[FADCA] KISS - at first!

Mon Sep 13 14:34:38 EDT 2004

what have we learned this year
1 anything that can go wrong  will go wrong
2 cell phones dont make good paper weights
3 electric is not  reliable
4 never count of phone service to work
5 people still make the best way to get things done
6 inactive homas will come to the front in time of needs
its a week after frances left us totally devistated  here we still have
around 1000 people with out electric and phone service that alone would make
the  telpak set up useless
but most hams can run a voice radio from ther cars and get the job done. i
personally still dont have voice phone service  they say it may be the 20th
before its restored  but my dsl is working thankgod  i have used it to email
out to families in other states the  news about loved ones . yes i see were
telpak woould be a assett but only if its easy to set up i agree with
charlie paying 50 bucks for a program for awg program  should not be  sence
the program is being written and improved daily it would be easy to have tnc
support built in   to about any popular tnc built from the early 80s untill
today most use the same principals /
 i will not spend the money to update my os to xp  untilll ist acually
needed to do what i do and nor will i spend 50 bucks to buy a program that i
feel is not the way to go
being on a fixed income  those things are way down my list of must haves as
i feel sure its the same for lots of the other older hams, so let get this
thing on track annd get the support to do it with what we have and get it
running
just my thoughts
john
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bud thompson" <budt at cfl.rr.com>
To: <k4gbb at earthlink.net>; "Florida Amateur Digital Communication
Association" <fadca at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: "DICK FESS K4FUY AEC" <dickfess at juno.com>; "Charlie N3PPC"
<ccrook at cfl.rr.com>; "Fred KF4VRS VOL EC" <kf4vrs at hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 12:58 PM
Subject: Re: [FADCA] KISS - at first!


> My comments at the end of this original message:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Charles S Schuman" <k4gbb at earthlink.net>
> To: "FADCA - News Reflecter" <fadca at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 11:14
> Subject: [FADCA] KISS - at first!
>
>
> > In order for Telpac to gain precognition as a valuable tool for local
> > emergency groups it must be accessible from UHF/VHF with a reasonably
> > simple terminal program. Many operators do have TNC2s that can be
dragged
> > out of the closet and fired up. Once the value of Telpac & Paclink are
> > realized the volunteer base can be convinced to upgrade their equipment.
> >
> > Rick Wrote:
> >
> > "The basic facts are: If you want modern and supported software like
> > Telpac, Paclink etc you have to bite the bullet and keep the computers
> > reasonably upgraded.  Win 95 is 10 years old it is just not practical to
> > develop and support free modern software that has to run on computers
and
> > OS that are obsolete.  IF you want to run a terminal program and type in
> > all the data manually you can probably stick with this older OS and
> > code...but it is just too hard to try and develop and support this code
> > when computers and upgrades are so cheap today."
> >
> > I have to agree with him, but The ARES/RACES volunteers who have to be
> > converted to packet are NOT going to be be enticed to "try" the new
> > technology If they have to put out $$$ to upgrade. In Marion and
> > especially Citrus county the AR population is mainly Snow Birds,
retirees
> > on a fixed income, who are making do with their Old equipment.
> >
> > Now give them a New tool that will work with their Old equipment. If it
> > proves to be invaluable.. they will somehow upgrade.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > FADCA mailing list
> > FADCA at mailman.qth.net
> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/fadca
> >
>
>
> Deltona, FL
>
> For purposes of this comment, Client = served agency worker (i.e. Red
Cross,
> shelter manager's assistant, Health Department worker, ESFs
>
> Comment-
>
> Inside a last mile -
>
> The value of the new e-mail over ham radio system is seamless (and fully
> automatic) end-to-end e-mailing between clients of ham radio e-mail
servers
> where one or the other client is inside a last mile.  Another major value
is
> for a ham radio operator to send seamless end-to-end e-mails for EMCOMMs
> purposes without a direct internet connection.  The fully automatic part
> means the client(s) is using a standard familiar e-mail client to
> edit/send/receive e-mail messages.
>
> There is virtually no added value over written (NTS) messaging provided by
> the system if a client must depend on the ham radio operator to send the
> information/e-mail file employing a conventional terminal program using
> keyboard and up/loading files techniques through a Telpac node or to a
PMBO.
>
> "converted to packet..."
>
> While there may be some value for a packet-experienced ham who is using a
> terminal program/keyboarding/uploading files to use the system, the ham
who
> has to drag his TNC2 out of the closet (i.e. can't find the radio to TNC
> cables, has virtually no experience using terminal programs and packet
> radio) simply won't be able to do it!  He/she will, however be able to use
a
> familiar e-mail client such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape,
> etc.
>
> As for spending $$$ to upgrade -   I just this morning tested out two OLD
> KAMs (pre KAME and KAM+) for a friend.  The one with EPROM version 5.0
works
> just fine with AGW PE/ Paclink AGW/Winlink AGW.  The one with EPROM
version
> 2.5 did not (It probably doesn't have KISS mode or I don't know how to put
> it in KISS.)  At hamfests these are throw-away items.  Since Kantronics no
> longer supports that OLD KAM, there is nothing wrong with burning an EPROM
> for updating.  The source code is available from Kantronics.
>
> Since these back-to-back disasters here , and we were not beyond Beta
> Testing our system - we did not have many clients actually geared up to
use
> the system (i.e. client computers on a LAN with the Ham Radio Server
> computer)... I've got Lessons Learned - -
>
> We must gather up those few hams who are interested and will spend the $$$
> to set up a Win2000 or XP laptop for tactical use.  This may be an 'elite'
> group since there is money involved (though I really think it is not all
> that much of a problem for the dedicated)... This group will learn a lot
> about packet, networking, configuring Paclink AGW, configuring e-mail
> clients for additional (tactical) accounts, etc..  Once an ARES group has
> three or four folks who are leading like this, others will follow and this
> leadership group will - lead the way.
>
> After these back-to-back disasters - this is my personal goal - to get as
> many folks to get a tactical e-mail server working as possible - after we
> get a bunch of TelPacs on their respective LANs.
>
> bud N0IA
>
>
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> FADCA mailing list
> FADCA at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/fadca


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