Welcome to the Winter special edition of the Newsletter... possibly the last in its current form. You'll see that the future of the WyrePak group has been under discussion recently, and the following article gives full details of the proposed direction I feel the Group needs to take. However, don't think that Packet Radio is on the way out... far from it!
There should be plenty of other news and packet-related gossip to keep you busy reading for at least another half a minute, including a contribution from our WinPack expert Richard G0EWH, and some further valuable publicity from none other than Andy Talbot G4JNT in the December 2004 edition of RadCom.
I put this issue on the agenda for the meeting on 16th November 2004, and the members present discussed it at some length. In essence, we have all been aware for some time that "pure" Packet Radio is becoming increasingly a minority interest. WyrePak membership is declining, in common with other Packet-only groups (Fourpak included). However, a large number of local WyrePak members and Packet users are also following, with considerable interest, the other developments at G8PZT, including Internet linking of both voice and data systems, voice-over-IP, voice repeaters and simplex voice gateways.
About a year ago, I put forward the suggestion that WyrePak could expand to include these other aspects of the hobby, but at that time there was a distinct view from the membership that WyrePak should remain dedicated solely to Packet. From the comments made by members at the November meeting, however, that view has certainly changed and there seems to be a desire to widen the Group's scope to encompass the additional developments mentioned earlier.
I am therefore proposing that WyrePak merges with the newly-formed Kidderminster Repeater Group. Basically, the same individuals (G8PZT, G0EWH and G4SPZ) form the active Committees of both organisations, and it seems sensible for the support group to support all of the activities at G8PZT, not just the Packet system, although Packet will still form a large part of the operation. Current WyrePak members would automatically become members of the Repeater Group. It is also felt that membership could increase, leading to greater financial support for all of Paula's systems.
In order to give WyrePak members the opportunity to debate the proposals, the next scheduled meeting on Tuesday 18th January 2005 will be an Extraordinary General Meeting. A reminder and the Agenda will be issued at least 14 days in advance, in accordance with the WyrePak constitution, and a revised constitution for the combined group will be drawn up. In the meantime, if anyone has any views on the matter please drop me a line at G4SPZ @ GB7PZT or wyrepak[at]aol.com
Andy Talbot G4JNT kindly devoted well over half of RadCom's December 2004 "Data" column to WyrePak and packet radio. See December RadCom page 46 for the full story! Here's what I wrote to Andy, which was reproduced virtually word-for-word in RadCom.
Hello Andy,
Thanks for a particularly interesting "Data" column in October's RadCom. I particularly liked your reference to "... the old packet network still used for the DX cluster..." and am delighted to tell you that the packet network is definitely alive and still thriving! Internet links now provide rapid and reliable mail forwarding and real-time keyboard-to-keyboard contacts worldwide.
However, a printing error has crept into the article which would prevent access to the ON4KST chat room you mentioned. The correct method of access for Packet users is to access the BUXTON packet node GB7BUX-8, then enter "telnet www.on4kst.info 23000". Once connected, at the login prompt type your callsign. The system will recognise you as a new user, and will prompt you to enter your callsign, choose and confirm a password, enter your first name, locator and e-mail address. Once in the system, comprehensive help is provided. The command /SHOW USER lists all stations connected. Use /Q to leave the chat room. On the night I tried the 144MHz chat room, over 70 stations (mainly EU) were connected including eight Gs.
ON4KST has in fact five chat rooms covering 50/70MHz, 144/432MHz, microwaves, EME and low bands. I hope this information may be useful for a future column.
Kind regards and 73, and I attach a copy of our latest newsletter for your information.
Phil Harris, G4SPZ, Chairman
WyrePak (the Wyre Forest Packet Radio Support Group)
Minutes of the third Annual General Meeting of WyrePak held on 28th September 2004 at the Chain Wire Club, Oldington, Kidderminster DY11 7DY
Phil G4SPZ, Richard G0EWH, Brian G0MBG, Geoff G0HHH, Paula G8PZT, Ellis G7JWL
Nigel G4YUD, Brian G0MBG, Eric G8BKL, John G8UAE
The minutes of the AGM held on 23rd September 2003 were accepted as a true record, with the exception that the voice gateway frequency should have read 430.075MHz not 430.025MHz.
Phil G4SPZ reported that the systems at G8PZT and the Group had enjoyed a relatively stable year. Phil thanked the Committee for their hard work on behalf of the Group, particularly Richard G0EWH for his dedicated technical assistance and engineering work, and all members for their continuing support. Phil also wished the dedication of Paula G8PZT to be recorded.
Phil G4SPZ remarked that attendance at meetings had remained stable over the year. Three issues of the WyrePak Newsletter had been published during the year, and seemed to be well-received. The importance of a regular newsletter should not be underestimated, as it served to keep the membership informed about the Group's activities. The frequency of meetings had again been reviewed, and it was agreed that the present bi-monthly format at the Chain Wire Club should continue.
Richard G0EWH mentioned that the Constitution reflected the group's financial year from September to August and that he had prepared accounts in line with this. He tabled the audited accounts for the year September 2003 - August 2004, which showed the financial situation to have improved, largely due to minimal expenditure of only £3.49 for the year, but also assisted by generous donations of £25.00. The end-of-year balance was £147.40, double the 2003/04 figure. The membership now stood at 13 paid-up members. The meeting thanked Richard for his work on the accounts and John G8UAE for auditing them on 24 September 2004.
Ellis G7JWL proposed a vote of thanks to the outgoing Committee and Paula G8PZT seconded. The Chairman thanked the members on behalf of the Committee.
There being no nominations or members willing to apply for the vacant post of Chairman, Phil G4SPZ agreed to continue to stand for re-election as both Chairman and Secretary until such time as a replacement Chairman or Secretary could be recruited. Brian G0MBG agreed to stand for re-election as Vice-Chairman, and Richard G0EWH agreed to stand for re-election as Treasurer. No other nominations were received for the other Officer posts on the Committee.
The meeting decided to vote on the re-election en bloc of the existing committee, and a unanimous vote in favour resulted.
| Office | Nominee | Vote |
|---|---|---|
| Chairman | Phil G4SPZ | Unanimous |
| Vice-Chairman | Brian G0MBG | Unanimous |
| Treasurer | Richard G0EWH | Unanimous |
| Secretary | Phil G4SPZ | Unanimous |
The above officers were duly elected for 2004/05.
John Scott G8UAE was prepared to continue as Auditor. G4SPZ proposed and G0EWH seconded the appointment, and the meeting voted unanimously in favour.
After discussion it was agreed that the date of the meetings continue to be held on the third Tuesday of every second month - January, March, May, July, September (AGM) and November. This would be kept under review.
Paula G8PZT mentioned that the following equipment was required:
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 9.15pm.
September 2005 at the Chain Wire Club. Date to be confirmed.
Access difficulties to the G8PZT node on the 2m port at odd times seems to be due to an increased level of local QRM, which swamps the RF port receiver, and is affecting the GB3KD repeater as well. So far all attempts to trace the source have failed. Members may recall the QRM problems experienced by the late Derek Billingham, G3KFD whose QTH was nearby.
Members have reported having to re-register with the BBS. This occurs when the hard disk becomes full, which causes the White Pages database to be lost, thus the system cannot recognise existing registered users and prompts all users to re-register. This problem is nothing whatsoever to do with the activities of N0LBA - the N0LBA SysOp, Mike, simply exchanges a substantial number of bulletins with GB7PZT. This should be resolved in due course when Paula transfers the BBS to a newer, 120MHz 486 PC with a 1GB disk drive. The existing PC only has about 12MB of free disk space, and whereas this used to last a month, it is now becoming full in less than a week! The reason seems to be the greatly increased traffic through the BBS, mainly coming from the Internet. This generates large log files which fill the disk. It is interesting to note that use of the BBS, including the reading of bulletins, has increased dramatically now that users can access at faster speeds via the Internet links. Users are also tending to send much bigger files and messages. This is a good example of "bulletin bloat" - using a 1200 baud Packet radio link encourages the user to be brief, succinct and to the point, whereas when you're using broadband it is so easy to forward large rambling chunks of data! Packet BBSs weren't built for this...
Members reported that the GB2RS news bulletins seem to have ceased being updated on the Textweb file area. Paula suspects that the RSGB may have changed the upload file format, and will investigate and resolve the problem.
Paula G8PZT also wrote in with the following summary of recent technical activity at G8PZT. [Whew! Makes me feel tired just reading about it... Ed]
"As you know, the link with WOLVES had been off air since the lightning strike. Richard obtained new parts and fixed the TNC, but the link still didn't work. After much testing, I eventually found the 23cm aerial system to be faulty. Either the aerial has failed, or the coax has.
The 15 over 15 slot fed Yagi has failed before, but we never came to any conclusion about what caused it. We took it down, cleaned it, put it back and it worked. Without any means of measuring SWR at 23cm, I can't tell what's gone wrong. Unfortunately the leaves on the trees greatly increase the path loss in summer, and with a run of 8m of grotty old UR67 there is no margin for error. The coax loss is very large at 23cm.
I tried using the Collinear, which is mounted higher than the Yagi and has 23cm capability, but the signal from it was too low. In this case I think the coax loss is the problem. I'm not sure what we used, but I'm pretty sure it's not Westflex 103. In the end I got the link going by relocating the equipment from the radio cabinet to the loft, and using a Yagi in the loft with only 2 metres of coax, so there's less loss. Even with the severe attenuation of the roof tiles and the trees, there's more signal than I ever got from the outdoor Yagi, which shows just how much RF is lost in just a few metres of ordinary thick coax! So the link is working again, although it's a temporary lash-up. It will probably have to wait till next year before the aerial can be cleaned or replaced with a more reliable one, as it's getting too cold and wet to work outside now.
Richard is repairing the 4m collinear. It has turned out to be a strange design, and Richard has had to modify the end-feed matching coil to achieve a reasonable SWR.
I've been doing an inventory of all the equipment which comprises the node, to locate the weak points. There are lots of adaptors and unsuitable cables, so I hope to get some decent cables made up (and get all my adaptors back, because I can't do stuff without them!)
This bit isn't WyrePak, but you might be interested:
I've just had to renew my Internet voice gateway NOV's - as you probably know, as from 1/10/04 they have to be renewed every 12 months at a cost of 12 pounds. I must get Richard to build a decent Interface for GB3KD, so I can have the gateway one back (it's multi-port). I have a computer suitable for the gateway, so as soon as I get the interface back I can put the gateway back on.
At last they've released some 10m frequencies for linking, so I have applied for one. Thus the gateway will be on 10m, 6m, and 70cm, with the repeater on 2m. I've got to sort out a 10m aerial now :-)
The linking NOV for GB7PZT still hasn't arrived! I will chase that up with Ofcom.
Repeater aerial is crackling slightly in the wind again, but not fizzing, so it may be just the rusty pole. I've only recently given Richard his aerial back, so I don't have a spare if anything goes wrong. I meant to buy one at Donnington, but forgot :-(
The cavities still haven't turned up, so there's still some de-sense between packet and the repeater - it will be sorted soon.
Regards, Paula"
The 23cms link to the MaxPak node at the Mander Centre in Wolverhampton has been restored, on a temporary basis for now.
The summer period has seen regular problems at certain times on the link to Worle. Used by G8BKL on a daily basis, this had been a reliable route back to the Kidderminster node in the past, but Worle's operating system was changed to Linux, and the remote SysOp's interest seems to have concentrated on DX Cluster traffic. The upshot is that Worle was very unreliable and several skeds had to be abandoned. None of this is anything to do with Paula, Fourpak or WyrePak and is totally out of our control.
The CLEE node has been rebuilt following the theft of the components, and should be back on air shortly. Fourpak's own website at www.fourpak.org.uk, maintained by Paula, gives up-to-date information including a network map.
The new Severn Bridge node run by Fourpak should put paid to all the Worle problems when it goes on-air shortly! This unit is 300 feet above the Severn estuary and will give excellent coverage of the West Country. It should be reachable via a single hop from MLVN. Fourpak are thinking of subsequently shutting down FOD which will be rendered unnecessary.
Paula and Richard are experimenting with a 9600 baud packet link on 70cms.
Phil G4SPZ has been given a superb professional military-spec power meter, capable of measuring down to microwatt levels at up to 20GHz. This instrument can measure the power produced by an oscillator, and is currently with Paula for evaluation, although she has been rather busy of late and not yet able to try it out!
It is with sadness that I write these notes as by now most Winpack (and UI-View) users will be aware of the death of Roger Barker, G4IDE/G8MZX at the age of 57 on 8th September 2004 after a short illness. Roger's illness had been made public in Packet bulletins and the Winpack and UI-View newsgroup after an inoperable cancer was diagnosed in July.
Before his death, TAPR awarded Roger a Lifetime Achievement Award, which was the first award of its kind in the 22 years of TAPR history and was presented to his family on the day of his funeral, 15th September 2004. It just so happened that I was away with our caravan that week and not far from Boston, Lincolnshire and was able to attend his funeral on behalf of FourPak and WyrePak and met other local amateurs and Darryl Smith, VK2TDS, who was presenting the TAPR award.
Roger had never told his family how his software had been used in the Sydney Olympics to support the cycling, and the marathons - Roger had always been a keen cyclist - nor how it had been used in IronMan Hawaii where it was used to track the cycling and the running. Roger had produced special versions of his software for such event including search and rescue in Australia. When Roger first graduated from university and married his wife, Dee, his first job was working for Goodyear and they lived in Wolverhampton. A full report of his funeral, written by Darryl was posted in a Packet bulletin dated 21st September by IK2CBD, which I have on file if anyone missed it.
The future registration of Winpack and UI-View had been discussed before his death and his illness had prevented him from carrying out any re-programming. Roger agreed to release his registration program to certain amateurs who could then carry on with registering the programs to new users. The only condition for registration now is that a donation is made, either to St Barabas Hospice in Boston, where Roger was nursed for a while, or another cancer charity or hospice. To safeguard the future of Roger's programs once his old sites have closed, a new site had been set up at www.g4ide.freeservers.com or www.winpack.org.uk
That's all for this issue, 73 de Richard, G0EWH
We keep in touch with MaxPak who run a very successful operation covering the West Midlands and beyond. Chris G0CNG receives a regular copy of WyrePak Newsletter, and he wrote recently to G0EWH:
Hi Richard. Just to acknowledge, thanks for a very interesting Newsletter. It's nice to see what you are all up to. Hope Paula has managed to get most of her lightning-associated problems sorted out now. Very unfortunate indeed, and she has done really well to get up and running again so soon.
During the same storm on 12th August, the Mander Centre was hit by lightning, setting off the fire alarms and causing an evacuation of the entire shopping centre and office block! Somehow, whether by sheer good fortune or something else, GB7WV escaped unscathed. The PC did not even reboot during the whole episode. I was expecting a major repair job on my hands when I heard the news on Radio WM on the Thursday afternoon. The storm passed right over Wolverhampton causing havoc but missed Bloxwich.
All the best and keep up the good work. Please pass my best wishes to Paula also. Glad to hear she is feeling a little better now.
Goodnight. Chris G0CNG, SysOp, GB7MAX
And just to show that other groups are also afflicted by Internet problems, Chris reported on 17th November:
Hi all. For those who have been unable to connect to GB7MAX via telnet since early houses of this morning, Wednesday. For some reason during the night, I lost my fixed IP address 81.7.12.236 due to technical problems at V21, my ISP overnight. I'm now on a dynamic IP address. I've notified V21 Tech support this evening and hopefully I should have 81.7.12.236 back by tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
In the meantime, you could try using my Host address (which I've just updated): gb7max.ath.cx in place of 81.7.12.236 (same port numbers etc.) i.e. in Winpack Telnet BBS.TXT: C gb7max.ath.cx:4001. Everything else remains the same.
My apologies for the loss of connectivity but as you'll appreciate this one is totally outside my control!
73's Chris G0CNG Sysop GB7MAX and BLOX node.
At what has become a regular annual event, G8PZT, G0EWH and G4SPZ gathered at G4SPZ on 15 December to mull over the past year's events and discuss the forthcoming proposed merger with KRG. Apologies were received from WyrePak vice-chairman Brian G0MBG.
The Committee business included a review of the Constitution and some proposed revisions to the requirements for a quorum at AGM and EGMs. It was agreed that the existing WyrePak constitution, as amended, would serve adequately the purposes of the merged Kidderminster Repeater Group/WyrePak organisation. It was also noted that the banking arrangements for the combined group could remain the same as for the present WyrePak, with appropriate notifications, name changes and other administrative procedures being confirmed by the Treasurer following the EGM.
On membership matters, Treasurer Richard G0EWH reported that there were 13 paid-up members of WyrePak, who would all automatically transfer to full membership of the combined organisation and receive all benefits thereof. Subscription renewals were due in January.
The Treasurer also reported that the bank balance currently stood at £120.53. Paula G8PZT mentioned that an unsolicited donation to KRG had been received from Bob in Worcester.
Chairman and Secretary Phil G4SPZ reported that the Mid Severn Valley Raynet Group were kindly considering making a substantial financial donation to assist the Repeater Group with the purchase of hardware. More details will be released shortly.
Richard G0EWH had received details of a second-hand Maldol 2m/70cm triple 5/8 wave collinear base station ground plane antenna which would improve the performance and versatility of the system. It was agreed that this antenna be purchased, at a cost of £35, and G0EWH will arrange collection.
The proposed merged KRG/WyrePak newsletter was discussed. It was felt that a wide spread of content covering repeater, VoIP and Packet issues should be included, as the aim would be to reflect all the activities at G8PZT. Articles and submissions from members and supporters would be welcomed.
Phil G4SPZ remarked that an updated LOCAL packet radio news bulletin was long overdue, and he would attend to this as soon as time permitted.
WyrePak Newsletter is delighted to bring to readers a recently-discovered long-lost Mongolian-Siamese translation of the well-known British National Anthem. Why not sing along to the familiar tune the next time you hear the National Anthem, demonstrating your prowess in a foreign language by substituting the following words instead of the usual "God Save Our Gracious Queen":
O'wa tanar Siam, O'wa tanar Siam
Eye yamut wit
O'wa taphoo l'am eye, O'wa taphoo l'am eye
O'wa tanar Siam
O'wa tanit
Thanks to Richard G0EWH, ever-active Treasurer of WyrePak, Treasurer of Fourpak and Engineering Manager of the Kidderminster Repeater Group, Fourpak members have received a newsletter for the first time in many months. The old saying "if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it" is never more true than in Richard's case, and I am grateful to him for permission to reproduce the December Fourpak Bulletin here.
BULLETIN
At last a 2004 issue of our Newsletter. Our regular editor had hoped to be able to produce a newsletter earlier this year, but I know he has been very busy with work and personal commitments. The lack of a newsletter has been discussed at our meetings and at last months meeting I was asked if I could produce this issue as there are some items that members need to be advised of. We are asking members to advise the group if they are using certain Nodes which may need to be taken out of service, if no longer have any use as part of the network.
WEBSITE
Those members who have Internet access and not able to attend the meetings can keep up to date by visiting the Fourpak Website which is provided by our secretary, Paula G8PZT, just follow the link on www.pzt.org.uk/
MEETINGS
Since January 2004 the monthly meetings are now held at The Poachers Pocket public house, Warndon, Worcester, which is located about half a mile from the M5 Worcester North junction. On leaving the M5 (from the South) take the first exit on the round about. This is a single track road, cross over the next small round about and the Poachers Pocket is on the right hand side. The next meeting will be held on Thursday 27 January 2005 commencing at 8pm.
BRUM & GB7BHM
The Node had been operating as an Internet-only node at G1LOA's QTH since July 2003, but closed on 19th December 2003 and GB7BHM (Wednesbury) also closed down on 31st December 2003.
GB7CL
The intention was to reinstate this node at a new site, but with the present embargo on 70cm licensing, the existing site is the best option at present. The replacement equipment has now been constructed and ready for installation. It is felt that this node is well worth the reinstallation.
GB7WE
There had been some problems with the link to KIDDER with the receiver at ABDON drifting off frequency. The situation seems better at present and some Maxon UHF radios had been obtained that have been reprogrammed and available, if the problem continues.
GB7WR
The Worcester node is still functioning well, although there is a 50Hz hum on the link to MLVN. We need to know - does anyone actually uses this node? If not, we don't need to repair it and it can be recovered, saving the site rental costs.
MLVN & GB7GLO
Steve's Node and BBS continues to provide all of the usual facilities for the area and further afield. Steve is considering turning off the 4 metre port, as no-one had used it for many months. Is it still required?
GRG NEWS
7BRIDGE Node is still off the air and requires a site visit, but there are difficulties in getting access onto the site due to Health & Safety as there were insufficient staff on site when the last visit was planned. FOD to GLOS link has been down for some time and GRG are considering the future of this Node as the site rental has been doubling year on year.
PACKET CONFERENCE
This conference, hosted by FourPak on 15th May in Worcester had been very successful and it is proposed that another similar conference will again be held in 2005.
2.4GHz WiFi
At the October meeting there was some discussion on how this could be used for Packet Radio, whether there was any point in doing so, and what modifications were needed to XRouter in order to support it. The consensus was that the technology was of little practical use to us, mainly because our area was so large, the terrain unfavourable, and the user base too far from the access points.
XRouter needed no special mods to support external wireless access points (AP's), as they were simply attached to an Ethernet lan port. Internal WiFi cards were more of a problem, because no DOS drivers existed for them. These could be written, if the hardware information for the chipset could be obtained.
THE FUTURE OF PACKET?
As evidenced by the abysmal attendance at Fourpak meetings, there seemed to be little interest in Packet Radio these days, especially amongst non-sysops, and even the sysops were losing interest. Someone quipped that users weren't necessary, as the network would work perfectly well without them! One sysop felt that we were merely hanging around waiting to "turn out the lights" after the last user had gone. Maybe everyone was feeling particularly gloomy, but even these die-hard sysops were feeling that there was no point any more. There seemed to be more interest in VOIP than Packet, both within and outside the group. What do you think?
2M VOICE REPEATER
GB3KD entered service in May 2004 and is connected to Echolink. Its frequency is 145.7875/145.1875 with 1750Hz tone-burst or CTCSS of 118.8 access. Again, full details are available via the G8PZT web site at pzt.org.uk/gb3kd.
FOR SALE ITEMS
- Kantronics 9612 Plus (128K) dual-port TNC (one 1200 + one 9600 Baud), manual available in softcopy (PDF), VGC (unboxed) £150.
- Kantronics KAM98 Multi-mode Data Controller, complete with manual & leads, boxed, as new £200.
- AEA PK900 Multi-mode Data Controller with manual (some damage to case & PCB but seems to work) £50.
- ThorCom RLC-100 (issue 4) 2 Port SCC Card £75.
- Icom IC-R10 Scanner, with original PSU, VGC (unboxed),manual available in softcopy (PDF), £75.
For above contact Stewart G0LGS Tel: 01242 699477
E-Mail: g0lgs[at]grg.org.uk
- Yaesu FT-847 Earth Station (shack in a box) and FC-20 fully auto antenna tuner. 18 months old all the bits and bobs with it, inc Cat cable, all in A1 condition. Looking for £850.00, Nick M3HLI nick[at]dauk.co.uk
- 1/2" copper rod available (up to 12ft lengths) free of charge, details Dave M0DOA (Tel: 01242 234233).
RALLY AROUND
No Worcester (Three Counties Rally) took place this year, but it is hoped that there will be one in 2005 when we would expect to have a presence together with the Gloucester Repeater Group (GRG).
- 13 February 05: Harwell ARC. Didcot. For info: Ann 01235-816379
- 27 February 05: Swansea ARS. For info: Roger 01792-404422.
- 13 March 05: Wythall RC. For info: Chris: 07710 412819.
- 24 April 05: Aldridge & Barr Beacon ARC. For info:Doug 01543 571269
Advertise your event here! Also for sale and wanted advertisements. Send details to: Fourpak Bulletin Editor G0EWH @ GB7PZT or WyrePak Secretary G4SPZ @ GB7PZT.
That concludes the final issue of WyrePak Newsletter in its present form. Once again, the Committee would like to thank all our members and supporters for their continuing interest in the activities at G8PZT. We promise to bring you more news and a broader range of interests in the New Year!
Time and space have run out, so I'd just like to thank our contributors and conclude by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2005.
Phil Harris, G4SPZ
WyrePak Chairman and Secretary
(c) 24 December 2004