Matt,

M>It too have always be a tinkerer. I am surprised I never got into ham radio b
M>I did not know anyone who was in it personally. I always enjoyed experimentin
M>with different software - especially the software written in R50 at a time wh
M>there was often no English documentation accompanying it. It was fascinating
M>that R50 existed in a bubble of sorts because none took interests in the goin
M>on there.

  A lot has changed in ham radio over the years. At least in the U.S.,
the FCC got rid of the Morse Code requirement in 2007, and there's only
3 classes of licenses still issued (Technician, General, and Amateur
Extra). The late Dave Perry (W4KGU, SK) did some ham radio doors for
BBS's...but they didn't have a fossil driver, and required a
DORINFO1.DEF dropfile to run. You can set those up under Synchronet
(3.14a or later) as it allows for fossil and non-fossil doors).
Normally, you need a fossil driver to run a door under telnet.

  Those doors included:

1) BULLET - A bulletins door. 26 categories for ham radio or another
topic.

2) REGSCAN - Search Part 97 of the FCC Rules as they relate to Ham
Radio.

3) WASPORT - Track ones progress in the ARRL Worked All States
Competition. Mostly for RF, but there's one Sysop configurable mode.

4) QRZDOOR - Using a QRZ data CD, one can look up callsign data.
However, data files for that are no longer produced.

5) ARPD - Amateur Radio Packet Door. Hook up to an MFJ 1270C TNC and a
rig, and allow licensed hams to access the area packet network through
the BBS and the door.

  As a side note, AE5ME, Jeff Scoville, a ham in Oklahoma has a way to
do that, but it's not through a BBS. I'd have to dig out the file on it
for the details.

M>I recall dialing (~$2-3/a min) to R50 to 'freq' the latest Russian modified
M>Binkleyterm and other mailers. With no documentation I had to rely on experie
M>to make it work. At least their config verbs were in English! As far as I can
M>recall, I was later one of the first adopters of BinkP (in the form of BinkD)
M>the US. I hated FTP for handling mail even though I had derived a reliable
M>implementation of it.

  I've got a bulletin on the BBS, which is a combination of several
others, including such titles as:

1) Definition Of A Twit (from Grant Bierman, one of my first users. He
designed the ANSI lightning bolts I use at logon, and his Mom, Lois,
suggested the name for the BBS). This file doesn't reflect the opinion
of the Sysop, but it comes close. 

2) You Want To Be A Sysop?? (from Tom Ezell, the one time Little Rock
FIDONet Net 3821 Coordinator).

3) The Thankless Job (from Kris Lewis, a BBS user). One Sysop, over 20
years ago, finally had had enough, when a trusted friend shared their
logon, so he shut his BBS down, and got rid of all the computer/BBS
equipment.

4) Caring For Pet Sysops (from Fred Hunt, a fellow ham radio operator).
Originally "Caring For Pet Hams", I modified it for Sysops.

5) The Sysop Of A BBS (by yours truly). A poem that The Good Lord gave
me, on a tribute to Sysops.

M>I am currently evaluating whether or not I want to setup a bulletin board. I
M>believe the choice is between Synchronet and Mystic. My primary motivating is
M>setup some old door games for myself. Secondary would be to build an archive 
M>all the old programs and make this freely available. I need to do a bit more
M>research on whether mystic has any web functions. My goal would be to reel at
M>least a few people in via web and encourage them to go 'old school' using
M>telnet. As a side note, people should get away from using telnet. No privacy 
M>authentication or encryption.


(Continued to next message)
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