There seem to be quite a few users on the BBS but not much local discussion, so in the spirit of community, why don't we all share something about ourselves to maybe foster some comraderie?

Me: I'm a Shortwave Listener, retro gamer (console and PC), and just a general all-round g33k. This is the first time I've been on a BBS since.... 1996, I guess. Maybe '97 at the latest.

So, what's good? What's everyone into?

Re: Activity?
By: Oldbieone to All on Fri Feb 10 2023 10:52 am

There seem to be quite a few users on the BBS but not much local discussion, so in the spirit of community, why don't we all share something about ourselves to maybe foster some comraderie?

The BBS does get traffic, but most are going straight to the networked message areas. I do get some people looking for vintage text files, too.

Me: I'm a Shortwave Listener, retro gamer (console and PC), and just a general all-round g33k. This is the first time I've been on a BBS since.... 1996, I guess. Maybe '97 at the latest.

I'm getting back into SW after a long hiatus. I used to use powerline adapters to extend my network to the BBS and upstairs, turns out the adapters turn your electrical wiring into RF noisemakers. Looking forward to better reception.

I used to be a big AM DXer, liked to listen to Coast to Coast AM on faraway stations when the signals started skipping.

Re: Activity?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Oldbieone on Fri Feb 10 2023 07:05 pm

I think a lot of us did networking over the electrical wiring when that technology came out. I know I did, too. Seemed to be a good solution back then to not having to run NIC drops at home. You're right, it created a LOT of RF noise, especially on the lower bands (160 thru 40), right in the range of AM shortwave broacasting. Coast to Coast is still on-air in the AM bands, and I think there's still a pirate rebroadcasting the pre-Noory ones in the 7-8 MHz range occasionally. The biggest problem now is switching power supplies, from laptop chargers, monitors, digital TVs, through pretty much everything. But there are still ways to squash a lot, if not all of it. I had to buy some ferrite cores recently to bring my noise floor down from an S9 to an S4-5. Still a lot of noise, but its no longer at a point where it's de-sensing my front end and stopping me receiving anything at all.

The DX'er community is alive and well, though most of it seems to be hunting clandestines and pirates these days. The old DX'ers Unlimited on Radio Habana Cuba is gone, after the show's creator and RHC technical director, Arnie Corro, died back in January. It had kinda been off and on for about a year before he finally passed away. One of the DX shows is still going, Glen Hauser's, but the guy is pretty old so who knows for how much longer?

But now you have people like YouTube personalities doing shows on shortwave. Not even kidding. There's a kid called the "Review Brah" with a show called This Week In Review I think, and he broadcasts a podcast version of it on shortwave, so there's still a lot of unexpected broadcasts to be found on the air.

Re: Activity?
By: Oldbieone to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Feb 11 2023 09:37 am

hunting clandestines and pirates these days. The old DX'ers Unlimited on Radio Habana Cuba is gone, after the show's creator and RHC technical director, Arnie Corro, died back in January.

Sad to hear, a lot of older technologies are seeing their patrons passing away. Too often, we hear of Fidonet sysops passing away in their 70s and 80s, with knowledge of years of running BBSes and participating in social networks before most people knew what a social network was.

One of the last times I'd been able to pick up Radio Havana, they were doing an experiment where they'd run a copper wire up on a weather balloon to act as an antenna. Considering they came in pretty clear in California, it must have worked!

Whenever I see a pirate radio ad stapled to a pole I can't help but to check them out. College radio is the only radio I listen to in my car now. Personal shoutcast stations are fun - lots of sysops run a station alongside their BBSes. (http://radio.realitycheckbbs.org, shamless plug)

It's nice to see the spirit of the medium carry on, even if the technology has changed.

Re: Activity?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Oldbieone on Sat Feb 11 2023 10:03 am

Yes, it's sad to see people leaving and taking with them a wealth of knowledge. I have a friend who ran the only BBS on Okinawa back in the day. He's very active with distributed filesharing but does little else these days. He worked on early CGI using Amiga as well. I keep trying to get him to bring his Amiga back to life and show me. He just hit 70.

Collage radio around here is a lot like walking into a Starbucks without the coffee smell, but I listen mostly to a lot of Shoutcast/Icecast stations. I've even listened to the BBS ambient stream as well, which is good to have on in the background when I'm doing code reviews and such. Stops me from going *completely* insane.


Thanks for your help earlier, I'm able to connect again, though I guess this message kinda shows that, lol! I didn't even catch my mistake when I signed up. That'll teach me to watch the screen as I'm typing!

Re: Activity?
By: Oldbieone to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Feb 12 2023 03:53 pm

Collage radio around here is a lot like walking into a Starbucks without the coffee smell, but I listen mostly to a lot of Shoutcast/Icecast stations. I've even listened to the BBS ambient stream as well, which is good to have on in the background when I'm doing code reviews and such.

I started listening to shoutcast streams when I started working in open offices - it was a nice way to block out the ambient noise. The habit stuck, even though I work out of my home office. :)

Re: Activity?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Oldbieone on Sun Feb 12 2023 09:23 pm

I run an annual holiday music station using shoutcast, but it's just seasonal. I used to run my own shoutcast server but now use external streaming services because it offers better tracking. There's no technical reason I couldn't now, just that pesky "licensing" thing came up before and I had to scramble to get the station licensed due to copyright claims. It's only active from Nov through Jan every year, so it's not really much of a PITA :)

Re: Activity?
By: Oldbieone to All on Fri Feb 10 2023 10:52 am

There seem to be quite a few users on the BBS but not much local discussion, in the spirit of community, why don't we all share something about ourselves maybe foster some comraderie?

Me: I'm a Shortwave Listener, retro gamer (console and PC), and just a gener all-round g33k. This is the first time I've been on a BBS since.... 1996, I guess. Maybe '97 at the latest.

Nice ... a podcast that I follow, Linux Unplugged, just had an episode all about HAM. Seems like several people in the Linux community are starting to become interested in your community. :P

I'm a vintage nut of all sorts; I run 2o fOr beeRS bbS, I collect several different retro computer platforms; C=, Apple, PC/MS-DOS and various other platforms... I'm currently playing with a 2012 MID Aigo P8880 - a handheld device that is capable of running various Linux bases and Windows 98.

I'm also into antiques; if interested, you can view some of my collection... Voice of Music record console, 1946 Philco Predicta television and other neat antiques @ my Youtube channel @techheart6090. My computer hardware is documented on a separate website @ techheart.life

Good on you for getting the messages flowing @ Reality Check! w00t w00t!!

pAULIE42o
.........

Re: Activity?
By: Oldbieone to All on Fri Feb 10 2023 10:52 am

There seem to be quite a few users on the BBS but not much local discussion, so in the spirit of community, why don't we all share something about ourselves to maybe foster some comraderie?

Me: I'm a Shortwave Listener, retro gamer (console and PC), and just a general all-round g33k. This is the first time I've been on a BBS since.... 1996, I guess. Maybe '97 at the latest.

So, what's good? What's everyone into?

hi! ive recently gotten an interest in bbs, but i also daily drive linux and do digital art

Re: Activity?
By: candycane to Oldbieone on Tue Jul 25 2023 12:13 am

There seem to be quite a few users on the BBS but not much local discussion,

so in the spirit of community, why don't we all share something about ourselves
to maybe foster some comraderie?

So, what's good? What's everyone into?

This thread can kind of serve as the guest book as people come and go. I got back into BBS's thanks to Jason Scotts documentary, watch it a dozen times or so and then hungry for more went throuhg all of interview footage on archive.org(highly recommend it for everyone) and after that the bug had taken hold and I started calling out again. So that's a bit about me and my connection to BBS's.

Re: Activity?
By: Paulie420 to Oldbieone on Sat Jul 08 2023 01:56 pm

Nice! Didn't realize the Predicta was so early, I always thought it was a 50's gadget. I have a 1946 Motorola VT television here, but I haven't got around to it yet.

My cousin has a shortwave radio show on WRMI called Underground Sounds at 15770 kHz 21:00 UTC every Sunday beaming to Europe and Asia, so there's even still things to find on shortwave listening these days.

I doubt it will ever be as popular here as it once was, but overseas it still draws regular listerners

Re: Activity?
By: Oldbieone to Paulie420 on Wed Oct 18 2023 07:18 pm

My cousin has a shortwave radio show on WRMI called Underground Sounds at 15770 kHz 21:00 UTC every
Sunday beaming to Europe and Asia, so there's even still things to find on shortwave listening these
days.

That's awesome, where's it broadcast from and what kind of stuff do they play?

Unc0nnected wrote to Oldbieone <=-

My cousin has a shortwave radio show on WRMI called Underground Sounds at

57

70 kHz 21:00 UTC every

Sunday beaming to Europe and Asia, so there's even still things to find on

h

ortwave listening these

days.

That's awesome, where's it broadcast from and what kind of stuff do
they play?

I need to get back into shortwave. I ran powerline adapters for a couple
of years, and they turned my electrical wiring into a mass of
interference. All I'd hear is static and maybe WWV/H, faintly.

I should really get into HAM. I have a BaoFeng radio, been
procrastinating getting my technicians's license. My neightbor has a 20
foot mast and is running a repeater off of it!



... Don't bite the hand that feeds you WiFi.
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52

Re: Activity?
By: Unc0nnected to Oldbieone on Tue Oct 24 2023 07:13 pm

New alternative/indie music

Re: Re: Activity?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Unc0nnected on Thu Oct 26 2023 06:39 am

There's a lot of pirate radio and music again on the shortwave bands, and many seem to QSL

Oldbieone wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

There's a lot of pirate radio and music again on the shortwave bands,
and many seem to QSL

Interesting! How do you find out about them?

I have a couple of cheap shortwaves, but when I tried to listen with
powerline ethernet adapters, got static on all the bands. I should try
again.



... Onward, to meatspace!
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52