In article ,
Channel Jumper writes:
Bill Gunshannon;794977 Wrote:
This group seems as dead as the 2 Meter Packet Frequencies around here
but I'll ask here anyway.
Is packet radio dead? Has the proliferation of Internet and Cell Phones
made it so meaningless that no one is doing anything anymore?
I have been pretty much out of Ham Radio for a long time but now
that retirement has reared it's ugly(?) head I find myself with
time and a renewed interest.
I am monitoring all the 2 Meter Packet Freqs here (in the home of
K3RLI) and hearing nothing. Not even the dubious DX Cluster traffic
that used to go on around here!!
Is there any interest in old fashined packet radio any more or should
I just put it all back in a box and relegate it to the cellar once more?
Oh yeah, Is Howie Goldstein, N2WX around here by any chance? I would
still like to get a copy of the source for the "Howie Code" that ran
in my DR-200's back in my digi-peating days. And a copy for the TNC-2
as well if there ever was one. I have always wanted to experiment with
it and if packet is pretty much dead then there is probably no problem
with me doing some stuff on two meters around here. Especially if I
could find some kindred spirits who shared some of my interests.
bill
KB3YV
--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three
wolves
| and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton |
Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include std.disclaimer.h
I think Bill - what your problem is - is that you have walked away from
something and all of a sudden, you turn the radio on and you expect to
hear traffic, just like you did 10 - 20 years ago...
Well, yes.... If there is no traffic wouldn't that mean it is dead?
Up in the north, they pass traffic on two meters, at least as far as
Bingimton NY to Erie via Ridgeway PA, and they pass it as far south as
Pittsburgh PA - via the national traffic system.
OK, on what frequencies? I'm in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. When K3RLI was
still active this place was a hot-bed of NTS traffic.
The only person I know personally that is involved in Pete Carr - WW3O
You might have read one or more of his articles in QST Magazine.
I haven't seen a QST in 20 years.
I think Pete says they do it in the morning.
Not enough traffic anymore to sit there and do it all day.
Oh, wait. You are talking about voice or CW. I would have thought that
automated packet systems would have replaced that decades ago. But then
maybe that's what "Not enough traffic anymore to sit there and do it all
day." really means. :-)
I don't even know what kind of traffic they pass.
I think they only do it to keep the system up and running in case of a
emergency.
If you want people to participate with - I would tone down the
attitude...
Attitude? All I have said so far was 25 years ago politics kept any
attempts at improving the system out and that ham radio suffered from
NIH syndrome. Historical facts, not attitude.
There is still some good guys out there, but most of the old HAMS - pre
No Code - are DEAD, and the ones that still has the radios on are not
the same hams you remember from 20 - 30 years ago.
2 meters / 70 CM is unique band.
It is the first place you go when you get your license and the last
place you go before they take you to the rest home or the cemetary.
Most real hams won't even use any band that is channeltized...
You are going to find that the kids on the radio today are mostly the
walkie talkie crowd, who are not real hams, just want to be's. Who
refuses to put up antenna's or buy transceivers or stand up to their old
lady to be able to put something in or on or outside of the house.
And you accused me of having an attitude!!!
Sounds like you have been delegated into that crowd.
What are you talking about? I use mostly tube type HF equipment that
I build myself or at laest maintain myself. (When my father died he
left a bunch of "newer" semiconductor and microprocessor based rigs
behind. None of them still work.) i build antennas for the fun of it.
Especially HF antennas. (Ever built a Sterba Curtain?) I alwys have
ropes and wires hanging from trees around my property. I may have been
out a long time, but I'm not dead.
Your Advanced license tells volumes.
What is that supposed to mean? That was the level I had attained
when I stopped using ham radio. Since getting interested I have
started working on my Extra. Took the test once just to see what
it was like and only missed it by 2 questions (on all the space
stuff that didn't even exist when I was still active.) I expect
to pass it before the summer is over.
You knew about communications but didn't see any need to go beyond
Advanced and probably got mad when they eliminated Advanced and got rid
of the code...
Talk about being blinded by attitude. I was one of the advocates of
eliminating the code over 20 years ago. Just because I do it doesn't
mean I expect everyone to do it. I actually did 20WPM code for 10
years before I even had a ham licence. With the Army. That was also
where I got my interest in RTTY, again long before becoming a ham.
That is the consensus of the population here....
Find yourself a Amateur Radio Club and get involved in Amateur Radio -
not just the walkie talkie crowd on the 565 simplex or the repeater
retards...
Get out the books and study and get your Amateur Extra license and
become a VE and give back to Amateur Radio - don't just take!
You will find, if you get involved - you will not feel so jilted and
will be less apt to retreat to the 75 and 160 meters, with the other
buddy clubs, where all they do is sit and cuss and not use their call
signs and act like they are still on the CB radio...
I guess you totally missed the fact that what I wanted to do was get
back into digital experimentation. Or the fact that I was doing
wireless networking (both ham and non-ham) 30 years ago.
bill
KB3YV
--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves
| and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton |
Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include std.disclaimer.h