O.k. so after my whining about Paclink/Winlink, I ramped myself up and got on the air last night.

Soldered up a cable for the trusty borrowed PK-88 to run my FT-7800 and began packeting away.

I have a local frequency with a BBS or two and shelter databases for RACES/ARES use. That's all pretty neat, but not much in current activity, it's mostly a reserve network for emergencies.

I scanned around 145.01 03 05 07 09 for activity.

I found some activity but it's fairly far away and I can't get direct connections there unfortunately.

All my local nodes are the evil Paclink and basically if you try to do a connect 'via' with them, they just keep kicking you out.

Anyone have any tips to find nodes?

Tips on figuring out 'route's to other areas?

I don't run Windows, so aside from my general dislike for the way Paclink interoperates (or doesn't) with normal packet, it's not even an option for me.

It's interesting and I'll give this thing some time, but my initial impression is that there isn't much going on here and making the commitment of leaving a 24/7 node up wouldn't do much for me....I do feel like I'm just not quite getting the point though...will have to see what I learn about this.

I haven't really used packet much. From what I've read, it's kind've dying except for specific applications like APRS. Maybe someone else has better info?

I've found some more local nodes or BBSes, I think I just need to relax a bit and wait for what I stumble upon. I found a pretty highly populated BBS with a FlexNet gateway associated with it and many channels to it. I got too tired by the time I started poking around in it and realizing this could be THE local gateway for me.

The trick is that I really need a dedicated radio/antenna to just leave up and listening. In order to see what is around, you have to be monitoring the traffic basically, and of course to have a useful maildrop you also have to be up and running consistently.

I have brought up APRS using xastir on linux and at rush hour it was pretty neat, quite a few APRS people around here. But it doesn't (at least from what I can tell) give me much for interactivity as a home based packet station.

I was into Packet back in '95-'96 using an AEA TNC with a C64 Computer running in DOS.

Actually I am getting back into Packet and just purchased an AEA PK-96 along with an Alinco DR 1200T radio. This was due to a long time ham friend setting up a BBS and wanting to resurrect the packet in our area.

What setup do you run?

__________________
I geek therefore I am...
I geeked therefore I were...
"Fides Quaerens Intellectum"

I made a bunch of progress since that posting. I buried myself in docs and snagged one of the regional net ops for some help.

Right now I'm running various forms of sound modems in lieu of using a TNC. Currently I'm liking the Tigertronics Signalink USB quite a lot. I've run a sound modem package in Windows and in Linux with it with decent results.

On the Linux side, there are some bugs with ax25 in Ubuntu 7.10 and flexd for FlexNet routing doesn't work quite right either. No fault of the sound modem though.

I found out basically that only a very very small handful of diehards exist on the nodes from ME to FL. There are tons of BBSes still up, but they are all just replicants of the same @WW bulletins, no signs of actual human activity. It's pretty amusing, a lot like a technology ghost town.

Things I've had up and running

JNOS2 works fb
TNOS not so great but I ran it in emu and just slapped it together carelessly
URONode works fb
FBB used the Ubuntu package and it's horrible, panics the system and freezes up
MFNOS tough nut to crack, but it also runs
conversd

Probably a few more I forgot about.

Unfortunately people don't seem to be interested in doing much on packet 'just because', from all I hear of its boom era, it was a lot of internet freeloaders that didn't want to pay for service at home due to the cost at the time. As soon as dialup connections came along, packet died.

It's much like all the autopatch freeloaders that packed the repeaters rather than pay for a cellphone. When cell service became accessible, they all just disappeared.

I recommend a packet foray for any tech nerds like myself, that get a kick out of the nuts and bolts of things without having the absolute need for a measurable payoff. You will be lucky to find anyone at all on packet, but I still find it interesting to play with.

I used to run Graphic Packet with TFPCX and a TCM3105 based
modem in the '90's. Had a lot of fun with it. I now run
AGWPE and Winpack, but there is hardly any activity
here other than APRS....