Subj : Re: Packet BBS?
To   : Bob Worm
From : n2qfd
Date : Sat Oct 05 2024 11:17 am

 BW> I have never understood why packet (or even split RTTY or something)
 BW> combined with BBS didn't really take off on amateur radio. Or at least,
 BW> if it did then it didn't last and I don't get why. For me, combining
 BW> radio with low bandwidth interactive text base stuff seems like an ideal
 BW> marriage.

 It did take off! 

   So back in the late 90's the VHF/UHF scene was a blast and there was one problem... packet clash. In some sense it sort of saturated it's own bandwidth. The other thing was that the internet as we now know it was being born and suddenly the idea of 1200bps VHF and the 9600bps UHF links were just so very very very slow. The Soundcard modems were still new too and you needed a TNC interface I had a PK232 and the Pakratts were rather expensive. I did get a TNC-X eventually from MFJ but by the time I got back around in my life to play packet the nodes largely were gone locally. We used to have BBS and nodes and digipeaters mapped across NYS and there's still packet in NY it's just here where I'm at it's a bit of an desert. HF packet is still a thing and the 300bps rate limit was recently doubled. The 105Net is still active and I've checked in to some of their BBS. It's subject to fade on HF though and can be a real trick if you're a QRP station like myself to muster the power to sustain a handshake with a distant station. Winlink2000 the radio email still uses packet protocol and ARDOP over HF radio and I still make use of that but it's not BBSing by any stretch. 
  I'm thinking FBBS might be the only bit of software still out there that I can think of if you're thinking of playing radio in mode and I hope you have some luck with it. One of the things I kick myself for was not getting an email on the BBS that was in orbit on the MIR space station. I managed APRS relay though the ISS but never got to packet as we knew it with AMSAT! 

  best 73

N2QFD{Queen City BBS}:// "Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said
by me? Does this need to be said by me right now?" - Craig Ferguson 

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Raspberry Pi/32)
 * Origin: Queen City BBS (21:1/154)

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