TZUTC: -0600   
   MSGID: 659.fidonet-memories@1:2320/33 2614bc07   
   REPLY: 1:135/392 17782e09   
   PID: Synchronet 3.19a-Win32 master/717592bc9 Dec  2 2021 MSC 1928   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.14-Win32 master/717592bc9 Dec  2 2021 MSC 1928   
   BBSID: TBOLT   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   Joe,   
      
    JM>    Hmm.  Does "Doofuss" fall into that area?  That is one of my   
    JM> nicknames with the chief of police at work.  :)   
      
     There was a deal on a ham radio net several years ago, where this   
   term took on a whole new meaning. It was on a digital mode, using   
   what's known as a terminal node controller or TNC...sort of a modem   
   for ham radio (1200 baud on the VHF bands). Data was sent in packets,   
   so the mode is known as "packet"...but what is sent is what is also   
   received. In that regard, packet is the only ham radio data mode that   
   is error free. However, some think that "packet" is what you do to   
   your ham radio items, in loading up your no longer used items to sell   
   at a hamfest.    
      
     I had recently changed my ham radio callsign to WX1DER (that was my   
   third one...I was originally licensed as N5VLZ in August, 1991...then    
   changed it to AE5WX in June, 2009...then to WX1DER just after Christmas,   
   2012...and finally to WX4QZ in March, 2019). As a side note, the person   
   with that callsign is the ONLY one in the world with it.   
      
     Anyway, on this "packet net", we're typing at our keyboards. The "net   
   control" was the wife of the Sysop of the packet BBS...which is over   
   ham radio instead of dial-up phone lines or telnet. The net was done in   
   a roundtable format. One ham, Ed, had the callsign KI0HQ. He had wanted   
   the callsign K0ED, but a ham radio operator in California already had   
   that.    
      
     As a side note, the US is broken down into callsign districts.    
   Originally, you had to have the callsign in the region where you   
   lived...but now, you can get a vanity callsign for whatever region.   
   The only exception is for callsigns in Alaska, Hawaii, or the US   
   territories...if you live outside these areas, you can't get them.   
      
     Back to the net, though...Ed typed "I'm married, and E.D. is not    
   an issue". Well, another ham in Minnesota, Roger, KB0SON, thought   
   that E.D. stood for "Electronic Doofus" . I knew what it *really*   
   meant, so I started chuckling.   
      
     Yet, *I* can relate to that, as electronics was never my forte'.    
   I can tell you the colors on a resistor (thanks to Violet ...the    
   acronym for that is BBROYGBVGW -- each letter is the first letter    
   of that particular color)...and that not even an amp of electricity    
   can kill you. Plus, I know what a battery is on a schematic diagram...   
   but that's it.   
      
     It gets over to the Sysop of the BBS, K.O. (N0KFQ), and all he   
   typed was "I'm curious to see how Ed is going to explain E.D. to   
   Roger". At this point, I'm chortling with guffaws.    
      
     So, back to Net Control, Billie (KB0WSA), K.O.'s wife. She turns   
   it back to Ed, and he types "Billie?? Do you know Morse Code??".   
   And, she types "Yes...and I know a lot of other things as well!!".   
      
     At this point, I'm about to pee all over myself, as I'm laughing   
   wildly.    
      
     So, Ed types what E.D. really means on the computer...I'm sure   
   Roger was embarrassed!!   
      
     Sadly, Billie passed away several years ago, and K.O. died nearly   
   2 years after she did. But, a year after her death (a year before   
   K.O. died), I mentioned this on the net again, and K.O. commented   
   "it was so refreshing to hear that again...and it happened EXACTLY   
   the way Daryl told it".    
      
     The BBS lives on with RF and Telnet access, now in Penfield,   
   New York. I alternate Net Control on that net, and I'm also the   
   weekly scribe.   
      
   Daryl, WX4QZ   
      
   ... ESC?? I didn't know I was trapped.   
   === MultiMail/Win v0.52   
   --- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32   
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:2320/33)   
   SEEN-BY: 1/123 14/0 19/33 30/0 80/1 90/1 103/705 105/81 120/340 616   
   SEEN-BY: 123/10 131 129/305 154/10 30 40 50 700 203/0 218/700 220/80   
   SEEN-BY: 220/90 221/1 6 226/18 30 227/114 201 229/424 426 428 452   
   SEEN-BY: 229/664 700 240/1120 5832 249/206 307 317 400 261/38 280/464   
   SEEN-BY: 282/464 1038 292/854 301/0 1 101 113 123 317/3 322/757 335/364   
   SEEN-BY: 341/66 342/200 633/280 712/848 920/1 2320/0 33 105 195 304   
   SEEN-BY: 3634/12 5020/1042 5058/104   
   PATH: 2320/33 105 154/10 301/1 229/426