Thrane & Thrane A/S

CYRILLIC
CAPSAT MESSAGE
HANDLING SOFTWARE

Document number: TT 99-105184

Revision: C
Date: 10-Sep-1997
Author: Martin Rohde

Signature:

Date: 10-Sep-1997
Approved: Finn Berthelsen

Signature:

Copyright Thrane & Thrane A/S

Tobaksvejen 23A, DK-2860 Soeborg, Denmark

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Thrane & Thrane A/S

Cyrillic Capsat Message

Handling Software

Introduction
This version of the Capsat Message Handling Software is called Cyrillic, and is an
enhanced version of the standard software.

The Capsat Message Handling Software uses a standard Capsat Transceiver Software,
and therefore has a few limitations in its use. This is explained in the next section.

Features & Differences

The Cyrillic software is an extension of the standard Capsat Message Handling Software.

The standard (non-cyrillic) software contains the following improvements:

1. Addressbook enhancements: An address can be tagged for automatic position

inclusion when you transmit. The new prefixed addressing can now be selected.
The Land Earth Station name list has been expanded to include the names of the new
stations.

2. The Position reporting setup dialog now shows you what is currently programmed in
your Transceiver. This makes it possible to use the same Capsat program with
several differently programmed Transceivers.
The Land Station list will display the LES’s in other ocean regions when setting up the
programming for these ocean regions.

3. The ‘Change Path’ for the PC version of Capsat now has a graphical display of your
disks directories.

4. The message routing dialog now checks and unchecks the various possibilities
automatically according to the Inmarsat GMDSS configuration rules.

5. The system clock setting has been made more consistent. Only when you select OK
is your systems time being updated.

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6. Received polls are stored as normal messages if the polls are sent to subaddress 0
and contains a command 0 (poll datarequest) or 9 (poll senddata). The files are
named PL.XXX and can be viewed in the RXLOG.

7. Better printer linewrapping.

The software functions which are particular to the Cyrillic software are:

1. The ability to type Cyrillic characters in the Capsat editor window. The keyboard
can be switched from Cyrillic to Latin characters via the Edit menu or the ALT+F9
keyboard shortcut.
The Cyrillic keyboard functions are not available outside the editor window. If you
create new entries in your addressbook these will be named in Latin letters.

2. The message routing dialog is simplified as you can only have the printer connected
to the TT-3606A Message Terminal or PC where the Capsat program is running.

Cyrillic characters
You can send or receive your messages in 8 bit, 7 bit or 5 bit (packed baudot) mode.

Internally the Capsat program uses the following representation of the Cyrillic
characters:

80h ? 90h ? A0h ? E0h ?

81h ? 91h ? A1h ? E1h ?
82h ? 92h ? A2h ? E2h ?
83h ? 93h ? A3h ? E3h ?
84h ? 94h ? A4h ? E4h ?
85h ? 95h ? A5h ? E5h ?
86h ? 96h ? A6h ? E6h ?
87h ? 97h ? A7h ? E7h ?
88h ? 98h ? A8h ? E8h ?
89h ? 99h ? A9h ? E9h ?
8Ah ? 9AH ? AAh ? EAh ?
8Bh ? 9Bh ? ABh ? EBh ?
8Ch ? 9Ch ? ACh ? ECh ?
8Dh ? 9Dh ? ADh ? EDh ?
8Eh ? 9Eh ? AEh ? EEh ?
8Fh ? 9Fh ? AFh ? EFh ?

8 bit messages
When you send and receive 8 bit messages the above representation can be used to
send Cyrillic characters transparently, through Land Stations that supports 8 bit transfer.
Other Capsat programs running the Cyrillic Capsat software will be able to receive and
display these messages.

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If you send from a Capsat System to a terrestrial destination that supports 8 bit transfer,
you must use the same 8 bit representation in the terrestrial end, as in the Capsat
program, when you send and receive messages, otherwise your messages will not
display correctly.

7 bit messages
In order to be able to transport the Cyrillic characters over a 7 bit satellite connection
the Capsat program maps the Cyrillic characters to 7 bit characters (ASCII).

This functionality is important as the 7 bit service is available at all existing Land Earth
Stations.

Basically the conversion means that you can only send lowercase Latin and Cyrillic
characters trough the system. For your convenience the Capsat program converts any
uppercase characters in your text to lowercase before sending the message.

The following conversion takes place before your messages are transmitted:

A-Z and @[\]^_ are converted into a-z and `{|}~•

a-z and `{|}~• are left unchanged

?? A ?? R
?? B ?? S
?? W ?? T
?? G ?? U
?? D ?? F
?? E ?? H
?? V ?? C
?? Z ?? \
?? I ?? [
?? J ?? ]
?? K ?? _
?? L ?? Y
?? M ?? X
?? N ?? ^
?? O ?? @
?? P ?? Q

To mark the message as a Cyrillic 7 bit message the Capsat program inserts the
following 9 characters in front of your text:

0Dh 0Ah 2Eh 43h 37h 2Bh 2Eh 0Dh 0Ah

which is

CR LF .C7+. CR LF

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When the Capsat program receives a 7 bit message and finds the above sequence of 9
characters in the text, it removes the 9 characters and converts the rest of the message
according to the table listed above, so that lowercase Latin letters are unchanged, and
uppercase Latin letters are converted into lowercase Cyrillic characters.

If you send a message from a Capsat System to a terrestrial destination that supports 7
bit transfer, you must use the same 7 bit conversion in the terrestrial end, as in the
Capsat program, when you send and receive messages. Otherwise your messages will
be displayed in Latin letters instead of Cyrillic and will include the .C7+. indication in
the start of the message.

5 bit messages
The 5 bit service may not be available at all Land Earth Stations. Currently the
Inmarsat-C System requires you to send a 5 bit message from your Capsat Transceiver
before the system will send messages in 5 bit format back to you.

So only after you have sent your first 5 bit message, will you receive 5 bit message
yourself.

As the baudot characters are converted to ASCII in the Land Earth Station when the
message is put in the stations store-and-forward unit, it is not possible to send special
baudot characters to indicate Cyrillic characters (in the telex network combination 32,
unperforated tape, is commonly used as an extra shift character).

We have therefore decided to use a 9 character Cyrillic on/off letter sequence:

CR LF .C5+. CR LF to start Cyrillic conversion

CR LF .C5-. CR LF to stop Cyrillic conversion

These sequences will pass though most networks unchanged.

The Capsat software automatically inserts the ON sequence and converts characters
upon transmission before groups of Cyrillic characters, and insert the OFF sequence
before Latin characters.

The limited set of baudot characters means that you can only send lowercase Latin and
Cyrillic characters trough the system. For your convenience the Capsat program
converts any uppercase characters to lowercase before sending the message.

The following conversion takes place before your messages are transmitted:

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?? a ?? r
?? b ?? s
?? w ?? t
?? g ?? u
?? d ?? f
?? e ?? h
?? v ?? c
?? z ?? /
?? i ?? (
?? j ?? )
?? k ?? -
?? l ?? y
?? m ?? x
?? n ?? ‘
?? o ?? @ or fig. comb. 7
?? p ?? q

When the Capsat program receives a 5 bit message and finds the above sequences of 9
characters in the text, it removes the 9 characters and sets conversion on or off
accordingly. Only text between .C5+. and .C5-. is converted.

If you send from a Capsat System to a terrestrial destination that supports 5 bit transfer,
you must use the same 5 bit conversion in the terrestrial end, as in the Capsat program,
when you send and receive messages. Otherwise your messages will be displayed in
Latin letters instead of Cyrillic and with the .C5+. and .C5-.indications in the message.

Configuration
As the Cyrillic Capsat program is used with a standard Transceiver, the Transceiver has
no way of knowing that you are sending messages with Cyrillic text.

If you are using a system with a printer, it is therefore not possible to have the printer
connected to the Transceiver.

You must connect any printer to the printer port on your PC or TT-3606A Message
Terminal.

Also please set the Printer Filter to Low. This is done in the PC or TT-3606A Message
Terminal by entering F10 and then choose Options Printer (O, P). The Printer
configuration menu then appears and the Printer Filter is to be set to Low.

Also observe that the printer DIP switch (located under the small lid under the holder
for the paper roll) should be set the following way:

Switch no: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF ON OFF

If you select to have your messages printed upon transmission or reception, the
messages will be printed in their converted form if you use 5 or 7 bit transmission. You
will therefore see Latin letters instead of Cyrillic letters. The Transceiver will not print 8
bit message as these are not normally printable.

If you need to print messages you will have to print them manually from the TXLOG, the
editor window or the RXLOG.

Inspection
If you are using a TT-3606A Message Terminal, check that the EPROMs inside the
equipment are labelled (VNo = Version Number, CSum = Check Sum):

TT-3606A.U9 TT-3606A.U10 TT-3606A.U11

VNo CSum VNo CSum VNo CSum
1M Opt. 008 1M Opt. 008 1M Opt. 008

When you start up the program check that the Capsat programs About box shows
version VNo Cyrillic.

If you use a monochome monitor with a TT-3606A Message Terminal, check that the
character EPROM on the display adaptor card is labelled:

TT-3606A.U2
VNo CSum
256K Opt. 008

Check that you have a US/Cyrillic Keyboard available.

Hit the keys:

ASDFG

and check that you see the characters

???A?

Now change keyboard layout with the keys ALT+F9 and check that you get ASDFG
when you hit these keys.

If you are going to use a printer check that the TT-3608A printer contains the EPROM
labelled:

TT-3608A.Q8
VNo CSum
256K Opt. 008

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Connect the TT-3608A printer to your PC or TT-3606A Message Terminal.

Now print the file that you have in your editor and check that you see the same Cyrillic
characters

???A?

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