The text is badly garbled. If you see numbers and other symbols that look like they shouldn't be there, you probably have an emulation conflict that can be resolved by experimentation. First, hang up your modem. You must disconnect from LINKcat, change your emulation setting and reconnect to LINKcat in order to verify that an emulation setting works or not. If you need help setting up terminal emulations on your PC, please refer to your software manuals.
Strange symbols show up at random.
Line noise in rural areas has been a recurring problem for users trying to connect at high modem speeds. Bad weather may also affect your connection. Try again at 9600 bps if you have trouble at 14400. I've tried everything and still can't connect. If possible, try a different software package, as they are not all truly VT100 compatible.