== 2026-09-01 Tuesday ==

I read on Solderpunk's phlog[0] that ROOPHLOCH 2026 begins today,
September 1st.

I read about it last year, too, but didn't take part, but this
year, now that I'm fully commited to Gopher as my main and only
online public presence I thought I'd give it a go.

I know I can quite easily post a phlog entry "outside" by a number
of simple methods

1) Use my phone as a hotspot and then simply connect my laptop to
its WiFi and ssh into my Gopher server as normal. Write a new Phlog
post directly on the server.

2) Use my phone as a hotspot, as above, but write the post on my
laptop and use rsync to copy it to the Gopher server.

3) Use ConnectBot on my phone to log in via SSH to the Gopher
server, and write the Phlog post direclty on the server, from a
tiny phone screen.

All of these (and a few others I can think of) use my phone's
4G Internet connectivity and are things I already do quite often to
manage by Gopher hole when I'm away from home.

For ROOPHLOCH I want to do something a little more esoteric. I want
to "self-provide" the network link between me - in the great
ourdoors - and the Internet. I don't want to connect to the
internet directly.

RADIO... it all needs RADIO.... but instead of a 4G cellphone radio
I want to make the 1st hop between me and the internet over Amateur
Radio.

My Plan
=======

1) Set up a VHF Packet Radio base station at home using a Kenwood
TM-D710 radio (it has a built in 1200 baud packet radio TNC)
connected via Serial to a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi will use
the built in kernel AX25 network interface and provide IP
connectivity over the Radio.

2) Set up a VHF Packet Radio mobile station using a Kenwood TH-D72
handheld radio. It has a build int 1200 baud packet radio TNC
accessed via an internal USB-Serial port. I'll set up my laptop to
also use the AX25 kernel network interface.

3) Configure the Raspberry Pi to give access to its FTP server
and a Telnet login via the AX25 interface

4) Take the mobile setup "Outside" and write a small Phlog post.

5) Connect to the Rapsberry Pi's FTP server via Packet Radio and
"put phlog.txt"

6) Connect to the Raspberry Pi's Telnet server via Packet Radio and
run a pre-written shell script that will automatically rsync the
new phlog.txt to the Gopher Server over the "real internet".

I need to start slowly... 

I used to run an APRS I-Gate with a Raspberry Pi and a "TNC-Pi"
that connected piggy-back style to the GPIO pins. The TNC died -
but hopefully I can still boot up the Pi and just change the config
to use a TNC connected via a USB-Serial adaptor. That should give
me a connection to the TM-D710 radio's TNC and complete step 1) of
my TO-DO list....

More to follow....



==== Update #1

1) Try to connect the handheld TH-D72 via its internal USB-serial
port to the old R.Pi (as /dev/ttyUSB0) and configure the ax25
settings to use it, instead of the broken TCN-Pi (via /dev/ttyACM0)

The Pi refused to talk to the handheld's "inappropriat ioclt" and
other annoying things. I devided to cut my losses and move on... 

2) Set up a laptop to use AX25 and the handheld...
this worked - once I found that to use "kissattach" to communicate
in KISS mode I first had to connect to the radio via minicom and
issue the command:

KISS ON
RESET

from then on the radio will only respond to correct KISS
commands...

back to the ax25 setup...

Yes, now I can run "kissattach" and ifconfig to set the ax25 port's
IP address (10.0.0.2), and a route....

and can

ping 10.0.0.1 

the radio transmits regularly - intially sending ARP requests for
10.0.0.1

But it's working.

I can use "axcall" to attempt to connect via packet radio, and
"axlisten" to monitor anything received. Setting my TM-D710 in the
van to send regular APRS beacons -> I see them via the
handheld/laptop combination.

I have my 1st part of the station.


My plan now, though, is to use the Handheld / Laptop as the
home-station and use the TM-D701 mobile in the van as my ROOPLOCH
posting outdoors setup.

Now I need to find a darned USB-Serial adaptor (I had 3 of them a
few months ago, where are they) and a lead for connecting to the
TM-D710's packet data port.....

Part 3) coming soon...



John
GM4SLV
Shetland



[0]: gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~solderpunk/phlog/announcing-roophloch-2026.txt