Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc,rec.radio.info,rec.answers,news.answers Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!nic.hookup.net!paladin.american.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!sgiblab!wattres!news From: steve@wattres.SJ.CA.US (Steve Watt -- KD6GGD) Subject: rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc Frequently Asked Questions Message-ID: Reply-To: digital-faq@wattres.SJ.CA.US (Digital Amateur Radio FAQ Coordinators) Followup-To: rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc Organization: Steven Watt, Consultant San Jose, CA, USA Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu,rec-radio-info@ve6mgs.ampr.ab.ca Expires: Tue 01 Mar 94 20:19:29 GMT Supersedes: Summary: Common quesions and answers about Digital Amateur Radio. Keywords: FAQ Amateur Radio HAM packet digital Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 04:19:35 GMT Lines: 930 Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc:1896 rec.radio.info:4036 rec.answers:3863 news.answers:14527 Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.4 Archive-name: radio/ham-radio/digital-faq Frequently Asked Questions for Digital Amateur Radio (Well, it's still mostly just packet...) $Id: packet-faq.1,v 1.4 1994/01/26 04:18:23 steve Exp $ This document is for unlimited distribution. Please send corrections and additions to: digital-faq@wattres.sj.ca.us Which will expand to a list of people who are familiar with most digital issues. I hope. ;-) The Digital Radio FAQ list will be posted on a monthly basis to rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc, rec.radio.info, rec.answers, and news.answers. The current version of this document is available via anonymous FTP at ftp.cs.buffalo.edu. Many FAQ's, including this one, are available on the archive site rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers. The name under which a FAQ is archived appears in the Archive-Name: line at the top of the article. This FAQ is archived as radio/amateur/digital-faq. There is also a mail server on rtfm.mit.edu, which can be addressed as mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu. For details on how to operate this server, send a message to that address with the word "help" in the BODY of the message. Table of contents: 1 Basic Packet Radio Information 1.1 What is packet radio? 1.2 What is amateur radio? 1.3 What can I do on packet radio? 1.4 Why packet over other digital modes? 1.5 What elements make up a packet station? TNC (Terminal Node Controller) Computer or Terminal A radio 1.6 What do you mean we can all use the same channel? 1.7 What is AX.25 ? 1.8 What is RTTY ? 1.9 What is AMTOR ? 1.10 Definitions: Commonly used terms in Amateur Packet Radio 1.11 Do's and Don'ts : Rules and Regulations 2 Computing Network Resources for Amateur Digital radio 2.1 What Newsgroups/mailing lists are available? 2.2 What anonymous FTP sites and mail servers are available? 2.3 How do I contact the ARRL through email? 2.4 Are there any gateways for mail or news 2.4.1 The W2XO Internet mail <-> packet mail gateway 2.4.2 The N0ARY Internet mail <-> full packet BBS gateway 2.4.3 The N6QMY Internet mail <-> full packet BBS gateway 2.4.4 LAN Gateways (Packet wormholes via Internet) 2.5 How do I contact TAPR? 3 Networking and special packet protocols 3.1 Are there any other protocols in use other than AX.25? 3.2 What is TCP/IP? 3.3 How do I get an IP address? 3.4 Networking Schemes What are some of those other networking schemes? Digipeaters KA-Nodes NET/ROM ROSE 3.5 BBS message transfer 1 Basic Packet Radio Information 1.1 What is packet radio? Packet radio is one method of digital communications via amateur radio. Packet radio takes any digital data stream and sends that via radio to another amateur radio station. Packet radio is so named because it sends the data in small bursts, or packets. 1.2 What is amateur radio? Amateur Radio (sometimes called Ham Radio) is individuals using specified radio frequencies for personal enjoyment, experimentation, and the continuation of the radio art. Amateur radio operators must be licensed by their government. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission issues amateur radio licenses. Normally, a test on operating practices, radio theory, and in some cases Morse code proficiency test is administered. Amateur radio is not to be used for commercial purposes. Also, amateur radio operators are restricted from using profanity and using amateur radio for illegal purposes. For more information on Amateur Radio in general, see the monthly frequently asked questions (FAQ) posting in rec.radio.amateur.misc. A copy of that FAQ is also available for FTP from ftp.cs.buffalo.edu and by mail from rtfm.mit.edu. 1.3 What can I do on packet radio? Keyboard-to-Keyboard contacts: Like other digital communications modes, packet radio can be used to talk to other amateurs. For those who cannot use HF frequencies, two amateurs can talk to each other from long distances using the packet radio network. Packet BBS operations: Many cities have one or more packet Bulletin Board System (BBS) available on the local packet network. Amateurs can check into the BBSes and read messages from other packet users on almost any topic. BBSes are networked together over the packet network to allow messages to reach a broader audience than just your local BBS users. Private messages may also be sent to other packet operators, either locally or who use other BBSes. BBSes have the latest ARRL, AMSAT, and propagation bulletins. Many BBSes have a file section containing various text files full of information on amateur radio in general. DX Packet Cluster: A recent development is use of packet radio for DX spotting. HF operators connect to the local DX Packet Cluster for the latest reports on DX. Often a user will 'spot' some hot DX and distribute the DX report real time. File Transfer: With special software, amateurs can pass any binary files to other amateurs. Currently, this is done with TCP/IP communications, YAPP, and other specialized protocols. Satellite Communications: Many of the amateur radio satellites contain microcomputer systems that can provide special information to amateurs. Some satellites contain CCD cameras on board and you can download images of the earth and the stars. Others provide store and forward packet mailboxes to allow rapid message transfers over long distances. Some satellites use AX.25, some use special packet protocols developed for satellite communications. A few transmit AX.25 packets over FM transmitters, but most use SSB transmissions. 1.4 Why packet over other digital modes? Packet has three great advantages over most of the other digital modes: transparency, error correction, and automatic control. The operation of a packet station is transparent to the end user; connect to the other station, type in your message, and it is sent automatically. The Terminal Node Controller (TNC) automatically divides the message into packets, keys the transmitter and sends the packets. While receiving packets, the TNC automatically decodes, checks for errors, and displays the received messages. In addition, any packet TNC can be used as a packet relay station, sometimes called a digipeater. This allows for greater range by stringing several packet stations together. Packet radio provides error free communications because of built in error detection schemes. If a packet is received, it is checked for errors and will be displayed only if it is correct. With VHF/UHF packet, many countries allow packet operators to operate in automatic control mode. This means that you can leave your packet station on constantly. Other users can connect to you at any time they wish to see if you are home. Some TNC's even have Personal BBSes (sometimes called mailboxes) so other amateurs can leave you messages if you are not at home. The most important advantage of packet over other modes is the ability for many users to be able to use the same frequency channel simultaneously. No other digital mode yet gives this ability. 1.5 What elements make up a packet station? TNC (Terminal Node Controller): A TNC contains a modem, a CPU, and the associated circuitry required to convert between RS-232 and the packet radio protocol in use. It assembles a packet from some of the data on the serial line, computing an error check (CRC) for the packet, modulates it into audio frequencies, and puts out appropriate signals to transmit that packet over the connected radio. It also reverses the process, translating the audio that the connected radio receives into a byte stream on the RS-232 port. Most TNC's currently use 1200 BPS (bits per second) for local VHF and UHF packet, and 300 BPS for longer distance, lower bandwidth HF communication. Higher speeds are available for use in the VHF, UHF, and especially microwave region, but they often require unusual hardware and drivers. Computer or Terminal: This is the user interface. A computer running a terminal emulator program, a packet-specific program, or just a dumb terminal can be used. For computers, almost any phone modem communications program can be adapted for packet use, but there are also customized packet radio programs available. A radio: For 1200 BPS UHF/VHF packet, commonly available narrow band FM voice radios are used. For HF packet, 300 BPS data is used over single side band modulation. For high speed packet (anything greater than 1200 BPS), special radios or modified FM radios must be used. 1.6 What do you mean we can all use the same channel? Packet radio uses a protocol called AX.25. AX.25 specifies channel access (ability to transmit on the channel) to be handled by CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access). If you need to transmit, your TNC monitors the channel to see if someone else is transmitting. If no one else is transmitting, then the TNC keys up the radio, and sends its packet. All the other stations hear the packet and do not transmit until you are done. Unfortunately, 2 stations could accidentally transmit at the same time. This is called a collision. If a collision occurs, neither TNC will receive a reply back from the last packet it sent. Each TNC will wait a random amount of time and then retransmit the packet. In actuality, a more complex scheme is used to determine when the TNC transmits. See the "AX.25 Protocol Specification" for more information. 1.7 What is AX.25? AX.25 (Amateur X.25) is the communications protocol used for packet radio. A protocol is a standard for how two computer systems are to communicate with each other, somewhat analogous to using business format when writing a business letter. AX.25 was developed in the 1970's and based of the wired network protocol X.25. Because of the difference in the transport medium (radios vs. wires) and because of different addressing schemes, X.25 was modified to suit amateur radio's needs. AX.25 includes a digipeater field to allow other stations to automatically repeat packets to extend the range of transmitters. One advantage of AX.25 is that every packet sent contains the sender's and recipient's amateur radio callsign, thus providing station identification with every transmission. 1.8 What is RTTY? RTTY (Radio TeleTYpe) is one of the more common communications protocols used in the HF bands. It is a half-duplex, non error-correcting mode that can be used by any number of stations on a frequency in a round-table fashion. Note that transmit/receive switching is manual, so all parties in a roundtable need to agree on who transmits next. It is primarily used for single keyboard-to-keyboard contacts. RTTY uses Baudot character encoding (also known as ITA2), which is a 5 bit code. Those who can do advanced math ;) will note that 5 bits is only 32 possible combinations, which is not enough for a full alphanumeric set, much less mixed-case alphabetics. Baudot (and RTTY) gets around this limitation by defining two "shifts" which switch between a "letters case," and a "figures case." On older RTTY setups (ones which actually use a teletype, for instance), you have to worry about the letters/figures shift. However, most TNCs and multimode digital controllers now do the "Right Thing(TM)" with respect to those shift characters, sending them as necessary for the data being transmitted. Lower case is not used on Baudot RTTY. ASCII can be used in RTTY as well, but it is very uncommon. 1.9 What is AMTOR? AMTOR (AMateur Teleprinting Over Radio) is an error-correcting protocol used in the HF bands. It uses the same character set as Baudot (ITA2), but is encoded differently, so that each character has a constant mark to space ratio. This constant ratio is how errors are detected. Errors are corrected via either of two methods: ARQ (Automatic Retransmit reQuest), and FEC (Forward Error Correction). In ARQ mode, exactly two stations connect to each other. The station with data to transmit (also known as the Information Sending Station, or ISS) transmits 3 characters, and then waits for the other station (called the Information Receiving Station, or IRS) to send back an acknowledgment that those 3 characters were correctly received. This back-and-forth activity makes for the characteristic "chirp-chirp-chirp" of AMTOR ARQ operation. This also means that each transceiver needs to be able to switch from sending to receiving mode fairly quickly. The first time that you operate AMTOR ARQ with a relay-switched rig, you will be convinced that the rig is going to self-destruct. ;) In FEC mode, one station can communicate with many others at once, since there is no back-and-forth acknowledging of data. FEC gets its error correction from time diversity, which is a fancy way of saying it sends each character twice. Actually, it interleaves the characters, so that the character is not repeated until 4 character times later. An example: The text string to send is "This is FEC." What comes out of the controller looks like "ThisThisis Fis FEC._EC._" The receiving controller looks for which of the characters have a proper mark to space ratio, and prints the one that does. If neither do, it prints an error symbol. 1.10 Definitions: Commonly used terms in Amateur Packet Radio 44 net - The class A network designator for TCP/IP amateur packet radio. All numerical TCP/IP addresses on packet radio should be in the format 44.xxx.xxx.xxx. AFSK - Audio Frequency Shift Keying. A method of representing digital information by using different audio frequencies modulated on a carrier. AMPR - Amateur Packet Radio. ampr.org - The high level domain recognized on Internet for amateur packet radio TCP/IP. AMTOR - AMateur Teleprinting Over Radio. This protocol allows error-free point-to-point or multicast, single user per channel communications. Usually used on HF, but not VHF or above. ARQ - Automatic Resend reQuest. This is the point-to-point error correcting mode for AMTOR. It works by sending bursts of 3 characters, and then the other station sends an OK/NotOK code for those 3 characters. AX.25 - Amateur X.25 protocol. The basis of most packet systems. See section 1.7 for more information. CRC - Cyclic Redundancy Check. The error detection scheme included in each packet. Verify that the packet was received error free. CSMA - Carrier Sense Multiple Access. A system allowing many stations to use the same radio frequency simultaneously for packet communications. digi - Short name for a digipeater digipeater - A packet radio station used for repeating packets. See section 3.3.1 for more information. FCC - Federal Communications Commission. Regulates and issues licenses for amateur radio in the United States. FEC - Forward Error Correction. This is the multicast method of (almost) error-corrected communications on AMTOR. It works by sending each character twice. FM - Frequency Modulation. The radio modulation scheme used for VHF and UHF packet communications. FSK - Frequency Shift Keying. A method of representing digital information by shifting the radio carrier frequency different amounts to represent ones and zeros. HDLC - (High-Level Data Link Control Procedures) A standard for high level link control. (ISO 3309) KA9Q NOS - (KA9Q Network Operating System) A TCP/IP program originally developed by Phil Karn, KA9Q. Currently there are many different versions available. See section 3.2 for more information. KA-Node - A simple networking scheme developed by TNC maker Kantronics. See section 3.3.2 for more info. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. A simple interface developed for communications between TNCs and computers. This allows for most of the packet processing to be handled by the computer. Commonly used with packet TCP/IP software. LAN - Local Area Network. A packet network developed for communications throughout a city or region. Often, the LAN uses separate frequencies from inter-city packet links. modem - MODulator/DEModulator. Converts the analog signals into a binary data stream (a series of ones and zeros) for the TNC or a micro-computer. First step in decoding packets. It also converts binary data to analog, which is the last step in encoding packets. NET/ROM - A scheme for packet radio networking. See section 3.3 for more information. NODE - A network node. Often a network node running NET/ROM. PPP - Point to Point Protocol. PPP is another protocol used for moving IP frames over a serial line. It supports host authentication, and non- transparent serial lines. It also has a standard way of negotiating header (and potentially data) compression over the line. See also SLIP. protocol - A standard used for intercommunication between different computer systems. RS-232 (RS-323C) - A (more or less) standard for interconnection of serial peripherals to small computer systems. In packet radio, RS-232 is the most common interface between TNC's and the Computer/Terminal. RTTY - Radio TeleTYpe. This protocol allows point-to-point or multicast, single user per channel communications, without error correction. SLIP - Serial Line Internet Protocol. A trivial protocol for putting IP frames over a serial line to do (potentially) cheap TCP/IP networking. Approximately the same as KISS, except over wireline networks. See also PPP. SSB - Single Side Band. The radio modulation scheme used for HF packet and satellite packet communications. TAPR - Tucson Amateur Packet Radio. Was the first group to create a packet radio TNC using AX.25. Soon a TAPR TNC became cloned by many others. TAPR continues development of packet radio equipment. TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A set of utility programs used over AX.25. See sections 3.2 for more information. TNC - Terminal Node Controller. See section 1.5 for more information. 1.12 Do's and Don'ts : Rules and Regulations NOTE: These regulations apply only to amateurs regulated by the FCC (United States), but often are similar to regulations in other countries. [Since I have no experience with amateur radio in other countries, I cannot make any comments. Please bring any notable exceptions to my attention. -ed] Although there are no specific rules that apply to amateur packet radio, the general amateur radio rules force some restrictions on packet usage. Can I set up a TNC at home and one at work so I can check my Electronic mail via packet? This cannot be done without special restrictions. Amateur radio rules prohibit any business. Since you could have mail from your boss (or maybe even someone selling you something over Internet), that would constitute business activity and is specifically prohibited. Profanity can also be a complication. Since you have no control over the language used in E-mail, proper filtering is required. Since no filter scheme can catch every offense, it is best to say every message must be hand filtered. I would like to set up a packet radio gateway between a land line computer network and the packet network. Is this possible? Yes, and there are several such gateways in use, but they must be managed with caution. Electronic mail may be passed FROM the packet network INTO the land line network without intervention. However, mail passed TO packet radio is considered third party traffic (the sender is not an amateur) and these messages must be hand filtered to ensure that rules of message content are followed. It's my license if I use packet radio illegally anyway, so what does anyone else care!? Packet radio is one of the few NETWORKED systems in amateur radio. Many people have helped develop the network and there are many amateurs who own parts of the packet radio network. Sending packet BBS mail, digipeating, and sharing the channel involves the licenses of MANY people. Because of FCC rules stating that anything to come out of a transmitter (either in automatic mode or via your direct control) is the licensee's responsibility, one illegal message sent over the packet radio network could literally jeopardize the licenses of thousands of other amateurs. When in doubt, it is best to check with other amateurs about sending the message before it is sent. I have some ideas on how to use packet radio in a new way, but I don't know if it is legal. Who could tell me if I can do it legally? The worst thing you can do is talk to the FCC about such an issue. The FCC rules are written to be general enough to encompass but not restrict new radio activities. In the past, any non-thought-out requests sent to the FCC have meant a reduction of privilege for all amateur radio operators. The best source for legal assistance is your national amateur radio association. In the United States, that is the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Another good place for such conversations is over Usenet/packet mailing lists, or the amateur radio BBS network. 2 Computing Network Resources for Amateur Packet radio This section summarizes the resources available on Internet for amateur packet radio operators. 2.1 What Newsgroups/mailing lists are available? This is a list of all groups that regularly discuss amateur packet radio. For newsgroups, join the group through use of your news reader. For mailing lists, add a '-request' to the end of the list name to request subscriptions. For listserv groups, send mail to 'listserv' at the node which contains the list. The first line of the mail should be 'SUBSCRIBE groupname yourname'. Send the command 'help' for more information. rec.radio.amateur.packet (Newsgroup): General discussions involving Packet Radio. This group was deleted on 21 September 93! rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc (Newsgroup): General discussions about all aspects of digital transmissions over Amateur Radio. This group is a replacement for rec.radio.amateur.packet. rec.radio.amateur.equipment (Newsgroup): May contain discussions about equipment related to digital amateur radio, specifically HF rigs that are good for HF digital modes, and the like. rec.radio.amateur.homebrew (Newsgroup): Contains discussions on making your own gear, which includes packet, AMTOR, and RTTY equipment. rec.radio.amateur.misc (Newsgroup): General amateur radio discussion. Usually does not contain any particular information about Digital Amateur Radio. rec.radio.amateur.policy (Newsgroup): Discussion of regulation policies regarding every aspect of amateur radio. Occasionally deals with policies of packet coordination and legal issues of packet radio. rec.radio.swap (Newsgroup): General For-Sale for any radio equipment. Occasionally will have packet equipment for sale. Recommended location for any amateur packet radio for-sale items. info-hams@ucsd.edu (Listserv group): A digest redistribution of the rec.radio.amateur.misc Usenet discussion. packet-radio@ucsd.edu (Listserv group): General discussions involving packet radio and packet-related issues. ham-digital@ucsd.edu (Listserv group): A digest redistribution of the rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc Usenet discussion. ham-policy@ucsd.edu (Listserv group): A digest redistribution of the rec.radio.amateur.policy Usenet discussion hs-modem@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Mailing list): Discussion of high speed modems and radios available and future plans. Also includes discussion of networking using high speed modems. This list is not very active. tcp-group@ucsd.edu (Mailing list): Group discussion of technical developments of TCP/IP over packet radio and use of the NOS TCP/IP programs. gateways@uhm.ampr.org (Mailing list): Discussion of current gateways and future plans for gateways. May deal with sensitive internetworking issues. listserv@knuth.mtsu.edu has several interesting mailing lists available: GRAPES-L Discussions with GRAPES (Georgia Radio Amateur Packet Enthusiasts Society) on 56kb WAN's and the WA4DSY 56kb RF modem that they distribute. TENNET-L Tennessee's efforts at a coordinated high-speed RF packet network GRACILIS-L Discussions on Gracilis tcp/ip packet equipment. Includes some of the people from Gracilis. KA9Q-UNIX Discussions on porting and using various versions of KA9Q Unix/Xenix NET/NOS under any of a variety of Unix/Xenix variants. TNV-HAMS General discussions among email connected amateur radio operators in and surrounding Tennessee Send a message with a body of "HELP" to get help from the list server. Also, Internet users may now INTERACTIVELY work with the Listserv there by: telnet knuth.mtsu.edu 372 or telnet 161.45.1.1 372 For all lists at ucsd.edu, archives may be found via anonymous FTP at ucsd.edu. Some listserv groups also have archives. Send the command 'help' to the group's listserv for more information. Digest mailings for the ucsd.edu discussions are also available. Send mail to listserv@ucsd.edu with the first line being 'longindex' for more information. Terry Stader (KA8SCP) maintains a list of Mac packet-related software, and posts it periodically (somewhat less often than monthly) to rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc. Carl Trommel posts the weekly news bulletin of the ZL Data Group to rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc. This bulletin covers the current happenings in New Zeland's packet network. There appears to be a mailing list about NOS on hydra.carleton.ca, but I don't have much more detail. Send a message to nos-bbs-request@hydra.carleton.ca. The list name is nos-bbs@hydra.carelton.ca. 2.2 What anonymous FTP sites and electronic mail servers are available for getting packet radio information and programs? This is a sampling of FTP sites that carry amateur packet radio related files. Consult the Archie archive server for info on locating particular files. For more information on using Archie, send mail to archie@cs.mcgill.edu with the line 'help'. ucsd.edu Primary distribution site of KA9Q's derived TCP/IP packages. Also, general packet radio information in the /hamradio/packet subdirectory. UCSD is also the home of the Amateur Radio "Requests For Comments" directory. If you write something that you believe could be included in this directory (for example, a specification of AX.25, or maybe some other protocol that nobody's thought of before) contact Brian Kantor (brian@ucsd.edu) and let him know. wuarchive.wustl.edu Very large collection of amateur radio software. This stuff used to be on wsmr-simtel20.army.mil, but that system (and service) was discontinued as of 1 Oct 93 for budgetary reasons. WUArchive used to "just" mirror Simtel20, and still has all the files that were on Simtel20 when it shut down. ftp.cs.buffalo.edu Supplemental archive site for amateur radio information. Contains current copies of all rec.radio.amateur.* FAQ's. tomcat.gsfc.nasa.gov Packet software including Baycomm, ROSE, G8BPQ, NOS, etc. (I have one report (from George Hitz, W1DA) that this FTP site will be down until the end of this summer, 1993. Reportedly the site admin is going to be in Sweden.) akutaktak.andrew.cmu.edu SoftKiss for the Mac, in /aw0g. Requires NET/Mac. SoftKiss is an init/cdev/driver that allows a MAC to do packet using a Poor Man's Packet modem. sumex-aim.stanford.edu NET/Mac is the port of KA9Q's NET program. It doesn't have nifty features like scrolling or saving the windows, but the individual sessions can be recorded into a file. As for mail servers, there is only one that I know of at the moment: Ham-Server@GRAFex.Cupertino.CA.US This mail server, which is run by Steve Harding (KA6ETB), has a wide variety of information on most aspects of amateur radio, not just digital modes. Send a message with the body HELP to get a fairly useful listing. Also note that Steve posts the index from the server approximately weekly to rec.radio.amateur.misc, rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc, and sbay.hams. 2.3 How do I contact the ARRL via electronic mail? There are various addresses at ARRL HQ, but the most important one is probably info@arrl.org. That is where general information about the ARRL can be acquired. This address reaches a person, so you'll have to specify what/who you're looking for. 2.4 Are there any gateways for mail or news between Internet and Amateur Packet radio? Internet / Packet Radio BBS Gateways There are currently two comprehensive gateways between the Internet and the packet radio BBS system. One is run by Jim Durham, W2XO, in Pennsylvania and the other, which allows access to PBBS bulletins, as well as mail, is run by Bob Arasmith, N0ARY, in California. 2.4.1 The W2XO Gateway To mail from Internet to Packet: 1. Mail to: "bbs@w2xo.pgh.pa.us" 2. Make the first line of the text a Packet BBS "send" command, i.e.: SP TOCALL @ BBSCALL.ROUTING-HINTS < FROMCALL 3. The "subject" line of the Internet mail becomes the "title" line of the Packet BBS mail. NOTE: Because of FCC regulations, Jim must hand filter each message sent FROM Internet TO the Amateur Packet Radio BBS system. Messages should be of minimal length and appropriate content. Read Section 1.9 (Do's and Don'ts: Rules and Regulations) regarding appropriate usage of packet radio for more information. Always include the routing hints with the BBS callsign. To mail from Packet to Internet: 1. The amateur radio operator must have his callsign registered in the gateway alias list. If you want to mail from packet to a specific amateur on Internet, send mail to 'durham@w2xo.pgh.pa.us' (Internet) or 'W2XO @ W2XO.#WPA.PA.USA.NOAM' (Packet BBS mail) with his/her amateur callsign and their Internet address. 2. Once the above is accomplished, packet BBS mail should be sent to 'CALL @ W2XO.#WPA.PA.USA.NOAM'. The mail will automatically be forwarded to the Internet address of the amateur with the 'CALL' callsign. Jim Durham's Internet address is 'durham@w2xo.pgh.pa.us'. 2.4.2 The N0ARY Internet mail <-> full packet BBS gateway Bob Arasmith, N0ARY, runs a gateway between the Internet mail system and the PBBS system. His gateway allows you to read, post, and respond to other postings on the PBBS system via email. For more information, send mail to gateway_info@arasmith.com. 2.4.3 The N6QMY Internet mail <-> full packet BBS gateway Patrick Mulrooney, N6QMY, also runs a gateway between the Internet mail system and the PBBS system. His gateway allows you to read, post, and respond to other postings on the PBBS system via email. For more information, send mail to gateway-info@lbc.com. Users are required to register with the gateway to allow automatic forwarding of mail from the Internet to Packet. No registration is needed to send mail from Packet to the Internet. To register, send the following information to gateway-request@lbc.com: CALL: FIRST NAME: LAST NAME: CITY & ST: COUNTRY ZIP: HOME BBS: 2.4.4 LAN Gateways (Packet wormholes via Internet) Currently a group of amateurs are experimenting with connecting packet LANs together via Internet IP inside IP Encapsulation. Some of the gateways only accept TCP/IP packets, others AX.25 packets. These gateways uses the Internet as a transport medium, thus it is impossible to access the packet radio network from Internet. For more information, join the Gateways mailing list by sending mail to "gateways-request@uhm.ampr.org". 2.5 How do I contact TAPR? The only route I currently know if is via USnail and telephone. USnail: TAPR (Tuscon Amateur Packet Radio) 8987-309 E. Tanque Verde Rd. #337 Tuscon, AZ 85749-9399 Telephone: Voice: +1 817 383 0000 Fax: +1 817 566 2544 3 Networking and special packet protocols This is a sample of some of the more popular networking schemes available today. By far, there are more customized networking schemes used than listed. Consult your local packet network guru for specific network information. 3.1 Are there any other protocols in use other than AX.25? AX.25 is considered the defacto standard protocol for amateur radio use and is even recognized by many countries as a legal operation mode. However, there are other standards. TCP/IP is used in some areas for amateur radio. Also, some networking protocols use other packet formats than AX.25. Often, special packet radio protocols are encapsulated within AX.25 packet frames. This is done to insure compliance with regulations requiring packet radio transmissions to be in the form of AX.25. However, details of AX.25 encapsulation rules vary from country to country. 3.2 What is TCP/IP? TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. This is commonly used over the Internet wired computer network. The TCP/IP suite contains different transmission facilities such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol), SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol), Telnet (Remote terminal protocol), and NNTP (Net News Transfer Protocol) TCP/IP doesn't use all of the AX.25 protocol. Instead, it uses special AX.25 packets called Unnumbered Information (UI) packets and then puts its own special protocol (called IP) on top of AX.25. This is used to increase efficiency of its transmissions, since IP does not require packets to be "reliable", that is to say, guaranteed delivered error-free. TCP handles the retransmission of lost and garbled packets in its own way, at a higher level. Therefore the extra information in an AX.25 "VC" (virtual circuit) frame is not useful, and thus consuming needed bandwidth. The KA9Q NOS program (also called NET) is the most commonly used version of TCP/IP in packet radio. NOS originally was written for the PC compatible. However, NOS has been ported to many different computers such as the Amiga, Macintosh, Unix, and others. Smaller computers like the Commodore 64 and the Timex-Sinclair do not currently have version of NOS available. For more general information about IP (not necessarily over packet radio), try the newsgroup comp.protocols.tcp-ip, and any of the plethora of books on the subject. I have found the various books by Douglas Comer (the "Internetworking with TCP/IP series) to be excellent. 3.3 How do I get an IP address? Brian Kantor (brian@ucsd.edu) is the IP address coordinator for the AMPR.ORG domain, also known as the "44 net." Brian (sensibly enough) delegates coordination for each state to sub-coordinators. This list(*) of coordinators is available via FTP from ftp.cs.buffalo.edu:/pub/ham-radio/ampr_coordinators. (*) The coordinator list doesn't have e-mail addresses. If you're willing to do the legwork required to gather them, please contact Brian Kantor. 3.4 Networking Schemes What are some of those other networking schemes? During the early days of amateur packet radio, it became apparent that a packet network was needed. To this end, the following packet network schemes where created. Digipeaters The first networking scheme with packet radio was Digipeaters. Digipeaters would simply look at a packet, and if its call was in the digipeater field, would resend the packet. Digipeaters allow the extension of range of a transmitter by retransmitting any packets addressed to the digipeater. This scheme worked well with only a few people on the radio channel. However, as packet became more popular, digipeaters soon were clogging up the airwaves with traffic being repeated over long distances. Also, if a packet got lost by one of the digipeaters, the originator station would have to retransmit the packet again, forcing every digipeater to transmit again and causing more congestion. KA-Nodes Kantronics improved on the digipeater slightly and created KA-Nodes. As with digipeaters, KA-Nodes simply repeat AX.25 frames. However, a KA-Node acknowledges every transmission each link instead of over the entire route. Therefore, instead of an end-to-end acknowledgment, KA-Nodes allow for more reliable connections with fewer timeouts, because acknowledgments are only carried on one link. KA-Nodes therefore are more reliable than digipeaters, but are not a true network. It is similar like having to wire your own telephone network to make a phone call. NET/ROM NET/ROM was one of the first networking schemes to try to address the problems with digipeaters. A user connects to a NET/ROM station as if connecting to any other packet station. From there, he can issue commands to instruct the station to connect to another user locally or connect to another NET/ROM station. This connect, then connect again, means that to a user's TNC, you are connected to a local station only and its transmissions do not have to be digipeated over the entire network and risk loosing packets. This local connection proved to be more reliable. NET/ROM is a commercial firmware (software put on a chip) program that is used as a replacement ROM in TAPR type TNC's. Other programs are available to emulate NET/ROM. Among them are TheNet, G8BPQ node switch, MSYS, and some versions of NET. NET/ROM nodes, at regular intervals, transmit to other nodes their current list of known nodes. This is good because as new nodes come on-line, they are automatically integrated in the network. However, if band conditions such as ducting occur, ordinarily unreachable nodes can be entered into node lists. This causes the NET/ROM routing software to choose routes to distant nodes that are impossible. This problem requires users to develop a route to a distant node manually defining each hop instead of using the automatic routing feature. ROSE ROSE is another networking protocol derived from X.25. Each ROSE node has a static list of the nodes it can reach. For a user to use a ROSE switch, he issues a connect with the destination station and in the digipeater field places the call of the local rose switch and the distant rose switch the destination station can hear. Other then that, the network is completely transparent to the user. ROSE's use of static routing tables ensures that ROSE nodes don't attempt to route packets through links that aren't reliably reachable, as NET/ROM nodes often do. However, ROSE suffers from the inability to automatically update its routing tables as new nodes come online. The operators must manually update the routing tables, which is why ROSE networks require more maintenance. 3.5 BBS message transfer Many of the BBS programs used in packet radio allow for mail and bulletins to be transferred over the packet radio network. The BBSes use a special forwarding protocol developed originally by Hank Oredsen, W0RLI. Besides full service BBSes, many TNC makers have developed Personal BBS software to allow full service BBSes to forward mail directly to the amateur's TNC. This allows operators to receive packet mail at night and avoid tying up the network during busy hours.