Epson MFJ-1278B MULTI-MODE Basic Operation Pactor Mailbox, Setting Up your Pactor Mailbox

MFJ-1278B MULTI-MODE BASIC OPERATION

PACTOR MAILBOX

The MFJ-1278B now includes a new feature called a PACTOR MAILBOX. In this section we will cover basic operation of the new Pactor Mailbox, and the operative commands. The Pactor Mailbox includes the basic commands of the Packet mailbox. The Pactor Mailbox is very simple and easy to use. Any amateur radio operator who has Pactor capability can access your Pactor Mailbox, after establishing the initial connection to your station. You MFJ-1278B must be in the PACTOR operating mode. You must also have the MAILBOX command ON in the Pactor command set. The Pactor MAILBOX command is separate from the Packet mailbox command. The Packet MAILBOX command needs to be ON too. The Packet MAILBOX command defaults to ON. Once the remote user connects to your Pactor Mailbox the user can obtain a list of the messages in your mailbox, read or kill any message addressed to him. A few functions such as the SYSop command, forwarding, and reverse forwarding are performed from the Packet mailbox.

The Pactor Mailbox in the MFJ-1278B provides the sysop with about 32K of RAM for message storage. The Pactor and Packet Mailboxes share the same 32K RAM. The mailbox RAM is in addition to the system RAM. However, you can increase the RAM size to 128K or even an enormous 512K. You can increase the RAM size by simply replacing the mailbox RAM chip on the MFJ-1278B motherboard. The mailbox RAM is battery backed up, just like the system RAM. Additional RAM chips are available from MFJ Enterprises, Inc. and easily installed by the user. The user can order the 128K RAM chip as the MFJ-45B, or the 512K RAM chip as the MFJ-45C. The number of slots and space available for each memory size are as follows:

Memory Size	# of Slots	Bytes Avail.
32K	99	32,000
128K	99 per bank	128,000
512K	99 per bank	512,000

Setting Up your Pactor Mailbox

The new Pactor Mailbox is operative only while the MFJ-1278B is in the Pactor mode of operation. The Pactor mailbox uses the callsign used during standard Pactor operations. The user must set a few of the Pactor commands before operating the Pactor mailbox. As we mentioned earlier there are a few functions that are performed only in the Packet mailbox. The functions that are performed only in the Packet are the SYSop command, forwarding, and reverse forwarding. We will go over the different commands while we talk about the Pactor setup.

NOTE: Whenever we refer to <ENTER> in this instruction this means to press the RETURN