Sean,
SD>You might see it as "HAM" but that is not the proper form of the nickname.
HAM also stands for "Have Another Meal" and "Hardly Any Money"...but
you don't call us late for dinner. The same is true for BBS Sysops...as
Janis Kracht notes in The FidoGazette, "Even Sysops Have To Eat".
Plus, years ago, Sysops spent lots of money on hardware and especially
software (BBS Software packages, doors, etc.).
SD>Anyhow, this has gone off-topic for in here...
Sadly, there aren't as many ham radio BBS's...with packet, or even
with featuring things like ham radio and weather (as mine does). I can't
tell you how many TNC's (a modem for ham radio for the non-hams), I've
seen at hamfest flea markets.
One long such BBS in Branson went silent recently...the Sysops wife
passed away just over 2 years ago, and her widower husband (both were
hams) passed away at the end of October. But, you had to be an amateur
radio operator to access it.
There is a Packet BBS in Penfield, New York, that offers both RF and
Telnet access. Some areas are too far away from a BBS, or they don't
have a packet node in their area. They also do a digital net every
Monday night at 8pm Eastern Time.
At one time, I was using Synchronet BBS software (which I still do) to
run an Amateur Radio Packet Door by the late Dave Perry (W4KGU). It
allowed Sysops who were ham radio operators to allow users who were
licensed hams to access the local packet network, courtesy of their TNC.
But, for some reason under Windows 7, the deal thinks that "a connection
is already in progress". Also, Dave's doors didn't have a fossil driver,
so you either had to run Synchronet, or setup a workaround with the
Doorway program (originally by Marshall Dudley, now by Mike Ehlert), and
a dropfile that'd change the comport variable to 0) for it to work.
Dave's other doors included:
A) ARPD - Amateur Radio Packet Door (noted above)
B) BULLET - 26 categories for bulletins on any topic you like (ham
radio, weather, the BBS, cooking, etc.)
C) QRZDOOR - Obsolete now, as it worked with the callsign CD that QRZ
produced. Since more up-to-date sites, etc. are out there now, that CD
is no longer produced. I use the Doorway Program noted above, with the
Buckmaster Callsign CD, and a program with it, so it echoes out under
Synchronet.
D) REGSCAN - Part 97 of the FCC Rules covering Amateur Radio. I went
through and meticulously created an ASCII textfile from the PDF file,
for the door. Like with the BULLET door, you can search for various text
strings, etc.
E) WASPORT - Track ones progress in the ARRL Worked All States (WAS)
Competition. There are several modes and bands, with one special mode
that is customized by the Sysop (mine is set for Internet (i.e. VoIP for
Echolink, D-Star, D-Rats, Packet Via Telnet), etc. That doesn't count
for the WAS awards, but it's the only way I can operate.
For door A above, you have to have a Technician Class or higher
license. For Doors C and E above, you have to have a Novice Class or
higher license. For Doors B and D above, no ham radio license is
required. If any Sysop is interested in these, netmail me at 1:19/33 --
I can't send them via email, unless I do it via Yahoo...Gmail won't let
you attach programs to emails.
Thanks for the explanation on "ham"...I can use that at my license
exam sessions, or when I do "demos". As a side note, when people "ping
me" on the digital mode of D-Rats, I have "a shameless plug" for my
BBS...and that's how I've picked up several users. :)
Daryl, WX1DER
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þ OLX 1.53 þ What if there were no hypothetical questions??
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: FIDONet: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (1:19/33)
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