Our December presentation will  be an opportunity for some of us to revisit an old friend and others will be making a new acquaintance. Packet radio, the focus of the presentation, was already several years old when I was first licensed in 1992. I became interested in the mode early on in my “career” and had a station running 24/7 on VHF. I thoroughly enjoyed using the Bulletin Board function and keyboard-keyboard chats using, at times, multiple digipeaters. When the old repurposed PC “brain” of my system died an ugly death marked by a mini-fireworks display and heavy smoke, I never got around to putting the station back on the air. The mode fell out of favor as the new kid on the block, the internet, came into the public domain. Fast forward 3 short decades and packet radio is still very much alive and remains a valuable tool in the kit for HAMS. Ed Poccia, KC2LM, and John Mocho, KC5QOC, have designed a presentation as a beginner primer for Packet Radio. Ed and John will show us how to download and setup Packet software, describe the equipment needed, explain features of Packet and discuss some of the uses of this venerable mode. Two functioning packet station will be set up to demonstrate Packet P2P messaging. Following the demo, members will have the opportunity to perform hands-on messaging between the two stations. Please plan to be with us as we revisit, or meet for the 1st time, Packet Radio!

Don’t forget the new meeting day and time: 1st Saturday of each month at 10:00. Our first meeting on the new schedule will be Saturday, November 3rd at 10:00. I look forward to seeing you.

Bob Gilbert N5YYF