Packet Radio in the 21st Century

Talk and Demonstration by Simon M0GZP and Matt 2E0SIP

Ham Radio operators have been doing Packet Radio for donkey's years, but the magic of accessing a BBS via a modem over the the amateur bands has been somewhat forgotten. With today's reality where everybody has a computer in their pocket and they are all permanently inter-networked with high speed wireless links, is Packet Radio even relevant any more? You might as well ask why bother with SSB over HF since it's easier to use the phone network or VOIP -- and yet we still do it, because experimentation is the key to this hobby, understanding the technology and expanding upon what is available to grow our own personal knowledge and experience and to feed back to the community as a whole.

For the same reasons, the Online Amateur Radio Community (OARC) has been driving a resurgence of packet network links. So far this has led to new nodes and links popping up all over the country, enabling Amateurs near Bristol to exchange real time chat messages with others in such far-flung locations as Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, without relying on the Internet or the uncertainty of HF conditions, and our plans for the future include improved, more efficient protocols and connecting to the rest of the world. The future certainly looks exciting!

This presentation will discuss the equipment and techniques used in modern packet radio systems and hopefully provide a live demonstration, and we will end with a call to action: resurrect your old TNC's, connect your radios to modern computers and join the national amateur packet link as it grows from strength to strength.