<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>To answer some of your questions about APRS Bulletins:<br><br></div>1) The original spec limited the total Public Bulletin board to 40 lines (one full screen at a time on the original PC).  That limit was arbitrary and does not need to be implemented.  But if bulletins get so many and so big, it defeats the purpose of public information...<br><br></div>2) If there are 30 lines of bulletins that have all decayed to the once every 30 minute default rate (so late comers will get a copy) then that is one packet per minute and a very small load on the network while keeping everyone informed.<br><br></div>3) I wonder about your statement: "Or,
    are BLN messages not passed beyond an "n" hop range (i.e. not
    injected into APRS-IS for possible retransmission elsewhere)?" Bulletins or all APRS traffic in a given local area should only use an N hop suitable to the local area.  In most cases that is a hop of ONE.  Our local EOC's are by city and county and usually one hop from any EOC can cover its area of interest.  Further, APRS was not designed or intended to be re-injected back to RF from the APRS-IS.  Though of course it can be done if needed.<br></div><br></div><div>4) I wouild think that reporting of open/closed gas stations and food storew would best be handled with objects rather than text in a bulletin.<br><br></div><div>5) What goes into a bulletin is a judgment call, weighing urgency with latency, and with network load.<br><br></div><div>6) APRS was designed from the gt-go to allow anyone to take over reporting responsibility  for any positions and objects.  But unfortuately it does not provide for one station taking over another stations bulletins.  But that is one advantage of the overall 40 line limit.  If an EOC or net op goes off line and his bulletins begin to age, then they can be forced off the bulletim board by another net op uploading enough new info to push the abandoned bulletin off the page.  Or the new net control operator can momentarily use the originators call and send overwriting BLNx line numbers to earase the originals.  THen take over as net operator with his own new bulletins.<br><br></div><div>7) There are lots of features of the original APRSdos that were left out by many follow-on clients.  They are enumerated on this page:<br><a href="http://aprs.org/APRS-tactical.html">http://aprs.org/APRS-tactical.html</a> but please take that page with a grain of salt.  It was written in 2008 at the depths of my frustration of APRS only being viewed as a tracking system.  And not being used for rapid real-time community on-air information resource.<br><br></div><div>Hope that helps.<br></div><div>Bob<br><br></div><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 12:37 AM Greg D <<a href="mailto:ko6th.greg@gmail.com">ko6th.greg@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
  
    
  
  <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
    Hi Bob,<br>
    <br>
    Thanks for taking the time to weigh in.  Much appreciated.<br>
    <br>
    So, trying to understand first, before reacting...<br>
    <br>
    BLN messages can be multi-line, which is great, but I presume it's a
    client implementation topic for how many lines, and how long they
    might be.  I don't know what the limits are of the applications I
    use, and need to check this out.  Thanks for bringing it up. <br>
    <br>
    But if I understand their use, an example might be assigning BLN1 to
    be the status of gas station outages, BLN2 the availability of ice
    (to save refrigerator contents), BLN3 power status by area, BLN4 for
    grocery stores open/close, etc.  So if there are a half dozen gas
    stations being reported on, would that mean a half dozen lines of
    BLN1 information that would be repeated every, say 10-30 minutes? 
    Multiply that by, say, a half dozen bulletin types, with repeats,
    and I'm thinking this could get unwieldy rather quickly.  Do I have
    this right?  <br>
    <br>
    I've been assuming that we'd be using a local simplex channel for
    this, in order to not QRM the entire region with our troubles. 
    Going without a Digi, however, could be problematic depending on
    where the NC stations are located, as the terrain here is very
    hilly, and there are a lot of shadowed areas.  We do not have the
    luxury of putting a digi at our club repeater site, at least not at
    the current time, so we may be forced to use the 144.390 channel
    (which does have a high level Digi support).  That means whatever we
    come up with must be compatible with that broader scope, including
    the Internet IS backbone.  How do BLN messages that collide with
    other events doing the same thing in other areas get handled?  Or,
    are BLN messages not passed beyond an "n" hop range (i.e. not
    injected into APRS-IS for possible retransmission elsewhere)?  I'm
    trying to understand how this kept local, yet scale at the same
    time.<br>
    <br>
    As I noted originally, the need is for a shared, but geographically
    distributed, Net Control function, and the ability to hand NC duties
    off from one operator or operators to another over time.  Last year
    we had power outages that lasted for several days and covered a wide
    area.  With it went much of our internet and cell phone service.  So
    this needs to be able to operate in an RF-only environment, but
    where operator equipment isn't available 24x7 (to conserve battery
    power).  The ability for a new NC to quickly get brought up to speed
    when their shift starts is important.  That means distributed
    storage, and the ability to get it sync'd from the current NC staff,
    without waiting for the network update time to get refreshed by the
    usual methods, and without a centralized repository.  <br>
    <br>
    I think that all of the normal APRS message types, including perhaps
    bulletins, can apply.  They're well understood and cover pretty much
    all the bases.  It's just that we need a way to hold and pass on the
    situation map and chronological log from one set of NCSs to the
    next, in the absence of the usual infrastructure.  Andrew's idea of
    using News might provide that foundation, instead of reinventing the
    whole thing.  Are there any other utilities that provide a similar,
    light weight, multi-node data storage and sync function?<br>
    <br>
    Greg  KO6TH<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    <div>Robert Bruninga wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite">
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                                        <div>Actually existing APRS can
                                          provide a lot of your
                                          suggested Public Bulletin
                                          functionality as-is depending
                                          on whether Clients properly
                                          implemented the original APRS
                                          spec Bulletin protocol.  Here
                                          is how bulletins were SUPPOSED
                                          to work (as in the original
                                          APRSdos). so that everyone got
                                          a maintained copy of any
                                          multi-line bulletin from any
                                          source.<br>
                                        </div>
                                        <br>
                                      </div>
                                      1) Bulletins are numbered BLNx
                                      where X is numeric or alphabetic
                                      to establish a -sequence- to the
                                      lines in the bulletin.<br>
                                    </div>
                                    2) The local EOC (or anyone) could
                                    maintain a multi-line bulletin that
                                    is captured by EVERY APRS station in
                                    real time, or for late comers too.<br>
                                  </div>
                                  3) BLNx lines are repeated ad nausium
                                  but at a decaying rate.<br>
                                </div>
                                4) Thus every station gets every line
                                and they are always displayed as sorted
                                by line number<br>
                              </div>
                              5) The EOC can edit or change a line
                              (number of beds, number of ambulances,
                              etc) and it will REPLACE the previous
                              same-numbered line.<br>
                            </div>
                            6) Thus everyone in APRSdom always has the
                            latest full copy of the multi line bulletin
                            (worst case every 10 minutes or 30 minutes
                            depending on the overall timeout plan for
                            the given situation...<br>
                            <br>
                          </div>
                          The PROBLEMS with some implementations after
                          APRSdos that undermines the beauty of the
                          design I think are some of these:<br>
                          <br>
                        </div>
                        a) Many clients did not implement the decaying
                        algorithm. They transmit at fixed intervals and
                        then quit.  This prevents all lines from being
                        continuously updated even after a few hours for
                        new commers on the frequency.  The original was
                        transmitted once, then 15 sec later, then 30 sec
                        later, then one minute later, then 2 minutes
                        later, then 5 minutes later and then ten minutes
                        later and then every 30 minutes forever (though
                        a 12 hour or 24 hour time out wouild be nice). 
                        Also, a decay to 10 minute or 30 minute cycle
                        could be set depending on the urgency and
                        dynamics of the situation.<br>
                        <br>
                      </div>
                      b) Many clients just logged each BLNx line as
                      received instead of always sorthing the ones from
                      the same sender always in sequence.  This makes
                      multiline contiguous bulletins worthless.<br>
                      <br>
                    </div>
                    c) Same as b) in that replacement of a new BLNy
                    should overwrite an old BLNy was not implemented. 
                    Thus to update a bulletin, the entire thing would
                    have to be sent again.  Thus exploding the needed
                    bandwidth in a dynamic situation.  Insatead of the
                    single refreshed line protocol.<br>
                    <br>
                  </div>
                  Can we at least identify any clients that fully
                  implemented the original Bulleting protocol?<br>
                  <br>
                </div>
                - Kenwood - NOT.  TX's 1 per minute for 5 minutes and
                stops.  Does not sort on receipt.  Does not replace
                identical line numbers.<br>
              </div>
              - WinAPRS - Not.  Same as above<br>
            </div>
            - YAAC - ?<br>
          </div>
          - APRSIS32 - ?<br>
        </div>
        <div>- XASTIR - ?<br>
        </div>
        <div><br>
        </div>
        Curious... Bob<br>
        <div>
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                                            <div class="gmail_quote">
                                              <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On
                                                Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at
                                                5:37 PM Greg D <<a href="mailto:ko6th.greg@gmail.com" target="_blank">ko6th.greg@gmail.com</a>>
                                                wrote:<br>
                                              </div>
                                              <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
                                                <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
                                                  Hi Andrew,<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  This is an intriguing
                                                  idea.  Basically, use
                                                  the old News service
                                                  as the back-end
                                                  database / viewer, and
                                                  packet radio as the
                                                  transport.  The
                                                  difference between
                                                  this and the PBBS
                                                  model is that the
                                                  database is
                                                  distributed and sync'd
                                                  among all the nodes
                                                  (net control
                                                  stations), vs having a
                                                  single instance that
                                                  everyone "dials" into
                                                  (figuratively or
                                                  literally).  I like
                                                  the concept.<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  How would the packet
                                                  radio part work? 
                                                  Would you create a
                                                  plug-in to YAAC to
                                                  make the connections,
                                                  or would we need a
                                                  different client to
                                                  run in a more
                                                  traditional
                                                  connected-mode (vs UI)
                                                  framework?  Ideally,
                                                  updates would be real
                                                  time among the active
                                                  net control stations,
                                                  with a sync function
                                                  when a new station
                                                  begins their shift. 
                                                  Is the News service
                                                  able to run
                                                  near-realtime without
                                                  forcing a global sync
                                                  with every entry?  I
                                                  don't recall this
                                                  being part of its
                                                  normal operation
                                                  (thinking it was more
                                                  batch oriented), but
                                                  it's been a few years
                                                  (!) since I've used
                                                  it.<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  Rambling usage
                                                  thoughts and
                                                  questions...  (TL;DR -
                                                  see "Ding", below)<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  Thinking about how it
                                                  would be used; there's
                                                  certainly a lot of
                                                  flexibility...  In the
                                                  application I
                                                  originally posted
                                                  about (wide area
                                                  service outage support
                                                  net), how would this
                                                  work?  I was thinking
                                                  (and have rejected -
                                                  see below) to have one
                                                  thread for status
                                                  check-ins (power out /
                                                  on and where), each
                                                  resource (gas/fuel,
                                                  stores open or closed,
                                                  ice in stock or out,
                                                  equipment /
                                                  generators, random
                                                  needs, etc.),
                                                  miscellaneous notes,
                                                  ...?  I'm kind of
                                                  missing the APRS
                                                  mapping opportunity,
                                                  even though we didn't
                                                  have it with our paper
                                                  logs.  Perhaps the
                                                  plug-in could somehow
                                                  create map objects
                                                  with the information
                                                  presented?  After all,
                                                  a live map is one of
                                                  the primary views into
                                                  the APRS universe,
                                                  with the text-based
                                                  information being the
                                                  weak link.  APRS
                                                  messaging has the
                                                  text, but not the
                                                  historical information
                                                  retrieval.  Scattered
                                                  objects have the
                                                  information, but no
                                                  way to search through
                                                  it.  <br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  So, I'm starting to
                                                  talk in circles... 
                                                  YAAC already has the
                                                  ability to create
                                                  messages and objects,
                                                  so why have a separate
                                                  user interface (and
                                                  one without a map)...?<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  *Ding!*  An idea... 
                                                  Perhaps the News
                                                  "database" (or
                                                  probably one message
                                                  thread therein) would
                                                  simply be an archive
                                                  of the APRS traffic
                                                  (messages and objects)
                                                  involved in the
                                                  overall incident, with
                                                  the unique ability to
                                                  replay / sync it
                                                  (LOCALLY!!, not over
                                                  RF) when a new Net
                                                  Control station does a
                                                  sync to begin their
                                                  shift?  This removes
                                                  the need for Internet
                                                  access (and presumes
                                                  operation on a local
                                                  simplex frequency),
                                                  and provides that sync
                                                  ability that's missing
                                                  / awkward with
                                                  APRS-IS.  The
                                                  remaining (existing)
                                                  News functionality
                                                  could be used for
                                                  conversation traffic
                                                  archiving among the
                                                  Net Control
                                                  operators.  Primary
                                                  user interface is the
                                                  standard APRS
                                                  messaging and object
                                                  generation that YAAC
                                                  already provides; the
                                                  plug-in would add the
                                                  real-time archiving of
                                                  the traffic, and sync
                                                  / local replay
                                                  functions, using the
                                                  News service as the
                                                  database mechanism. 
                                                  Information display
                                                  would be the existing
                                                  Station/Object list. 
                                                  The real-time sync of
                                                  messages and objects
                                                  between active Net
                                                  Control stations is
                                                  just the normal APRS
                                                  operation via RF.<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  The one thing that's
                                                  missing is a simple
                                                  time-ordered Net
                                                  Control running log. 
                                                  My preference would be
                                                  to have it be
                                                  auto-generated
                                                  (station checked in,
                                                  object created, object
                                                  updated, etc.) and
                                                  added to the sync'd
                                                  News file.  Or, is
                                                  this already provided
                                                  in the base YAAC
                                                  application?  I'm not
                                                  seeing it...<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  Making all this work
                                                  on an operational
                                                  basis will require a
                                                  number of site /
                                                  incident-specific
                                                  usage conventions,
                                                  e.g. what to name
                                                  objects (gas-1,
                                                  gas-2...) and how to
                                                  make status messages
                                                  useful (power is out
                                                  here - where?).  There
                                                  might be another
                                                  plug-in or two to make
                                                  data entry easier for
                                                  a one-person Net
                                                  Control station to
                                                  handle, but let's get
                                                  the core right first.<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  I'm trying to keep
                                                  this simple, otherwise
                                                  it'd just be better to
                                                  get one of the
                                                  enterprise-level SAR
                                                  support products,
                                                  which is where I don't
                                                  want to end up. 
                                                  Remember, we're trying
                                                  to replace pencil
                                                  & paper, and need
                                                  to assume battery
                                                  operations - HT and
                                                  laptop or Raspberry Pi
                                                  - and a candle.<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  Thanks!<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  Greg  KO6TH<br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  <br>
                                                  <div>Andrew Pavlin via
                                                    aprssig wrote:<br>
                                                  </div>
                                                  <blockquote type="cite">
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">Hi, Steve.</div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr"><br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">Re-reading
                                                      your email on this
                                                      as I got restarted
                                                      on my own effort
                                                      in this area
                                                      reminded me of
                                                      some other ancient
                                                      technology that we
                                                      might want to
                                                      resuscitate for
                                                      this problem.</div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr"><br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">Does anybody
                                                      remember Usenet
                                                      (otherwise known
                                                      as the
                                                      InterNetNews)? It
                                                      was a powerful
                                                      means of
                                                      implementing a
                                                      distributed
                                                      world-wide
                                                      collection of
                                                      thousands of
                                                      bulletin boards of
                                                      discussion
                                                      threads, back
                                                      before the World
                                                      Wide Web, hosting
                                                      service providers,
                                                      and (nearly)
                                                      ubiquitous
                                                      broadband replaced
                                                      Usenet with
                                                      world-accessible
                                                      single-server web
                                                      forums and blogs.
                                                      Like email in
                                                      those days, Usenet
                                                      only carried
                                                      plain-text; like
                                                      email, it could
                                                      carry anything
                                                      that could be
                                                      bundled into a
                                                      plain-text email
                                                      message, such as
                                                      binary files
                                                      encoded by the
                                                      useful uuencode
                                                      and uudecode
                                                      programs. It would
                                                      automatically
                                                      synchronize all
                                                      the distributed
                                                      copies of any
                                                      given discussion
                                                      group. And it
                                                      could work over
                                                      (by today's
                                                      standards)
                                                      ridiculously
                                                      low-bandwidth
                                                      links. In 1991, I
                                                      was running a
                                                      corporate Usenet
                                                      news gateway over
                                                      a leased-line
                                                      Internet
                                                      connection at a
                                                      screaming 19.2
                                                      kilobaud. Yes,
                                                      _that_ slow. Yes,
                                                      we had dialup
                                                      modems that went
                                                      faster than that
                                                      before broadband.<br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr"><br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">These days,
                                                      the Usenet news
                                                      server software is
                                                      still available in
                                                      most Linux distros
                                                      (I just checked,
                                                      and both Fedora
                                                      Core and Raspian
                                                      Buster still have
                                                      it as an optional
                                                      distro package).
                                                      Many email clients
                                                      still support NNTP
                                                      (Network News
                                                      Transport
                                                      Protocol) as well
                                                      as SMTP (Simple
                                                      Mail Transport
                                                      Protocol). And
                                                      NNTP can transfer
                                                      over any TCP/IP
                                                      link (including
                                                      TCPIP-over-AX.25
                                                      and HSMM, as well
                                                      as the global
                                                      Internet), and
                                                      over batched
                                                      low-level links
                                                      (it used to use an
                                                      old package called
                                                      UUCP [Unix-to-Unix
                                                      CoPy] to transfer
                                                      updates over
                                                      dialup links) at
                                                      barely more
                                                      infrastructure
                                                      than the KISS
                                                      protocol.</div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr"><br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">So, we could
                                                      set up NNTP
                                                      servers on
                                                      Raspberry Pi
                                                      computers (or
                                                      anything else) and
                                                      use any sorts of
                                                      links to connect
                                                      them together:
                                                      Internet, HamWAN,
                                                      AREDN, TARPN, heck
                                                      maybe even fldigi
                                                      file transfers
                                                      (not much
                                                      different than
                                                      what UUCP did).
                                                      Because NNTP uses
                                                      a flood-fill
                                                      algorithm to
                                                      distribute
                                                      messages over
                                                      multiple paths, if
                                                      one link goes
                                                      down, the target
                                                      at the other end
                                                      of the failed link
                                                      will eventually
                                                      get it via several
                                                      relays on other
                                                      links as long as
                                                      every news server
                                                      has links to more
                                                      than one other
                                                      news server, and
                                                      the topology
                                                      doesn't have any
                                                      Single Points Of
                                                      Failure. No
                                                      particular network
                                                      topology is
                                                      required; just
                                                      like amateur
                                                      radio, Usenet
                                                      doesn't need a
                                                      central control
                                                      office (unlike
                                                      cellphones). We
                                                      can certainly get
                                                      sufficient TCP/IP
                                                      speeds over AX.25
                                                      packet with the
                                                      9600-baud TNCs
                                                      (hardware and
                                                      software) that are
                                                      readily available
                                                      now for a
                                                      TARPN-style VHF
                                                      network for areas
                                                      where we can't do
                                                      HamWAN/AREDN, but
                                                      NNTP will still
                                                      work over those
                                                      networks as well.
                                                      And, if we keep
                                                      our Usenet
                                                      separate from
                                                      what's left of the
                                                      old Internet
                                                      Usenet, we don't
                                                      have to worry (as
                                                      much) about
                                                      illegal content
                                                      putting
                                                      transmitting
                                                      stations at risk
                                                      or excessive
                                                      traffic volume.
                                                      After all, most
                                                      public service
                                                      events that use
                                                      APRS put their
                                                      event traffic on a
                                                      different
                                                      frequency than the
                                                      national APRS
                                                      frequency to avoid
                                                      congestion.<br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr"><br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">So, if what is
                                                      needed to solve
                                                      the problem is a
                                                      distributed
                                                      bulletin board,
                                                      Usenet solved it
                                                      for us decades
                                                      ago.<br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr"><br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">Just my $.03
                                                      (inflation, ya
                                                      know).</div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr"><br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">Andrew, KA2DDO</div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr">author of YAAC
                                                      ("Yet Another APRS
                                                      Client")</div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px" dir="ltr"><br>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
                                                      <div><br>
                                                      </div>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div id="gmail-m_1907792826313682331gmail-m_-8041449493147476804ydpb9f94d4byahoo_quoted_6237914876">
                                                      <div>
                                                        <div> On
                                                          Wednesday,
                                                          December 4,
                                                          2019, 12:11:44
                                                          AM EST,
                                                          Stephen H.
                                                          Smith via
                                                          aprssig <a href="mailto:aprssig@lists.tapr.org" target="_blank"><aprssig@lists.tapr.org></a>
                                                          wrote: </div>
                                                        <div><br>
                                                        </div>
                                                        <div><br>
                                                        </div>
                                                        <div>
                                                          <div id="gmail-m_1907792826313682331gmail-m_-8041449493147476804ydpb9f94d4byiv6627603611">
                                                          <div>
                                                          <div id="gmail-m_1907792826313682331gmail-m_-8041449493147476804ydpb9f94d4byiv6627603611yqtfd56917">
                                                          <div>On
                                                          12/3/2019 6:26
                                                          PM, <a shape="rect" href="mailto:chiefsfan2@cox.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">chiefsfan2@cox.net</a> wrote:<br clear="none">
                                                          </div>
                                                          <blockquote type="cite"> </blockquote>
                                                          </div>
                                                          </div>
                                                          <div>
                                                          <div id="gmail-m_1907792826313682331gmail-m_-8041449493147476804ydpb9f94d4byiv6627603611yqtfd00049">
                                                          <div>Since you
                                                          had a analog
                                                          landline phone
                                                          still working
                                                          that would be
                                                          a reason to
                                                          bring back
                                                          some phone
                                                          patches like
                                                          we used to
                                                          have. And now
                                                          you can run a
                                                          BBS on a rasp
                                                          pi computer
                                                          which makes
                                                          for great
                                                          portability
                                                          and low power
                                                          consumption</div>
                                                          </div>
                                                          <p>Funny you
                                                          should bring
                                                          this up at
                                                          this
                                                          particular
                                                          time.  Just
                                                          last week, I
                                                          was
                                                          experimenting
                                                          connecting an
                                                          old Heathkit
                                                          HD-1515 phone
                                                          patch I found
                                                          in my junk box
                                                          to the 6-pin
                                                          mini-DIN data
                                                          port of a
                                                          Yaesu FT-857D.
                                                            It worked
                                                          perfectly both
                                                          on FM for 2
                                                          meters and on
                                                          SSB for HF.  
                                                          I'm now going
                                                          to add a 6-pin
                                                          mini-DIN jack
                                                          to the back
                                                          panel of the
                                                          patch, in
                                                          parallel with
                                                          the existing
                                                          RCA RX and TX
                                                          audio jacks.  
                                                          I can then use
                                                          a standard
                                                          off-the-shelf 
                                                          6-pin DIN to
                                                          6-pin DIN
                                                          cable to
                                                          connect the
                                                          patch to any
                                                          radio with a
                                                          standard 6-pin
                                                          data port.  
                                                          Finally, I
                                                          will add a
                                                          double-throw
                                                          center-off  
                                                          locking-one-way 
                                                          / 
                                                          momentary-the-other-way
                                                          toggle switch
                                                          to the front
                                                          panel to key
                                                          the radio
                                                          transmitter.  
                                                          <br clear="none">
                                                          </p>
                                                          <p>I'm now
                                                          thinking about
                                                          getting one of
                                                          those
                                                          Bluetooth
                                                          gizmos that
                                                          links to a
                                                          cellphone and
                                                          and produces a
                                                          couple of
                                                          classic RJ-11
                                                          analog phone
                                                          jacks. I could
                                                          plug the patch
                                                          into one and a
                                                          classic desk
                                                          phone set into
                                                          the other. 
                                                          This would
                                                          allow phone
                                                          patches either
                                                          via  a "real"
                                                          phone line, or
                                                          via a
                                                          cellphone
                                                          connection if
                                                          needed.</p>
                                                          <p>Another
                                                          variation on
                                                          this theme: 
                                                          With a sound
                                                          card interface
                                                          setup normally
                                                          as you would
                                                          use for
                                                          digimodes on a
                                                          PC,  start up
                                                          Skype instead
                                                          of a soundcard
                                                          digi-mode app.
                                                          You can then
                                                          run "phone
                                                          patches" from
                                                          radio users to
                                                          users on Skype
                                                          instead of a
                                                          POTS line.  <br clear="none">
                                                          </p>
                                                          <p><br clear="none">
                                                          </p>
                                                          <hr size="2" width="100%">
                                                          <p>Stephen H.
                                                          Smith   
                                                          wa8lmf (at) <a href="http://aol.com" target="_blank">aol.com</a>
                                                          <br clear="none">
                                                          Skype:       
                                                          WA8LMF<br clear="none">
                                                          EchoLink: 
                                                          Node #  14400 
                                                          [Think bottom
                                                          of the 2-meter
                                                          band]<br clear="none">
                                                          Home
                                                          Page:         
                                                          <a shape="rect" href="http://wa8lmf.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://wa8lmf.net</a><br clear="none">
                                                          <br clear="none">
                                                          -----  
                                                          NEW!   
                                                          60-Meter
                                                          APRS!   HF
                                                          NVIS APRS
                                                          Igate Now
                                                          Operating 
                                                          ------<br clear="none">
                                                             <a shape="rect" href="http://wa8lmf.ddns.net:14447/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><http://wa8lmf.ddns.net:14447/></a><br clear="none">
                                                          <br clear="none">
                                                          Live
                                                          Off-The-Air
                                                          APRS Activity
                                                          Maps<br clear="none">
                                                             <a shape="rect" href="http://wa8lmf.net/map" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><http://wa8lmf.net/map></a><br clear="none">
                                                          <br clear="none">
                                                          Long-Range
                                                          APRS on 30
                                                          Meters HF <br clear="none">
                                                             <a shape="rect" href="http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/HF_APRS_Notes.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/HF_APRS_Notes.htm></a></p>
                                                          <div id="gmail-m_1907792826313682331gmail-m_-8041449493147476804ydpb9f94d4byiv6627603611yqtfd18518">
                                                          <p><br clear="none">
                                                          </p>
                                                          <p><br clear="none">
                                                          </p>
                                                            </div>
                                                          </div>
                                                          </div>
                                                          <div id="gmail-m_1907792826313682331gmail-m_-8041449493147476804ydpb9f94d4byqtfd79887">_______________________________________________<br clear="none">
                                                          aprssig
                                                          mailing list<br clear="none">
                                                          <a shape="rect" href="mailto:aprssig@lists.tapr.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">aprssig@lists.tapr.org</a><br clear="none">
                                                          <a shape="rect" href="http://lists.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig_lists.tapr.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://lists.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig_lists.tapr.org</a><br clear="none">
                                                          </div>
                                                        </div>
                                                      </div>
                                                    </div>
                                                    <br>
                                                    <fieldset></fieldset>
                                                    <br>
                                                    <pre>_______________________________________________
aprssig mailing list
<a href="mailto:aprssig@lists.tapr.org" target="_blank">aprssig@lists.tapr.org</a>
<a href="http://lists.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig_lists.tapr.org" target="_blank">http://lists.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig_lists.tapr.org</a>
</pre>
                                                  </blockquote>
                                                  <br>
                                                </div>
_______________________________________________<br>
                                                aprssig mailing list<br>
                                                <a href="mailto:aprssig@lists.tapr.org" target="_blank">aprssig@lists.tapr.org</a><br>
                                                <a href="http://lists.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig_lists.tapr.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig_lists.tapr.org</a><br>
                                              </blockquote>
                                            </div>
                                          </div>
                                        </div>
                                      </div>
                                    </div>
                                  </div>
                                </div>
                              </div>
                            </div>
                          </div>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                </div>
              </div>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
      <br>
      <fieldset></fieldset>
      <br>
      <pre>_______________________________________________
aprssig mailing list
<a href="mailto:aprssig@lists.tapr.org" target="_blank">aprssig@lists.tapr.org</a>
<a href="http://lists.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig_lists.tapr.org" target="_blank">http://lists.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig_lists.tapr.org</a>
</pre>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
  </div>

</blockquote></div></div></div></div>