]

	  Please  remember  when  you incorporate the  new  revision  to 

     transfer all of your SYSTEM CONFIGURATION values to the new copy of 

     the programs.

						  Have fun,

						  Ben Vester, K3BC

     3/28/94
	NOTE: Several of our users have reported that there is a ham in
	the W6 call area who seeks out newcomers on 14230 and under va-
	rious pretenses (either he'll help you or vice versa, etc.) gets
	your phone number. You then receive persistent solicitation over
	the phone to buy a commercial product. 

       







			   UPGRADE-D to K3BC SSTV



	       This revision's focus is on improving the quality of  the 

	  picture display in Trucolor, improving the quality of pictures 

	  transmitted  by tapping into the 24-bit color CD-ROM  sources, 

	  and  improving  the operability. I would like  to  stress  the 

	  desirability   of   upgrading  your   computer   to   Trucolor 

	  (640x480x16.7  million  colors).  Video  cards  offering  this 

	  capability are now quite cheap (the Cirrus Logic chipset  used 

	  in  their  own card and by Diamond Speedstar have  pushed  the 

	  prices  below  $75) and generally offer direct  addressing  as 

	  VESA cards with no extra driver required. The new  DX/Hi-Reso-

	  lution  mode  96 introduced in Revision C  requires  Trucolor. 

	  There  is a growing army of users of the system on  VHF  where 

	  the  extra transmission time of mode 96 is not  an  impediment 

	  and  the  resolution  improvement by a factor of  4  is  quite 

	  impressive!  The  major additions are listed  below  with  the 

	  paragraphs in TVINFO.TXT where more complete info is contained 

	  being shown in parenthesis.

	       It amazes me how many people are missing the use  of some 

	  of the system's capabilities because they have not  thoroughly 

	  read the Instruction Manual, TVINFO.TXT. 99% of the  questions 

	  I get asked are covered in detail in this document. READ IT ! 

	       The major additions are:

	       (1) We  have  used  Fractal techniques  to eliminate  the 

	  pixelization (or "square pixel" effect) on the TRUSHO pictures 

	  that  are expanded to fill the screen. This is easier  to  see 







	  than  to  talk about. The improvement on "clean"  pictures  is 

	  startling. (TRUSHO)

	       (2) The Receive program, RT.BAS, has had Truculor viewing 

	  added to it with a selection of options of both color  resolu-

	  tion and picture size offered in the SYSTEM CONFIGURATION list 

	  in lines 3230 to 3270.  (RT)

	       (3)  We have added a picture type menu screen  to  RT.BAS 

	  which  can  be easily customized by the user to  use  his  own 

	  favorite  picture. This includes single key commands  (ie;  no 

	  ENTER  key needed) when choosing from the picture  menu.  This 

	  can be switched in or out in line 3230. (RT)

	       (4)  Added  a TGACONV.BAS program for  converting  24-bit 

	  color Targa files of any resolution (pixels/line) to the  SSTV 

	  formats. There are a lot of high quality CD-ROM images  avail-

	  able now in this format---this is the first source of pictures 

	  I've  found  which really uses the mode 96  capability.  (TGA-

	  CONV)

	       (5) In the previous revision we added capability to  save 

	  pix  directly in compressed format in RT, TRUSHO,  and  SLIDE-

	  SHOW.  This revision expands this to cover  TIFCONV,  TGACONV, 

	  and  PCXLABEL.  KY1S has convinced me that PKZIP is  a  better 

	  choice for compression, so I have made that first choice.  The 

	  3  batch  files, PK, PKV, and PKX are now for  PKZIP.  If  you 

	  still want to use PKARC, you can rename PK-ARC.BAT to  PK.BAT, 

	  rename  PKV-ARC.BAT  to PKV.BAT, and PKX-ARC.BAT  to  PKX.BAT. 

	  Also in line 440 of VT.BAS change the .ZIP to .ARC.

	       (6)  We added the ability to transmit directly from  com-







	  pressed  file pictures in the VT.BAS program. Since this  pro-

	  gram  both  views and transmits, it can also be used  to  view 

	  single compressed picture files directly. For viewing multiple 

	  files,  a simple batch file, PX.BAT, decompresses a series  of 

	  pictures into the RAMDISK where a quick TSS will allow  TRUSHO 

	  viewing.  Just typing---C:\TV>px a---will decompress  all  the 

	  files  in  drive A into full format pictures in  the  RAMDISK. 

	  (VT)

	       (7)  A simple program, LINETIME.BAS, was added to  calcu-

	  late  the  line timing numbers for  all modes  once  you  have 

	  experimentally determined the correct timing number, LT3,  for 

	  Scottie 1. (RT)

	       (8) More info on noisy I/O cards. (RT)

	       (9) Batch  files like STGA.BAT are used to chain  several 

	  of these programs together to download CD-ROM pictures direct-

	  ly  into the View/Transmit program, VT.BAS.  By  pre-answering 

	  the  questions in the programs used in the chain; ie,  by  re-

	  placing  the line in a program that asks a question by a  line 

	  that  states  the answer), you can get  a  seamless  download, 

	  format conversion, add predetermined words or graphics, and go 

	  right to the Transmit G(o) button. You can even chain portions 

	  of the Basic programs together by adding a line with the  word 

	  SYSTEM  to toggle the program back to the batch  file  at  the 

	  desired point. The only limit is your imagination. (TGACONV)

	       Please remember when you incorporate the new revision  to 

	  transfer  all of your SYSTEM CONFIGURATION values to  the  new 

	  copy of the programs. Also, keep a copy of the old TRUSHO (ie, 

	  TRUSHO.BAS  and  TRUSHO.ASM) on a separate floppy so  you  can 







	  compare it to the new.

						  Have fun,

						  Ben Vester, K3BC

	  6/18/94     





			 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





			 UPGRADE-F to K3BC SSTV



	       This is the last revision we expect to make for some time 

	  since  we'll  shortly  be leaving on a 6 month cruise  on  our 

	  sailboat,  LADY.  As usual the  TVINFO.TXT  location  for more 

	  detail on each item is noted in the parenthesis at the end  of 

	  each item. Revision F additions are:

	       (1)  Added  REAL TIME copy for 256 color  video   boards.   

	  [RT.BAS]

	       (2) Added a message line to all modes which include a  16 

	  line  "shades  of gray" display. The message  appears  in  the 

	  "shades" area. You insert a default message (call sign,  name, 

	  etc.)  in the SYSTEM CONFIGURATION list in RT, VT, and  ALCHVT 

	  and then when you replay a pix or transmit a pix you have  the 

	  option to use the default message or to insert a more  contem-

	  poraneous comment from the keyboard. [VT.BAS]

	       (3)  Added  cursor  selection of files in VT  and  VU  to 

	  replace having to type out the file names. This is  switchable 

	  in  SYSTEM CONFIGURATION. If you set FI=1 then all file  names 

	  in  the designated location are displayed and you  can  select 

	  one  by  moving the cursor over it and keying ENTER.  The  a.p 

	  default choice is triggered by putting the cursor over a blank 

	  area. [VT.BAS]  Also see README2 on this disc.

	       (4)  In  the  past  year  the  VESA  standards  for   the 

	  640x480x16.7 mil. video mode were changed. Unfortunately, some 

	  cards  made  prior to this don't meet the  new  standard.  Our 

	  configuration  meets  the new standard  (which  accepts  color 

	  bytes in a BGR sequence). If you have an older trucolor  card, 







	  it  may have the blue and red colors reversed. While it's  not 

	  practical to modify all the programs to accommodate these older 

	  cards,  I  did make  a TRUSHO version which has red  and  blue 

	  reversed to match the older cards. Named TRUS-REV.BAS, it will 

	  give some trucolor viewing with the older cards. This has been 

	  tested with the Speedstar 24X. I wouldn't recommend buying one 

	  of these older cards, however.

	       (5)  Added a section on Batch Files which will  speed  up 

	  some  of the repetitive tasks you do  in normal   SSTV  opera-

	  tions.  If  you are not yet using these to  directly  transmit 

	  GIF, PCX, JPG, and trucolor TGA files from either CD ROM's  or 

	  from  memory,  you definitely want to read this  new  section. 

	  [BATCH FILES]

	       As we write this, we're listening to a station (S.A.)  on 

	  14230   with  Rev. E of the system who is giving  a  prolonged 

	  monologue  about what the system does or doesn't do---only  he 

	  is  completely  wrong ! Obviously he hasn't read  the  UPGRADE 

	  text  files.  We suggest you re-read all of the  previous  up-

	  grades  to make sure you know what is now included. There  may 

	  be goodies you've missed.

	       For those of you who are just starting  with the  system, 

	  I  apologize  for the disjointed way  TVINFO.TXT,  the  system  

	  manual, has developed as we have inserted upgrades info so  it 

	  is  readily  identifiable. Some day  we'll try to  give  it  a 

	  complete rewrite.



						  Have fun,

						  Ben Vester, K3BC





			  UPGRADE-G to K3BC SSTV



	  While on my recent cruise on LADY, George, W4AVO, talked me  into 

     buying a 486 notebook. This was my first experience with 486  machines 

     and  immediately  showed me problems with  the  system--BIG  problems. 

     Fixing  these is an important part of this revision. Also comments  by 

     other  hams  met  along the way led to  further  operability  changes. 

     Briefly, the changes are:

	  (1)  When KY1S tried the initial system on his 486 he reported  a 

     noisy  I/O board problem and fixed it by using another board.  Other's 

     had the same experience. It shows up as noise flecks splattered around 

     the  picture even under strong S/N conditions. My new little  notebook 

     had  the problem in spades--and changing the I/O wasn't an option!  It 

     took  awhile  to  smoke out what the hardware problem  was,  but  very 

     little time to put in a software fix to bypass the problem. Noisy  I/O 

     boards should no longer be a problem (but if you have an extreme case, 

     please contact me for further suggestions). In the process of  chasing 

     this, I also added additional changes to improve the signal processing 

     for  better reception under poor S/N conditions. The 100  mile  corona 

     generator  (called a power line) in the Florida keys forced me  to  do 

     something to cope![RT]

	  (2)  My new machine also had DOS 6.2, another  experience!  After 

     transmitting  a single pix with VT, the machine would show some  weird 

     behavior  and/or  lockup. It looked like an overwrite  situation,  but 

     seemed independent of where I relocated the VT in memory. To my  utter 

     surprise,  I found this DOS had stuffed the RAMDRIVE TSR at  the  HIGH 

     end  of the 640 k RAM. It was easy to fix the overwrite once  I  found 

     this. I noted that the 6.2 DOS book had a strong recommendation to use 

     SMARTDRV  instead of a RAMDRIVE, so perhaps the  unconventional  memory 

     location  of RAMDRIVE was intended to further discourage it's  use.  I 

     did decide to eliminate the requirement for a RAMDRIVE in places where 

     it wasn't absolutely required (still required in the Wefax and  Color-

     fax  modes).  I  still find it quite useful to use   a  RAMDRIVE.  The 

     beginning user can now, however, get the basic SSTV modes going  with-

     out installing a RAMDRIVE.[OPERATTV.TXT]

	  (3)  To further assist the beginner, we added built-in  alignment 

     of  Line  Timing  using Scottie 1 only. All the other  modes  are  set 

     automatically  based on the one adjustment. Two keys, lean-left  ("\") 

     and lean-right ("/"), are used to square the picture.[OPERATTV.TXT]

	  (4) Added single-key (F5) access to the SYSTEM CONFIGURATION list 

     on all programs to facilitate making changes. This not only helps  the 

     beginner  who is timid about making changes, but also makes it  easier 

     to put in temporary changes.[OPERATTV.TXT]

	  (5)  Added  a software switch to RT (receive) and  VT  (transmit) 

     that disconnects many (hopefully most) external TSR programs from  the 

     TIME timer while the actual copying and transmitting is going on. This 

     gives more flexibility to coexist with TSR programs which are not  big 

     memory users, but do use the TIME timer.

	  (6) Added direct access to transmit GIF, PCX, and JPEG files with 

     only  a  two-letter  DOS  command, TG,  needed  for  the  popular  GIF 

     format.[OPERATTV.TXT]

	  (7) Wrote a simple, step-by-step, operation manual which will get 

     the beginner through the initial stages to get the system copying SSTV 

     pictures and transmitting them.[OPERATTV.TXT]

	  (8)  Created  a  new set of WEFAX programs for  the  most  common 

     laptop,  using  a 640x480x16 color screen. They give very  small  file 

     sizes  and can copy up to 37 minutes of wefax within the  confines  of 

     the  basic 640 k. of RAM. Three-line integration (mentioned before  in 

     our  colorfax writeup as an improved alternate to the Scottie DX  SSTV 

     mode) is used to significantly improve S/N and multipath effects. Even 

     the  big screen operators may find this program interesting.  Try  it. 

     [OPERATWX.TXT]

	  (9)  A number of sailing friends bought the new Epson  dual  scan 

     color  notebooks. This has a Chips & Technology video chip-set  so  we 

     added  ability to adjust BS in the Chips & Tech video card  choice  to 

     avoid  using a VESA driver. This can probably be done for other  video 

     card choices if one of you needs it.

	  (10)  There are a number of other small changes. Typical  is  one 

     triggered by KO4VX. While I had generally protected myself from resid-

     uals from other programs, our VT program left residual voltages on the 

     serial  port which caused Charlie problems when switching  to  another 

     program. Adding a short line (line 3381 in VT.BAS) switches the serial 

     ports back to boot-up conditions as you exit VT. Your inputs on  other 

     problems is appreciated. With the BASIC program structure, it's usual-

     ly very easy to fix problems once you know they exist.

	  (11) As a last minute change to this revision, we have added TVT

     (Trucolor View before Transmit) as an alternate to VT. Instead of se-

     lecting file names from lists, it displays 10 pix at a time in stamp-

     size, and you select which you want to transmit by pix content.  Both

     this and VT were also fixed so they can accommodate much longer  PATH

     and File Names. [OPERATTV.TXT]



						  Have fun,

						  Ben Vester, K3BC

     7/12/95







			 UPGRADE H to K3BC SSTV



	  As  many of you have already done, I recently upgraded  my  table 

     top computer from a 386-33 to a Pentium 120. Wow!! The Pentium depends 

     on  a burst cache for much of it's extra speed. This immediately  gave 

     me  trouble with my SSTV transmit program, which is based on having  a 

     constant CPU processing speed while generating audio output. This  was 

     solved  by turning off the cache with the software switch on the  CMOS 

     panel--but this reduced the Pentium to look more like a slow 486!  Not 

     a  happy  solution. My aggravation grew when using the  TVT  (Trucolor 

     View and Transmit) program introduced in revision G. TVT needs all the 

     speed  it can get when painting 10 file pix at a time to select  from. 

     Since KO4VX had previously asked me to  modify my program to give SSTV 

     output into the computer speaker, I decided to combine both needs into 

     a  new  transmit program. This, along with some needs others  had  ex-

     pressed form the basis for this revision. As before, the paragraph  in 

     TVINFO with more details is in brackets after each item below. Specif-

     ic changes are:

	  (1)  A new transmit program was generated which gets all of  it's 

     timing  directly from the TIME clock timer and the tone timer, and  is 

     essentially independent of processor speed (above a certain  minimum). 

     It gives output both from the speaker and from pin 7 (RTS) as  before, 

     so  it  is  compatible with the previous  configurations.  Since  most 

     computer  speakers have +5 volts on both leads, you'll need an  isola-

     tion  transformer (Radio Shack 273-1380 works fine) if you  choose  to 

     use the speaker output. With a slower computer, the speaker output may 

     be slightly more jitter-free than pin 7 (RTS). If you had trouble with 

     the  previous transmit program, there's a good chance this  configura-

     tion will fix it. The previous frequency adjustments were  eliminated, 

     so it's real easy to get working. [VT and TVT]

	  (2)  A new wefax program, WXH and VWXH, was added to  extend  the 

     high integration 640x480 laptop programs from 16 shades of gray to  64 

     shades of gray. Incidentally, these laptop programs work on table  top 

     machines  and should be tried as they may give you just what you  need 

     and they use much less memory to store a pix than the Wefax mode 99 in 

     RT.  [OPERATWX.TXT]

	  (3)  In  generating a Wefax article for the Waterway  Radio  Club 

     flyer,  I  needed  to convert some hurricane pix that  were  saved  in 

     FAX480  format  (from a mode 99 wefax pix) to a format that  would  be 

     accepted by the publishing program, with TIF being the obvious choice. 

     While I was at it, I made the conversion broad enough to cover conver-

     sion from any of the SSTV, FAX, and WXH formats into TIF. It is appro-

     piately  named TV2TIF. With this and the TIFCONV program  in  cascade, 

     you can convert from any mode to any other. Further, with ALCHEMY  you 

     can  extend  that  to GIF, PCX, and JPEG. Since for  the  more  common 

     conversions between SSTV formats you would prefer to eliminate the TIF 

     step, we generated a TV2TV to go directly from one SSTV mode to anoth-

     er. [TV2TIF and TV2TV]

	  (4) By adding the machine language module for TV2TV to all of the 

     programs  that transmit (ie, RT, VT, and TVT) we now can call  up  any 

     SSTV  picture saved in any mode and transmit it directly in any  other 

     mode which has equal or less resolution than the original.[RT, VT, and 

     TVT]

	  (5)  Jeff,  N9NGF, who does a lot of picture trading  on  VHF  FM 

     wanted  a keyboard PTT-equivalent for VHF where VOX is  not  typically 

     available.  In particular, he wanted to use the HAMCOM  switching  cir-

     cuit. We added switching software to the new transmit program that  at 

     G(o)  switches pin 7 (RTS) to -12 volts and pin 4 (DTR) to   +12volts. 

     These  are  normally both at -12 volts at bootup. To use  this  you'll 

     need  to  change the receive interface to get your +12 v. from  pin  7 

     (RTS) and change line 3195 in the RT program's SYS CONFIG list to PN=2 

     so the receive software turns on RTS to +12 v. (see next item).  After 

     a 1 second delay to allow the T/R relays to operate and transients  to 

     settle, the program starts sending out SSTV audio.[VT and TVT]

     (5)  A software switch was added to line 3195 in RT so you can  change 

     which  serial  port terminal gets switched to +12 volts.  My  programs 

     have typically used pin 4 (DTR) but other interfaces are wired to look 

     for  +12  on  pin 7 (RTS). You can select either  one  or  both---both 

     allowing  use  of either interface. If you are going to  use  the  T/R 

     switch  in  the transmit program, however, you'll have to  switch  the 

     interface  leads  to be like HAMCOM. We didn't bring  out  a  software 

     switch in transmit but could if someone needs it.

	  In  addition to the above, there are other minor glitch  removals 

     in  this  revision. Hopefully we didn't add back too many.  As  always 

     feedback is appreciated and other features you want are solicited.



						  Have fun,

						  Ben Vester, K3BC





			    UPGRADE_I to K3BC SSTV



	       This upgrade is more a collection of changes which eliminate 

	  some  bugs  and improve the general operation of the  system.  We 

	  have  been adding incremental changes since Rev. H and putting  a 

	  VESTHADD.ZIP  file  on Elmer's bulletin board, so  you  can  just 

	  download  the changed files. Enough files have been  affected  to 

	  call  for  a new update. Location for further info  is  noted  in 

	  brackets below for each item.

	       (1)  A new receiving interface was put together for some  of 

	  my sailing friends who have a variety of commercial and shareware 

	  programs for receiving fax, etc. This was published in the Water-

	  way RCC bulletin. It's really the same basic interface with a few 

	  diodes  and  isolation resistors added so it will work  with  any 

	  software   which uses the serial port as a simple clipper  inter-

	  face (AEA, SSC, HAMCOM, JVFAX, etc. are examples). There are only 

	  three pins which can be used to supply +12 and -12 volts for  the 

	  interface,  so if you OR all 3 pins together with positive  going 

	  diodes  for +12 and OR all 3 together with negative going  diodes 

	  for  -12 volts the interface will work no matter which  pins  any 

	  particular software chooses to use. This interface has been shown 

	  by  others to eliminate problems with RFI from the computer  get-

	  ting  back into the receiver and greatly reduces the  probability 

	  of  RF  feedback when you are transmitting. Any  interface  which 

	  ties  the  computer and receiver grounds  together  directly  are 

	  possible  trouble from RFI both ways to burning out printed  cir-

	  cuit  board  signal ground tracks (this is  particularly  bad  on 

	  vehicle systems which use power voltages that are 10 times small-

	  er  than  120  volts  and hence have  ground  currents  10  times 

	  larger).  The  new  schematic is included as a mode  9  FAX  (and 

	  FAX480) file called SCHMATIC.FAX.

	       (2) We modified the F7 (AUTO + SAVE) mode so it not only  is 

	  useful  for unattended collection of pix being sent, but  can  be 

	  used  for  just watching the picture flow on  a  SSTV  frequency. 

	  Instead of dumping each picture as it is received and saved,  the 

	  pix is left on the screen until a new VIS triggers the system  to 

	  copy  a new picture. You can manually intercede to copy  pictures 

	  which  are too noisy to trip the VIS. Saving all pix  temporarily  

	  has some merit as you can decide what to save permanently at your 

	  leisure.  I  probably  will try to improve the  VIS  now  with  a 

	  switchable  sensitivity; like now for unattended and more  sensi-

	  tive for watching current picture flow. I did make some  improve-

	  ments  in VIS which improved it's recovery time after  getting  a 

	  partial  VIS and also added a software switch to open up the  VIS 

	  acquisition bandwith. Depending on QRM this may or may not  help, 

	  so it is switchable. [RT]

	       (3)  Modified the TIF conversion program so the TIF file  to 

	  be converted is not constrained to be a specific number of pixels 

	  wide.  Since the TV pix are approximately in the  320x240  range, 

	  you  can  reduce  larger (ie:more pixels) pix to  that  range  or 

	  select  a  1:1  pixel transfer and get a blown up  piece  of  the 

	  larger picture. You can also inject the pixel width manually  for 

	  the few cases where the width wasn't included in the file header. 

	  Both the TIF  and TGA conversion programs had a bias toward giv-

	  ing darker pictures. This was corrected. [TIFCONV]

	       (4)  Created additional conversion programs for  GIF,  JPEG, 
 
	  and  TGA files of different color shades (8, 16, and 24  bit)  so 

	  you  can  cursor select from directories full of  these  pix  and 

	  transmit  directly in any SSTV mode. For example,  Pasokon  files 

	  should be immediately transmittable. Programs are TT for TGA,  TJ 

	  for  JPEG, and TG for GIF. These are only constrained by the  640 

	  or less limit for pixel width in ALCHEMY. 
	  
	       An   additional conversion program, CONV, was created to take
	       
	  any PCX, GIF, JPEG, or TGA file and convert it to any of our SSTV
	  
	  formats (above Alchemy limits apply). [OPERATTV and BATCH FILES]

	       (5)  Our TVT transmit program with it's  flexible  thumbnail 

	  sketch format has been well received by those who have tried  it. 

	  After  using  it  extensively, myself, and adding  many  new  pix 

	  files,  I ran into a serious bug. After thumbing thru  about  170 

	  images without going back to DOS to reset everything, the program 

	  would hangup the computer. This has been fixed. A few other minor 

	  tuneup type changes have been made.

	       (6)  We  have added a new VESA card analysis  program  which 

	  will  tell you what VESA modes your video card includes and  also 

	  what are the values for two major parameters, BL (bytes/line) and 

	  BS (bankswitching multiplier) which are needed for almost all the 

	  programs.  I have maintained manual insertion of these values  as 

	  there are still non-standard cards out there that will take  some 

	  fiddling  with  values. If you have to add a  VESA  driver,  this 

	  program should tell you what results the driver gave.[OPERATTV]

	       With this jump to the I revision, incremental changes beyond 

	  I will now show up in a VESTIADD.ZIP. All comments will be appre-

	  ciated.  Many  changes  have been at your request  so  keep  them 

	  flowing.



					     Have fun,
 
					     Ben Vester, K3BC

	  11/24/95   


