[Packet] Outlet?

[Mark Milburn]

Hi Kurt...

Well, there have been many changes to packet over the
years so there are many answers to your question.  If
you have a local packet Bulletin Board System, you
would just need a computer and a radio that would
connect to that BBS and you could enter messages into
that BBS who would then forward them to others and so
on until your messages arrived at their destination. 
There are many free programs that would be suitable to
make your message and send it.  If you don't have one
of those programs that uses a sound card, then you
would need a Terminal Node Controller (TNC) to connect
to the BBS.  These local BBS are usually on 2 meters,
but your might be on another band so you need to
check.

You can also use either a TNC or a sound card program
to connect to some BBS on HF.  I am not familiar with
them, but I know there are some still around.

You can also do packet by internet by getting a
program that will do that.  Winpack is one that
springs to mind.  It's free but the now deceased
author has asked that in exchange for the free program
you agree to donate some money to cancer research. 
The later versions of Winpack will allow you to telnet
over the internet to one of many internet BBS who will
be glad to handle your messages.  You would need to
contact one of the BBS operators and get permission to
join their list of users and they would give you a
password and some instructions on how to go about
connecting to them.  There are other programs that
would do this, of course, but Winpack is already
designed for it and requires little computer knowledge
as compared to some of the programs that require you
to have a lot of knowledge of how computers work in
order to set up the program.  Winapck is no easy deal,
you have read a lot in the help files and perhaps even
get some help with it, but it is very logical and you
can work through it without getting a college degree
in engineering.

I guess that about covers the basics.  If you have
some specific questions, fire away.

73  Mark   KQ0I
Des Moines, Iowa

--- KD7JYK <kd7jyk at earthlink.net> wrote:

> "Do you have outlets so you can send packets to the
> world wide?  My
> address is KQ0I.#cia.ia.usa.noam if you want to give
> it a try."
> 
> How does this work?
> 
> Kurt
>
______________________________________________________________
> Packet mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/packet
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/faq.htm
> Post: mailto:Packet at mailman.qth.net
> 
> List Administrator David Barlitt (KF4AWU)
> mailto:kf4awu at qsl.net
> 



 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know.
Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com