.So while tacking my way through the shoals and tidal inlets of the great Digital Sargasso Sea, I took a moment this past Sunday afternoon to click on http://archive.org/ This remarkable location is just one of a number of online virtual libraries that harvests and houses all sorts of Internet flotsam, including complete web pages that date back in time to at least 1996.
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I then looked up http://nobleharbor.com/ which, among other things, is a personal shrine to the art of Tea as hosted by Tim Maxwell KA2PKH. I also recalled that Tim used to have a few copies of my now defunct TELNET NEWS packet radio newsletter ranging from 1998 to 2000 posted on his site and sure enough, they were still accessible. This was a significant find since a now archaic Toshiba Satellite laptop in my possession harbors the entire TELNET NEWS documentation with one minor glitch. In it's current state, the computer does not see the floppy drive. Maybe a corrupt driver, maybe not. I'll get around to it one day.
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Anyway, in 1998, I was already performing a monthly special segment for George Bowen's This Week in Amateur Radio but this was well before the installation of the Random Access File and Random Access Thought programs which I currently produce. In fact, those features focused mostly on amateur packet radio from the user's perspective, especially with regard to the overlap between various regional AX25 radio networks and access to the Internet from those networks.
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What follows is radio copy dated October 31st, 1998 detailing a then existing packet environment deep in the heart of Texas. Whether any these network devices still exist, I must admit I have not taken the time to verify but if you have a nifty client such as the last and best version of Winpack version 6.80 or any other functional telnet program, go see!
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Hello George, Here's copy for the next packet installment for TWIAR. n2fnh/Bill.
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Coming up next on This Week In Amateur Radio, ME! N2FNH! With more on those amazing packet Internet Gateways. Don't you dare touch that dial!
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Hello there! It's me again! N2FNH with more on those amazing Packet Internet Gateways. Listen, I have a three-year old son. His name is Zachary. And Zachary LOVES trains. This kid has more train toys than AMTRAK and CONRAIL have rolling stock. You name it, he's got it. Everything from amazing remote control jobbies to all those little Thomas The Tank Engine bits, pieces and parts. When he gets a little older, I plan to take my son, the train expert, to the Mecca of all train stations, Grand Central Station in New York City where we can convene and converse with our fellow trainiacs, co-passengers, concessionaires, the bums who pee in the street and all the other denizens who live and work in the bowels of one of Gotham City's best known landmarks.
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Thinking about Grand Central Station somehow got me to thinking about packet radio, the Internet and all kinds of crazy communications networks. How I made this mental segue still mystifies me but it does give me the chance to profile a kind of Grand Central Station I discovered in the world of packet Radio. There's a guy named Larry Story who lives down in Double Oak, Texas. He's a professional airline pilot who is also an enthusiastic amateur radio operator who loves the digital domain. His call is WB5CQU and he runs a gateway using JNOS software that bridges the Internet with not one, not two, not three but four different types of packet networks, not to mention the local neighborhood AX25 stuff. Larry's system allows the user access not only to the usual local NETROM environment but also entry into a regional system known as the ROSE X25 Network. There is also access to another protocol called TEXNET, as well as a solidly established TCPIP collective.
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There are a few ways to access WB5CQU. If you are currently connected to another Packet Internet Gateway, then check your nodes list and look for the alias IPCQU. If it's there, then try the usual NETROM connect. If it works, you will be seen by IPCQU as an amateur radio link and should allow you full access. If you decide to telnet in from your gateway or from your Internet service provider, you will need to send a message to: wb5cqu@wb5cqu.ampr.org after you login requesting access to the site. It usually takes a day or so to get the nod of approval. Right now, the way IPCQU is configured, Larry is using a point To point protocol or PPP connection to the Internet. What this means is that you must use Larry's domain name to establish the telnet session rather than the 32-bit IP address. With the PPP connection, Larry's server is operating with something called dynamic IP addressing which means the numeric address tends to change from session to session. Although the IP address changes, the domain name does not. Should you get a busy signal from IPCQU, hang out for a few minutes and then give it another go. So the address to remember is: IPCQU.DYN.ML.ORG or INDIA PAPA CHARLIE QUEBEC UNIFORM dot DELTA YANKEE NOVEMBER dot MIKE LIMA dot OSCAR ROMEO GULF.
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Once you are in, take the time to really scope out IPCQU. Check the nodes lists, the ports lists and the IH lists. Check out the message areas for updates on the ROSE X25 Network and the emerging FPAC protocol. Larry tells me FPAC is an extension of the ROSE standard and appears designed to replace the existing software. Also scan the hard drive with that W command for even more information. You will need it because the ROSE and TEXNET local area networks have different command structures. They're easy to learn but there are some differences. The fun, for me at least, was to actually discover and try out these network protocols that I could only read about in those two ARRL best seller publications, "Your Packet Companion" and "Practical Packet Radio".
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Here's how Larry describes the ROSE protocol in one of his text messages: The ROSE X25 Packet Switch is a replacement for the common digipeater or other node switching EPROM. The ROSE Switch represents the latest state of the art in Packet Networking technology using international standard protocols. The ROSE switch is the first Amateur Packet Networking program to use International Standard protocol known as CCITT X25. The program is burned into a EPROM and placed in any of the standard TNC2 clones. This EPROM replaces the standard system chip in the TNC.
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The ROSE X25 Packet Switch offers some interesting features:
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HOP by HOP Acknowledgements between Switches providing higher reliability and throughput.
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A 9600 BAUD or higher BACKBONE that is completely Transparent to the user.
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VIRTUAL addressing. The user only needs to know the address at the exit point and not all the intermediate steps.
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DYNAMIC route selection. The Network will automatically attempt other alternate paths if a link is down.
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PREDETERMINED Network paths. The network will not attempt impossible links that are heard during a band opening.
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SUPPORTS all packet protocols including TCPIP, NETROM and AX25.
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Larry goes on to say that an organization called the Radio Amateur Telecommunications Society or RATS were the developers of this networking system which currently stretches from Texas to Oklahoma as well as Florida, Louisiana, Michigan and Illinois. I have also found other ROSE networks in places like New Jersey and a few localities in France. I spent a few nights playing with the WB5CQU system and figured out the commands necessary to navigate both the ROSE and TEXNET systems. I should also say that the TEXNET protocol appears to be a cross between the common NETROM networks and ROSE is designed to be a reliable high speed networking system that meshes well with the coexisting ROSE environment. Once I was familiar with the networks, I then took the opportunity to establish some really enjoyable keyboard QSOs with the good folks who live the Double Oak area. From all this experimenting, I made two really good friends over the IPCQU Packet Gateway. They are Bonnie KC5MSV and her brother Terry KC4EYD who lives near Jacksonville, Florida. I've been QSOing with Bonnie and Terry for just about two years now. In fact, we even took it a step further for a couple of voice QSOs over the Internet using VoxChat. And that's really what this is all about. There are thousands of Packet to Internet Gateways in some 100 countries around the world and much of your time will be spent negotiating with other computers but the best fun is using all that technology, all that gear, all that stuff to get your digital self all the way over to somebody else's keyboard for the sole purpose of saying Hello! Bon Jour! Saludos! Shalom! Merhaba! or just plain old How the heck are ya? with another guy or gal who digs the Ham Radio scene as much as you do!
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And that's it for this time around. Remember: "Today the Network! Tomorrow the World!" This is Bill Baran N2FNH saying 73 for This Week In Amateur Radio!
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