Before you start composing your message you will need to determine in what format it should be written. There are two formats you can choose in the 'Menu Bar' under the menu 'File', TELEX or ASCII. TELEX will be explained in the next chapter.
When you send a TELEX you have to select TELEX. In all the other circumstances you have to select ASCII. With these two options you select the protocol of how the characters will be built up within your message. All the messages are built up from digital information. The way each character is built up is different in the TELEX and ASCII systems. For almost all message types you have to use the ASCII protocol - except for TELEX, which works
with the TELEX protocol.
When a message has been composed you are able to send it directly or there is a possibility to save it, so you can send it on later.
In the editor program that is used for composing or revising an existing message, there are several functionalities (editing options) built in, such as: Copy, Paste, Move, Replace, Delete, Print etc... These functionalities can be performed by pressing a combination of keys at the same time. These commands can be found in the user manual. Not all the different possibilities (available on the real equipment) within the text editing menu are supported by this simulator.

Practise on the Inmarsat C simulator

Composing an ASCII message:

• Select 'File' in the Menubar on the top of the screen by using the arrow keys followed by 'Enter'.
• Select 'New ASCII' by using the arrow keys followed by 'Enter'.
• Now the cursor is blinking on the top of the Text field and the text can be added by typing on the keyboard.
• When the text has been entered you can transmit it immediately (Alt,T combination to enter the transmit menu) or save it (Alt,F,S combination to enter the file save menu).