North West Packet Group

 

Back in the 90's, I was heavily involved in the local packet network.  This was well before the Internet became a normal thing!  I dabbled briefly in AX25 packet but moved into the TCPIP Side of things quite soon after.

In the Morecambe Bay area, there were quite a few stations linked together known as the BayMAN (Metropolitan Area Network). It was great fun watching what would become normal Internet protocols working over 1200 baud via radio!  We also had a licensed station up at Lancaster University too, with a chat server (WWConvers) and links around the world.

I eventually set up GB7MBC which added a DXCluster to our list of services.  GB7MBC was the first Internet linked DXCluster in the UK and is still popular today.  Of course, it runs, like most DXClusters, over the Internet now as packet radio in general cannot handle the amount of traffic with skimmer spots etc.

Linda was talking with a friend, Matt, G7HMV who was involved with packet in the south and mentioned it to me.  Before I knew it, I was playing with AX25 packet again!

North West Packet Group was formed soon after, based around a FaceBook group, which at the time of posting has over 200 members.  I could not believe the interest!

I decided to use my NoV and put the GB7MBC BBS on the air.  It is accessible in the Morecambe and Lancaster area on 144.950MHz.

A second BBS has been set up in the Rossendale Valley area.  This is well located and is GB7ROS.

Currently, we are the only BBS's in the North West and we will have some forwarding nodes coming online soon!

I have set up a website to help enable people to get involved and to provide a central information hub for installing node software etc and this is growing nicely.  You can find it at http://www.nwpg.website

The biggest challenge for new users of packet radio is that virtually nothing has happened since the interest in the mode waned towards the end of the 90's.  The old well loved programs like Winpack simply do not work under a modern Windows system.

That said, both BPQ and FBB have linux versions which are up to date.  LinBPQ and LinFBB install nicely on a Raspberry Pi and work flawlessly.  I have documented the installation of both on the website.

It remains to be seen if this resurgence of interest continues.  It is wonderful to see people experimenting and enjoying the mode again.

73 Ian

A RATHER BLUSTERY DAY!

 

Brian and I decided to brave the elements again this week.  The forecast was mixed but looked to be improving throughout the day. (Spoiler: it didn't!).

It was rather gusty and the wind followed the tree line, so we were afforded little respite.  Never mind, onward brave adventurers ;)

The bandhopper went up like a dream.  I really have the hang of it now and it takes no time at all.  The shelter was a different proposition :)

Linda suggested the shelter to me last week and we had a look for a suitable one.  We ended up with this one from Amazon

It all packs down into a 2ft long bag and I think once I have got the hang of it, it should be possible to erect it in under 5 minutes.  The ground sheet is good and strong and fitted via toggles.  The two short poles are built in and there is one long sectional pole to thread.  The poles are held together with an elasticated cord and they can be a bit of a pain until you realise that pushing in one direction is the way forward, rather than trying to pull them.  There is a short video on YouTube showing how to do it but it does not really show too much.

As. you can see above and in the short video below, there is enough room for a small table and chair.  You could probably get a table and two chairs if you knew the other person well enough ;)

It certainly worked.  The main shelter was pegged down with the supplied pegs and just to be sure, I guyed the shelter down with the 4 supplied guys.  Again, there is no instruction on how to do this but I attached them to the four loops on the shelter as it seemed to be the correct thing to do.  You can see one of them here..

It didn't blow away, so I guess I got it right :). For someone used to camping or other shelter/bivvy type tents, this would seem simple but to me, it was completely new.

In all, it took me about 20 minutes to erect this time but I know a lot more about it now.

As well as this, I have been looking at alternatives for logging for some time.  I have been using my phone with HAMRS so far and although this works really well, it means having the phone on a stand of some kind and renders it unusable for filming.

The previous week, Brian brought his Amazon Fire tablet with him.  What a brilliant idea!  I managed to get a refurbished one from Amazon at a good price and downloaded HAMRS on to it.  HAMRS is available on the Amazon App Store.

Now I found my first frustration!  The standard keyboard is large and even in portrait, covers the Save button.

The obvious thing to do was to find a smaller keyboard.  The only one I could find that allowed resizing was Gboard.  The only way to get this was to hack the tablet a bit and install the Google Play stuff.  This was surprisingly simple to do and I got Gboard and set it to its smallest size.  Now in portrait mode, I can get to the Save button easily.

Job done there then.

My next frustration was found almost immediately.  Neither keyboard gave be a 'Return' key.  They both appear to simply tab between fields.  I suppose that I could simply tap 'Save' but it was bugging me.  A good friend offered me a small Bluetooth keyboard to try.  As soon as I connected this, the internal keyboard vanished and I had a full screen app with a 'Return' key :). Now all I need to do is enter a callsign, let QRZ and HAMRS do their magic via my iPhone hotspot and hit 'Return' to log it.  result!

All in all, a really nice day out and we mostly managed to miss the rain.  I had *just* managed to get my gear away when the heavens opened!  Brian was not so lucky but we got his gear away with no issues and left feeling a bit damp but happy :)

The video is short but shows the shelter nicely.

73 Ian