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HAL DS-3100 terminal

falter

falter

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Joined
Jan 22, 2011
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Location
Vancouver, BC
Don't know if you guys have seen these things before, but I picked up this non-working one for $40, hoping to use it with various projects I have going (after I fix it)

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It has a female 3 prong hanging above the male 3 prong for the wall outlet. Not sure what it's for. The CRT has its own power cord, when I plug it in, I can see the back of the CRT tube glowing a little, but that's it. When I plug the bottom in and flip the power switch, the power light lights up, but that's it there. I'm wondering if that BNC connector on the back means what it says and I could connect the bottom half to another monitor to confirm it's alive?

Here's inside the monitor:

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Come to think of it now -- I'm wondering if that BNC 'output' is meant to have a cable that goes up to the unmarked BNC connector on the monitor? Weird.
 
Found one! And it works! Sort of.

2015-11-24 16.11.14.jpg

Not sure what is up with the corners on right side. Hoping pic tube isn't bad. But looks it.
 
I think what I'm seeing is your raster is swung to the side. A better picture of a screen full of text would help.
The yoke on the neck of the crt has metal centering rings. Those just need to be rotated to center the raster.

PS - actually from looking at your crt, the yoke has slid back on the neck of the tube. It needs to be moved up and tightened. Not a tube problem !!

Larry G
 
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HAL communications is still in business - if you contact them, they may be able to send you a PDF of the manual.

by the way, for those that don't know - it's a radio teletype (RTTY) terminal - 45.45 baud, AFSK encoding, BAUDOT character set. RTTY is still in use on the HAM RF bands.

regards,
Mike Willegal
 
Just Baudot Mike? I read somewhere it was ASCII also.. and that the com port on the back was rs232?
 
retrogear said:
I think what I'm seeing is your raster is swung to the side. A better picture of a screen full of text would help.
The yoke on the neck of the crt has metal centering rings. Those just need to be rotated to center the raster.

PS - actually from looking at your crt, the yoke has slid back on the neck of the tube. It needs to be moved up and tightened. Not a tube problem !!

Larry G
Click to expand...

Thanks Larry.. I'm a bit hesitant about touching anything on the crt.. i seem to have the magic fingers that cause vaccuum leaks.. ;) Is it a risky procedure to put it back?
 
Okay so yeah, it supports ASCII up to 9600 baud. I can change the mode using it's function keys. I've not found a manual online but ebay does have one for $20. I don't really understand RTTY equipment... as far as I was aware RTTY is just teletype via 'wireless', right? So theoretically a machine like this could be used with an Altair or anything else that interfaced with ASCII teletype?

Just for fun I connected a null modem cable between my PC and this thing -- put it in ASCII mode at 9600 baud, and set up appropriately on PC.. tried typing a few characters.. but nothing at either end. So not sure what that 'modem' port is or if I have something else wired the wrong way. Or if this thing won't work for that sort of purpose at all.
 
>Is it a risky procedure to put it back?
Well, with it powered off you could grab with your fingers where the metal clamp is on the tube neck and see if it is loose so you can gently slide the yoke forward.
The metal clamp tightens the yoke on the neck like a hose clamp. Just tighten slightly snug.
Any other adjustments would have to be done with it powered on to see the raster. The four metal tabs on top of the yoke will give you a nasty bite if touched so
would require a steady hand. Maybe a shot of JD would help :)

Larry G
 
I'll pass I think. I have a guy who is repairing my PET monitor (turned out to be issued with the flyback transformer on that one).

Here is the full screen:

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One other question.. do RTTY terminals like these qualify as 'vintage computing' type stuff the way other terminals do?
 
I have had quite a few of these DS-3100 terminals. They are designed for half duplex baudot code (5 bit) and 7 bit ascii code, also morse code too. The unit usually connects to a HAL st-6000 modem to convert the audio into digital for the DS-3100 to display.

If you are trying to use it only for an ASCII terminal, you will have to set FDX (full duplex), set the baud rate to your desired rate, activate ASCII mode, and then on the 25 pin connector jumper the RTS and CTS lines, and the DSR and DTR lines also so that the hardware flow control will work.

Your unit was modified with the MPT software, which is the newer version. Also, it might have the DSK-3100 software in it as well.


Mark Prather at HAL COmmunications in Urbana , IL is the expert on these. Your monitor looks like something someone tried to copy the HAL monitor. The control on the back should be brightness.

That unit will do so much more then rs-232 terminal. MSO storage (message storage option), high voltage loop keying for RTTY, etc.

If you are not a HAM Radio operator, most of the capabilities will mean nothing I think.....Kurt
 
Thanks muchly! I agree.. this is a neat little machine. I'm not sure how vintage computer people feel about vintage terminals like these, but it is definitely getting my curiousity. I'm not too familiar with HAM radio.. but I think I will check it out one day. Just have a lot of expensive hobbies going on. I paid $40 for this little beast and I'd like to give it some work to do.

I've figured out how to set baud rate and ascii but not duplex mode. I'm assuming to jumper the rts/etc I need a connector with the pins exposed at that end?
 
Did you try contacting HAL for the manual. That really speeds the setup process. They have a specific contact for vintage manuals. I am not clear why you need to strap the flow control pins, unless you wanted to test it in local loop back mode, in which case some f-f jumper leads will work . A cross over cable should link the pins. What are you going to connect it to?
 
falter said:
I'm not too familiar with HAM radio.. but I think I will check it out one day. Just have a lot of expensive hobbies going on.
Click to expand...
Ham is not an acronym, it's just slang for Radio Amateur for reasons unclear.

The longer you put it off the more you wish you'd done it sooner :)
 
g4ugm said:
Did you try contacting HAL for the manual. That really speeds the setup process. They have a specific contact for vintage manuals. I am not clear why you need to strap the flow control pins, unless you wanted to test it in local loop back mode, in which case some f-f jumper leads will work . A cross over cable should link the pins. What are you going to connect it to?
Click to expand...

I emailed a request but have not heard back yet.

Yeah I'm not clear on what jumpering those pins does either. I was just testing it with a PC running Tera Term, but could not get any action at either end. I was using a 25 pin null modem cable. Maybe the duplex mode setting was what I was missing.

Ultimately it might be fun to use this thing with some terminal-only devices I have, like my OSI 500 board. If it can be done.
 
Well if the machine is set for RS-232 and has hardware flow enabled you need to fool it into thinking it is attached to and active modem. So if you have a null modem cable and set the PC for Hardware flow control typing on the PC should produce output on the HAL and visa-versa.

So when its unplugged does typing produce output on the screen?

If you connect 2+3 and 4+5 , and 6+8+20 on the D-25 does it produce output.

If you get o/p with no links, adding the links above should make everything be typed double....

Purpose of the links Links:-

2+3 loops TX and RX data
4+5 loops Request to send (RTS) and clear to send (CTS)
6+8+20 are I think Data Carrier Detect (DCD), Data Set Ready (DSR) and Data Terminal Ready (DTR)

So what normally happens is when the modem connects it lowers (I think most RS232 signals are active low, so -6v to -12v) DCD and DSR to say it has connected to the other end and is ready to receive data.
We feed these from "DTR" which the terminal should raise at power on....
when the terminal wants to send data it raises "Request to send" and the Modem responds with "Clear to Send". Again we loop these.

Some info here that seems half sensible.

http://airborn.com.au/serial/rs232.html

As for the origin of "Ham" I have no idea. The ARRL used to have a page..

https://web.archive.org/web/19970124215149/http://www.arrl.org/whyham.html

but is gone....
 
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