MSG # TR SIZE TO FROM @BBS DATE TITLE 5733 B# 2923 ALL KA3RFE MDCBBS 910215 Attn New Packeteers pt8 Forwarding path: W3IWI KA4USE N4QQ N2GTE N3ETI KA3RFE MORE ON BULLETINS OK, now you know that there are local bulletins and flood bulletins. So what? Well, you also need to keep in mind what's appropriate for which catagory. With flood bulletins, there are local floods, regional floods, and national floods; each of which has a designated function and audience. A local floodR bulletin would be one going to a very limited distribution area such as one city, or one county. A regional flood would be sent to a wider area, such as a state, or an ARRL region, or an FCC region. A national flood bulletin goes to BBSs throughout the country. Which flood header you choose to use should be appropriate to the purpose of your bulletin, and to the most logical audience. Example: Your club is going to hold a picnic and wants to invite hams from other clubs. What flood header do you use? National? No. Regional? Maybe. Local? Yes. (Why? If the picnic is to be held in Upper Lidville NY, nobody in Lower Coax MD cares...but someone in Middle Lidville NY might be interested.) Example: You have a Deluxe Gee-whiz Whizbang Antenna Gizmo which you want to sell. You paid $20 for it, and want to sell it for $10. Which flood header to use for this? National? No. Regional? No. Local? Yes. (Why? If you use the national or regional floods, the shipping charge to send the thing to anywhere will be almost as much as the asking price...so any buyer for it will want to pick it up, and prob ably wont want to drive more than 30 minutes to get it.) With "for sale" bulletins, you should keep in mind that the item MUST be ham-radio-related for it to be legal under part 97.113. You should also keep in mind that there are many sysops who refuse to carry or forward "for sale" bulletins. You should check with your sysop about this prior to entering the bulletin, or download his "Info" text, where many of them keep their bulletin-forwarding policy. Example: Your club will be holding a hamfest. You want to send a bulletin out to announce it. Its a one-day affair with no programs. Which header do you use? National? No. Regional? Yes. Local? Yes. (Why? The information is of regional interest, but not of national interest. Nobody in California is going to travel to a one-day hamfest in Maryland. So, you see that the content of your bulletin will determine which header to forward it to. You need to excercise some judgement and common-sense in addressing the bulletin. (more in Part 9) 73, Pete, KA3RFE KA3RFE@KA3RFE.MD.USA MSG # TR SIZE TO FROM @BBS DATE TITLE 5730 B# 2328 ALL KA3RFE MDCBBS 910215 Attn New Packeteers pt9 Forwarding path: W3IWI KA4USE N4QQ WA3ZNW NB3P KA3RFE THE NATIONAL FLOODERS There are several varieties of National Flood Headers, all of which do the same thing: deThey go nation-wide. Three of the most common headers are "USA" "ALLUS" "ALLBBS". There are others, but those three show up more often than the others. What bulletins are appropriate for nation-wide forwarding? This question is continually debated among users and sysops alike. Ask 100 hams and you get 100 different answers. We CAN however use some judgement and common sense and come up with useful criteria. Many bulletins sent via the national floods are inappropriate in one sense or another. It's not unusual to see hamfest announcements going out nationwide, and its obvious that a national audience is not appropriate. It's also common to see someone selling some small piece of gear nationwide. As pointed out earlier,it makes little sense to put a national bulletin out to sell something small. The same also holds true for real big things, like towers. If you send a national bulletin out selling a tower, you'd better be prepared to package it for shipping...and wouldnt you rather the buyer pick it up?. Another point, with "sale"-type bulletins: it's common to see bulletins advertising stuff for sale which is in no way ham-related. FCC part 97.113 clearly states the item being sold MUST be ham-radio- related gear. Also, you must ask yourself if the bulletin could in any way be construed as "business" comms. You should check with your sysop to see what his policy is regarding national flood bulletins, since almost every sysop has differing criteria. If you exercise good judgement and common sense in sending national flood bulletins, you can't go wrong. Oh, one last thing....If you are unsure of the legality of your bulletin, its best not to send it at all. 73, Pete, KA3RFE KA3RFE@KA3RFE.MD.USA MSG # TR SIZE TO FROM @BBS DATE TITLE 5734 B# 1881 ALL KA3RFE MDCBBS 910215 Attn New Packeteers pt 10 Forwarding path: W3IWI N4QQ WA3TAI WA7NTF KA3RFE HOW TO GIVE YOUR SYSOP ULCERS 1)e Never kill your mail. Let your read-but-not-killed messages accumulate on the BBS. 2) Assume (wrongly) that the sysop will kill your messages for you. 3) Never read or download the documentation for the BBS. 4) Dont pay any attention to your sysop's messages telling you how to use the BBS and continue along your merry way with your mistakes. 5) Assume (wrongly) that any message you enter in error will be corrected by the sysop. 6) Complain long-and-loudly when the BBS goes down, but never, ever offer any support for system upkeep...monentarily or sweaty. (The majority of BBS systems are operated by individual hams, not clubs...and support for those systems usually are borne by the individual hams themselves with no help from the users...so, if you want to see the system stay up, HELP OUT!) 7) Never learn how to correctly enter NTS traffic on a packet BBS. Send traffic any old way....regardless of whether its sent in the right format or not...then bitch when the traffic never gets delivered at the end point because the traffic handlers cant figure out where it goes. 8) Send illegal bulletins. Eventually you will be caught, and you and your sysop will get fined. Your sysop will not appreciate that and he will lock you out of the BBS, might bomb your shack, and will be sorely tempted to put pins through your coax. This is known as the "WA3QNS EFFECT". 73, Pete, KA3RFE KA3RFE@KA3RFE.MDf  .