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Packet Radio
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packet fever
(sept. 7)
it seems as if an epidemic of packet
radio fever is sweeping the ham radio
community.
hams, typically accustomed to
communicating with telegraph keys and
microphones, are rapidly converting
their stations to handle computer
communications. using a device called a
"terminal node controller" (tnc),
thousands of hams are now relaying
error-free electronic mail, graphics,
programs and other data from station to
station at speeds of over 1,400 words
per minute. once you've assembled a
station and a tnc the service is free,
since the hams are using public-domain
airwaves instead of a public
packet-switching network like telenet or
tymnet.
just how popular is packet radio?
consider this: a couple of weeks ago,
the tucson amateur packet radio group,
an arizona-based non-profit organization
dedicated to promoting packet
technology, announced it was going to
sell a full-featured tnc for only $185.
on the first day the product was
offered to the public, calls came into
taprg headquarters by the hundreds,
including orders from such far-flung
locales as south africa and japan.
shortly after noon, taprg received a
call from a tucson telephone company
engineer. the phone company
representative told the group's single
press <cr> for more !
online today olt-461
paid employee that the volume of calls
coming into taprg's offices had
completely saturated the state's
telephone network.
an understatement, actually, since the
tucson telephone switching system was
shut down on three different occasions
during that day. furthermore, service
was blocked to nearby davis monthan air
force base, preventing the military
installation from accessing civilian
phone lines. the calls also shut down
wats service in arizona and neighboring
states and left most tucson residents
without any kind of phone service for
hours. talk about a popular product.
happily, the problems were eventually
straightened out and taprg is now busy
fulfilling all of those orders. if
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online today olt-463
you're interest
ed in finding out more
about packet communications, you can
contact taprg via compuserve's hamnet
forum. just type go hom-11 and leave a
message in the forum's "packet radio"
subsection.
just take it easy. we don't want to
bring compuserve to its knees.
-- john edwards
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