Now What?

[W3WN]

Last night at the club meeting, a friend who is in the process of downsizing gave me a TNC he no longer has room for.

It’s a Kantronics Communicator 3 Plus. Complete with power supply, speaker, and a bunch of cables.

Looks to be in good to great shape, though I haven’t had a chance to do anything with it yet.

Which brings up the title of the thread... now what? Not really sure what I can do with this unit at the moment. So I’m open to suggestions... ah, practical suggestions. (Besides, it’s too small to be a doorstop.)

Thoughts?

[WZ7U]

Packet and APRS come to mind first and foremost. Otherwise, :scratchchin: :dunno:

[KC9ECI]

I get that the interwebz is super convenient, but if we're supposed to be the fix to when 'all else fails' I'm really surprised more hams don't have 2M packet BBS's up and running.

[KD8TUT]

Last night at the club meeting, a friend who is in the process of downsizing gave me a TNC he no longer has room for.

It’s a Kantronics Communicator 3 Plus. Complete with power supply, speaker, and a bunch of cables.

Looks to be in good to great shape, though I haven’t had a chance to do anything with it yet.

Which brings up the title of the thread... now what? Not really sure what I can do with this unit at the moment. So I’m open to suggestions... ah, practical suggestions. (Besides, it’s too small to be a doorstop.)

Thoughts?

I own that TNC... and it's a great KISS mode interface for APRS.

I'm an APRS nut :)

[W3WN]

I own that TNC... and it's a great KISS mode interface for APRS.

I'm an APRS nut :)
Oh?

Well, no offense, but I’ve never had much interest in APRS.

If that’s all it’s good for, I guess it’s just going to sit on the shelf.

[KD8TUT]

Oh?

Well, no offense, but I’ve never had much interest in APRS.

If that’s all it’s good for, I guess it’s just going to sit on the shelf.

Well APRS and packet.

If you don't want it toss it my way :)

[WZ7U]

Some reason I have an urge to try to resurrect my old packet setup of 20 years ago. Am I crazy?

[kb2vxa]

APRS is a viable mode and rather popular too. The TNC is obsolete now that digital is sound card driven, but used in KISS (transparent) mode may be used as an interface.

"I'm really surprised more hams don't have 2M packet BBS's up and running."
You're surprised because you weren't around to witness what killed packet. First, a long time ago in a network far away came Packet Wars, The Radio Forwarding Empire vs. The Rebel Internet Forwarding Alliance aka Land Line Lids. That destroyed the network worldwide leaving a few islands here and there. As remote sysop of the Central NJ Node linking SNJ and EPA to NNJ, NYC and WW that changed callsigns so many times I got dizzy, I worked with my fellow sysops trying to find a path to the rest of the US and Canada to no avail. Then the North East BBS (NEBBS) network fell apart, we were barely hanging on. The last nail in the coffin came when 3 UK trolls attacked the remaining users and chased them away. All that was left were the robots, and I pulled the plug The Day The Packet Music Died.

"Some reason I have an urge to try to resurrect my old packet setup of 20 years ago. Am I crazy?"
With all due respect sir, that you are.

[W3WN]

Some reason I have an urge to try to resurrect my old packet setup of 20 years ago. Am I crazy?
Oh, what a straight line... I’ll refrain. For now.

[W3WN]

Well APRS and packet.

If you don't want it toss it my way :)
Wanna trade?

[W3WN]

H
APRS is a viable mode and rather popular too. The TNC is obsolete now that digital is sound card driven, but used in KISS (transparent) mode may be used as an interface.

"I'm really surprised more hams don't have 2M packet BBS's up and running."
You're surprised because you weren't around to witness what killed packet. First, a long time ago in a network far away came Packet Wars, The Radio Forwarding Empire vs. The Rebel Internet Forwarding Alliance aka Land Line Lids. That destroyed the network worldwide leaving a few islands here and there. As remote sysop of the Central NJ Node linking SNJ and EPA to NNJ, NYC and WW that changed callsigns so many times I got dizzy, I worked with my fellow sysops trying to find a path to the rest of the US and Canada to no avail. Then the North East BBS (NEBBS) network fell apart, we were barely hanging on. The last nail in the coffin came when 3 UK trolls attacked the remaining users and chased them away. All that was left were the robots, and I pulled the plug The Day The Packet Music Died.

"Some reason I have an urge to try to resurrect my old packet setup of 20 years ago. Am I crazy?"
With all due respect sir, that you are.
Hmmm. That’s a story I never heard, but I was never into the PBBS system (such as it was) around here. What little activity (that was publicly known about, at least) just seemed to fade away.

[kb2vxa]

"That’s a story I never heard"
You don't hear packet unless you tune a receiver to an appropriate frequency and listen to the data bursts going back and forth. (;->) Being way out in WPA you would have been served by a different network than those I described, but if you were on a PBBS you would have seen the shit going down on @WW. That's the word for it, no matter the message board shit is still shit. I never bothered with private messaging, waiting a week or more for a reply on a store and forward system is sleep inducing. However, with interesting threads and people from all walks of life in the English speaking world that's larger than only English speaking countries (there were @XX filters for areas served) it was my favorite aspect of Amateur Radio while it lasted, I sorely miss it.

Speaking of listening to packet bursts, I and some friends had an FM simplex "home channel", to borrow an old CB phrase, down in the experimental 2M sub band programmed into the priority scan. Then one day I started hearing packet bursts without let-up on it, yet ANOTHER Internet portal. It was one of scores of ego boxes duplicating the PBBSes already in range of a decent antenna that popped up like lawn mushrooms on a spring morning. The invasion spread far and wide across the band disregarding the accepted bandplan, it was QRM City! It reminded me of when I strongly urged new hams NOT to attempt setting up repeaters, high maintenance, expensive upkeep, and we had a repeater glut already spread out to simplex frequencies. I felt like the only packeteer with a brain, during the summer beach season I turned on the digipeater and beacon as a relay to the BBS for the bennys* in the summer rentals and motels with HTs and rubber duckies. Kinda funny, one guy made old buzzard transmissions, so long each session I had to mount a fan to the rig's heat sink to keep the RF module from going into meltdown, no kidding.

* BENNY - Bayonne Elizabeth Newark New York is where the invaders come from making the population of the Jersey Shore communities swell to overflowing. It's bad enough that we who live here experience city crowding, we experience city conditions too caused by low life scum that can't behave themselves. The cities hire additional police trying to keep them in line, we can't go on our own boardwalks and beaches with elbow to elbow bennies causing and getting into trouble. That show that started on MTV, Jersey Shore was a laugh, every one of them was a benny and their favorite hangout was a bar in Sleazeside Heights I named it such because of what lives there making them feel right at home. I treasure the video clip in my archive where Snookie, The Mouth of Middletown New York got what was coming to her, she got flattened by a one punch knockout! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQNNSMf-z44 Speaking of home, Google "benny go home" to see what we have to endure every summer. I'm particularly fond of this band and this particular song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU8pTqVRTxQ The name Bayonne Bleeders is after a prizefighter's nickname, Chuck Wepner aka The Bayonne Bleeder. He was one heck of a guy, I knew him from my club days at Art Stock's Playpen Lounge we called the pig pen, it was a meat market just south of the Raritan River bridges in Sayerville. He wasn't afraid to take on the big boys like Andre The Giant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3EksOFtILs and actually knocked down Muhammad Ali: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLA8HIAQEzU

On edit, something I forgot in case anyone is interested, there were two biopics made about his prizefighting career. First came Chuck in 2016 that would inspire the film, Rocky (1976) and later The Brawler (2018).

[KD8TUT]

Wanna trade?

I'm not sure I have anything you want. Wait... I'm pretty sure I don't have anything I want to let go of. Wait... I'm a selfish liberal. Wait.... this isn't going well.

But seriously... That thing is great for watching 2m propagation in real-time.

[N8YX]

I have a KPC-3 w/ v8.2 firmware, an RTC chip and a 512K memory installed.

It's in an old Apple laptop satchel along with a Tandy Model 102 (or 200), a VX-7R and connection cables. That satchel has long been my vacation/Dayton carry bag, wherein I transport the ham gear, FRS/GMRS/MURS stuff, a tablet of some sort, accessories and chargers for everything. There's also a trunking-capable scanner included for good measure.

It comes in handy to introduce people to radiocommunications. At one time such a setup was a nice way of remoting back into my main packet BBS (MSYS) which had a landline port if I was out of reach of the radio links.

[W3WN]

I have a KPC-3 w/ v8.2 firmware, an RTC chip and a 512K memory installed.

It's in an old Apple laptop satchel along with a Tandy Model 102 (or 200), a VX-7R and connection cables. That satchel has long been my vacation/Dayton carry bag, wherein I transport the ham gear, FRS/GMRS/MURS stuff, a tablet of some sort, accessories and chargers for everything. There's also a trunking-capable scanner included for good measure.

It comes in handy to introduce people to radiocommunications. At one time such a setup was a nice way of remoting back into my main packet BBS (MSYS) which had a landline port if I was out of reach of the radio links.
Want a spare? (Although knowing you, you probably already have three)

BTW, are you planning to be at DX Engineering next Saturday? Baring unforeseen circumstances, I should be going up in the morning for their hamfest. Be nice to see a friendly face.

[WZ7U]

I'm not sure I have anything you want. Wait... I'm pretty sure I don't have anything I want to let go of. Wait... I'm a selfish liberal. Wait.... this isn't going well.

But seriously... That thing is great for watching 2m propagation in real-time.

What are we seeing here Michael? APRS or packet? Or something else entirely?

[N8YX]

Want a spare? (Although knowing you, you probably already have three)

BTW, are you planning to be at DX Engineering next Saturday? Baring unforeseen circumstances, I should be going up in the morning for their hamfest. Be nice to see a friendly face.
The 10th?

I could possibly do that. Up in the air at the moment is the plan for that afternoon/evening ("Night Under Fire" at Norwalk Raceway) and since Summit sells tickets to the event I may swing over to the joint to pick up a couple if my gal pal is so inclined to go racing. And hamming... :mrgreen:

[KG4CGC]

Will it play well with an IC-207?

[W3WN]

Will it play well with an IC-207?
I see no reason why it wouldn’t.

[KD8TUT]

What are we seeing here Michael? APRS or packet? Or something else entirely?

That's my local APRS environment. I mostly use it to track VHF/UHF propagation.

[WZ7U]

Cool. That's a good use for APRS IMO.

I have a TNC like Ron describes and some prehistoric laptop long discarded by a city government in the area that shall remain unnamed. The guy that gave me the laptop is long dead now (was 47 when he kicked it), not that that is relevant much, but he was into the whole ARES thing heavily at one time. It's been two decades since I've powered any of this stuff up, and the laptop batteries were shit even then. Now, with the packet network decimated, what could I do with any of this other than APRS? I bet the firmware in my TNC is ancient by then standards and honestly, I've come to discover I'm just not quite bright enough to fuck my way out of a busted rubber most days. Although I do have the occasional romantic notion of firing that stuff up and seeing whats going on if anything.

I'm deluding myself, aren't I?

[kb2vxa]

"Although I do have the occasional romantic notion of firing that stuff up and seeing whats going on if anything. I'm deluding myself, aren't I?"
With respect, I would say you are. That's doing it the hard way, old stuff needs a good going over first, then hooking it all up is a waste of time because of its severe limitations. When packet died I replaced the hardware with software and monitored (no privileges on HF) the newer digital modes, it's all sound card driven now. First install the software of your choice, it's free, then build a simple radio interface using 1:1 audio isolation transformers or opto-isolators and a simple PTT trigger pictured. You don't need schematics to wire up the transformers, headphone jack to line input and line output to an attenuator pad and mic input, but preferably the auxiliary input if your radio has one. The latter is preferable because it eliminates experimenting with resistors to get the proper attenuation. Last but not least you can find where the digital sub bands are on the Internet, tune in, turn on, and have fun. (Bastardized hippy phrase inspired by Dr. Timothy Leary.)

16333 16334

In case you're wondering how to call CQ in SSTV here's one I caught on 20M in 2005 using Scottie 1.