[FADCA] Report of Tampa Florida Hamfest - WL2K activities

[bud thompson]

Deltona, FL
Sunday Dec 5 1200E

Charlie, N3PPC and I took our E-mail over Ham Radio demo set up to the Tampa
Hamfest this weekend.  We set up the three laptops in the FADCA
(www.fadca.org) booth to demonstrate to anyone who would stop and even
glance our way.  The following is a note that explains the demo set up I
sent out to my XYL Sally and a few cohorts who I'd hoped would be home and
do a REPLY early Saturday morning.

"Hi - We are set up at the FADCA booth with the N5SN-8 at winlink.org  E-mail
server, the wire/wireless LAN, and two 'client' laptops on the wireless HAM
RADIO E-MAIL 802.11(b)(g) LAN.  The two clients are BUDTEST-2A at WINLINK.ORG
AND BUTEST-3A at WINLINK.ORG

For Telpac access we have two ways to go:

1.  We have a digi outside the building in a van and can make it to the
Tampa Bay LAN and a Telpac.
2.  For backup we have a forth laptop here in the booth with an AirCard
(commercial wireless internet access), and a  two meter packet station.
Last night I had sally turn off my Telpac N0IA-7 at home and we put Telpac
N0IA-7 on this laptop.  Our PMBO access then is through this scheme.

It works!

Send us some mail at the three laps once in a while today - we'll break camp
about 1600 E.

73,

bud N0IA"

As luck would have it, none of the cohorts on the mailing list were
available to respond, and I learned Sally later read the note but didn't
respond!  Later in the day I called her and asked her to send me an e-mail
so we'd be sure it was working - it was.

The Hamfest was not as well attended as in the previous few years.  The
isles were not crowded this year.  We had only a handful of folks stop by,
first attracted by a 6-ft cabinet with a LINUX FPAC switch inside with
lights blinking.  One of our FADCA gurus had put it together to show the
rest of us how it works.  (We presently use DOS FPAC in some of our switches
and will most certainly move to LINUX as soon as the guru finishes his
investigations.)

At the E-mail Over Ham Radio in Support of EMCOMMs forum, I gave our
standard power point presentation.  There were 27 in attendance.  The
presentation was over in about 35 minutes and the Q&A/discussion lasted
another 35 minutes.  In the audience were three representatives from three
different ARES groups in Florida who had come specifically to learn about
the process and packet network access.  At the meeting's end, these three we
invited to a smaller group meeting later in the day.

The later meeting resulted in three new groups who now know how to gain
access to the Florida Layered Packet network and all plan to do so.  All
three groups have some level of local county government support for their
projects.  We made arrangements to make our presentation for the served
agency representatives for one group, and for a TelPac node to be installed
for testing for another.  In an e-mail since, the third group has requested
a private presentation for its group, and detailed information on equipment
for establishing a switch on the Layered Packet Network.  I responded to
that request this morning on the FADCA at MAILMAIN.QTH.NET e-mail reflector and
received a reminder from a fourth group of its on-going plans to join the
network!

Look for more and more @winlink.org activity from Florida!

73,
bud N0IA