[bbssig] Packet Rebirth in Mississippi

[Bobby Graves]

Greetings Everyone!  I have operated a Full Service Packet BBS from around 
1989 until mid year 2000.  Like in many areas of the country, and the world, 
Packet has seen its ups and downs.

In my state, the decline in Packet Radio began around 1996.  From 1998 until 
2000, the only way to get information into and out of the state was via 
TELNET.  For now, about the only thing Packet that is slowly growing is 
APRS.

Over the course of the past 8 or 9 months, along with a lot of New Blood, 
there has been a growing interest once again into the area of Packet Radio. 
Not only for the fun of keyboarding and BBS operations, but for that of 
Emergency Service Work.

Don't get me wrong, APRS can do a lot, but lets face it, a lot of people 
just don't understand what all it can do and a lot is being wasted.  By 
resurrecting the Packet Radio of old, we can use this to a greater advantage 
such as teaching people how to better use APRS.  One function that I have 
proven will work is to have a PBBS with local Doppler radar imagery that can 
be downloaded and used for an overlay on APRS.  This way, the storm spotter 
can see where the activity is in relationship to him as well as everyone 
else showing up on the map.  You cannot do this on Findu.com!

This past April was a bad month as Mississippi had numerous killer tornados. 
In the aftermath of these storms, the new breed of hams we now have, tried 
out some of the digital modes for post storm reports to the EOC's and Red 
Cross.  Some of the modes used included but was not limited to Packet, APRS, 
and SSTV via 2 meter simplex.  Needless to say, all of these officials were 
blown away.

My question for now is this, while we are now rebuilding a Packet Network in 
the state of Mississippi, I need a way of getting data into and out 
utilizing TELNET or either email forwarding.  My system consists of WinFBB 
7.00i, a 166 MHz Pentium 4 with 80 MB RAM, 2 MFJ 1270C's and 2 two meter 
radios for local, an AEA PK-232MBX connected to a Kenwood TS-440, and a 
TELNET port.  Unfortunately, I have a high noise level on nearly all HF 
frequencies making a Packet or Pactor I connection useless, and I can only 
initiate the TELNET connection as I do not have a dedicated IP address for 
my DSL service.

I greatly appreciate any and all help in helping me to reestablish a good 
working Packet BBS while we rebuild our Packet Network so that we can reach 
our forwarding stations via RF.

Kind Regards,
Bobby
KB5HAV
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bobby Graves, KB5HAV
1676 Ravenwood Lane
Home: (601) 932-5301
Cell: (601) 278-7304
Pearl, MS 39208
Email: kb5hav at bellsouth.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~