hi,

just read that you're a ham-expert :)

i'm from germany and i want a small HAM setup for my BBS. what is the
minimal requiered hardware i need for it?

--- OpenXP 4.10.7372 beta
* Origin: BBSindex.de (9:92/1.3)

On 04/11/16, fU said the following...

hi,

just read that you're a ham-expert :)

i'm from germany and i want a small HAM setup for my BBS. what is the minimal requiered hardware i need for it?

Hahahahah well I wouldn't call myself much of an expert.. I enjoy DXing and building kits and things like that. When you say you want a setup for your
BBS, are you looking to create a packet radio BBS?

If you're looking to do packet on VHF, I'd say all you need is something like
a J-pole antenna, or a Ringo Ranger antenna, plus a decent VHF rig (something from Yaesu perhaps). You probably need a TNC (terminal node controller)
unless you can do that via AFSK (basically using your computer sound card as
a modem). You'll need a power supply for the radio. You could probably get
all this stuff from eBay for a low price.

Beyond that, I don't really know what else needs to be in place to make that work. There are lots of tutorials out there. I wouldn't mind setting up a packet BBS myself...

--- Mystic BBS v1.11 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Alcoholiday / Est. 1995 / alco.bbs.io (9:91/18)

Hahahahah well I wouldn't call myself much of an expert.. I enjoy DXing and building kits and things like that. When you say you want a setup
for your BBS, are you looking to create a packet radio BBS?

it's a useful answer - thx for it expert ;)

i want my existing BBS with telnet and gsm(cellphone) modem access set up
also for packet radio. 2k4 or a bit more are possible i think.

i've heard about that "your soundcard is your modem stuff" before, does that realy work? is there a need for a special soundkart or would a soundcard
which is soldert on the mainboard work for it?

in germany we have some relay-station where your packet-radio signal can be bridget to long ranges. it's called here sometimes digipeater.

here is a list as an example:

Rufzeichen Standort System Ausgabe (Ablage) Geschwindigkeit (callsign) (location) (outbound?) (speed)
DB�OVN Neuss APRS 144.800 (simplex) 1200 baud
DB�OTV Meerbusch APRS 144.800 (simplex) 1200 baud
DB�KX Viersen APRS 144.800 (simplex) 1200 baud
DB�RWI D�sseldorf DIGI/MBOX 438.375 (simplex) 9600 Baud
DB�OVN Neuss DIGI/MBOX 438.525 (-7.6 Mhz) 9600 Baud
DB�II M�nchengladbach DIGI 439.900 (-9.4 Mhz) 9600 Baud
DB�DSP D�sseldorf DIGI 439.700 (-9.4 Mhz) 102,4 kBaud
DB�II M�nchengladbach DIGI 1242.825 (+ 20 MHz) 9600 Baud

with this kind of a network you can connect from your home to a station of
the digipeater network and send your data across the country without having a antenna that glows in the night and let you hair spread in the air :)

is there a simlar system in the US?

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--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A10 (Windows)
* Origin: BlackICE BBS (BlackICE.BBSindex.com:23) (9:92/1)

On 04/21/16, fU said the following...

i want my existing BBS with telnet and gsm(cellphone) modem access set up also for packet radio. 2k4 or a bit more are possible i think.

i've heard about that "your soundcard is your modem stuff" before, does that realy work? is there a need for a special soundkart or would a soundcard which is soldert on the mainboard work for it?

It sounds like you know more than I do about this stuff! If you are going to
do the soundcard/AFSK route, I'd suggest getting an external sound card, like
a SignaLink USB box to keep the radio business separate from the computer
sound card. You wouldn't want to send your Windows "dings" over the air,
hehe. Also, the SignaLink has some physical knobs so you easily adjust your audio drive.

This solution works quite well because modern computers are more than
powerful enough to support a "software" modem.

Here in the U.S. we use some software called "WinLink" to send e-mail over
the air. The emcomm whackers really like that. You can spend a $1000 US on
the PACTOR modem for that, or just use the soundcard AFSK. Either method is about the same speedwise IMHO.

in germany we have some relay-station where your packet-radio signal can be bridget to long ranges. it's called here sometimes digipeater.

Yep we have those also!

--- Mystic BBS v1.11 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Alcoholiday / Est. 1995 / alco.bbs.io (9:91/18)

Zero Reader wrote to fU <=-

It sounds like you know more than I do about this stuff! If you are
going to do the soundcard/AFSK route, I'd suggest getting an external sound card, like a SignaLink USB box to keep the radio business
separate from the computer sound card. You wouldn't want to send your Windows "dings" over the air, hehe. Also, the SignaLink has some
physical knobs so you easily adjust your audio drive.

I'm not a big fan of the Signalink, because it is essentially a VOX/SOX device, which means in some situations, it can be unreliable, and in all situations, there is an increased delay in keying the PTT. I prefer devices with a positive software or hardware generated keying action.

This solution works quite well because modern computers are more than powerful enough to support a "software" modem.

The soundcard/software modems themselves work very well, these days, often better than many hardware based modems.

Here in the U.S. we use some software called "WinLink" to send e-mail
over the air. The emcomm whackers really like that. You can spend a
$1000 US on the PACTOR modem for that, or just use the soundcard AFSK. Either method is about the same speedwise IMHO.

You can also use a software modem called WINMOR for HF Winlink. I have used this to send email from remote sites in the Austrlaian outback.

in germany we have some relay-station where your packet-radio signal can be bridget to long ranges. it's called here sometimes digipeater.

Yep we have those also!

There's not as lot of packet infrastructure here, other than for APRS. interest has waned. I am looking at setting up AX.25, NET/ROM and IP over packet here. I'm also wondering if I can ovver IPv6 over packet. I do have plenty of spare addresses (I have a /56 here, only using a /64).


... So easy, a child could do it. Child sold separately.
___ MultiMail/Win32 v0.49

--- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A31 (Linux)
* Origin: Resistance Pride BBS (9:91/26)

On 01/07/17, vk3jed said the following...

I'm not a big fan of the Signalink, because it is essentially a VOX/SOX device, which means in some situations, it can be unreliable, and in all situations, there is an increased delay in keying the PTT. I prefer devices with a positive software or hardware generated keying action.

I like the Signalink... it's always been rock solid for me. I managed a 6 khz RTTY pile-up in split mode for several hours handing out QSOs during a contest once and it didn't let me down.

I have heard that they have an issue with the noise floor which could affect sensitivity, and there could be some issues with Windows if the volume isn't set properly -- apparently the Windows volume control needs to be set to 100% to maintain linearity.

It's a good solution for guys who want to do a variety of digital work.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: Alcoholiday / Est. 1995 / alco.bbs.io (9:91/18)

Quoting Zero Reader to Vk3jed <=-

I like the Signalink... it's always been rock solid for me. I managed
a 6 khz RTTY pile-up in split mode for several hours handing out QSOs during a contest once and it didn't let me down.

Where they really fall down is if you use them to handle voice - so many people

try to use them for things like Echolink nodes. Adds nasty tails, and slow speakers can cause dropouts.

It's a good solution for guys who want to do a variety of digital
work.

Providing all you use it for is constant carrier digital modes. :)





... My hard disk is full! Maybe I'll try this message section thing.
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR]

--- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A31 (Windows)
* Origin: Another F-ing BBS (9:91/11)