karn@mouton.UUCP (10/29/84)
- - - - - - NEWS FLASH - - - - - -
On October 18th, the Federal Communications Commission granted a
Special Temporary Authorization (STA) permitting 21 amateurs to
operate TelePorts capable of automatically relaying digital (packet
radio) communications between terrestrial packet radio networks using
amateur satellites.
As a first phase of the new AMSAT/ARRL TelePort STA, a unique packet
radio test was carried out on Sunday, October 28. An automatic packet
radio bulletin board system (PRBBS) operated by Tom Clark (W3IWI) was
placed in experimental operation on the AMSAT-OSCAR-10 satellite. The
W3IWI PRBBS was sucessfully used by several amateurs across the U.S.
and in Canada. Earlier this year, successful PRBBS tests thru the same
satellite had involved "gateway" links to existing terrestrial PRBBS
systems in California.
The following stations participated in this test and successfully
logged onto the W3IWI PRBBS:
Randy Smith (VE1PAC/VE6), Medley, Alberta Wes Morris (K7PYK),
Scottsdale, Arizona "Mac" Jordan (W4DAQ), Demopolis, Alabama Bob
Diersing (N5AHD), Corpus Christi, Texas
A number of other stations were also monitoring and reported good
copy.
Both VE1PAC and K7PYK sent and received several messages and files
during their connections with the PRBBS. K7PYK maintained contact for
about an hour and managed to acquire about 50 kilobytes of
documentation from W3IWI. W3IWI and VE1PAC tested full-duplex PRBBS
operation thru the AMSAT-OSCAR-10 satellite and achieved sustained
data thruput of about one kilobaud despite the 0.25 second round-trip
propagation time to the satellite.
The packet radio hardware used at W3IWI is normally used as a local
area PRBBS serving Baltimore-Washington. It consists of a Xerox 820
computer running W0RLI software and a TAPR BETA TNC. The packet radio
links were running at 1200 baud data speeds and used 1000 Hz shift FSK
modulation generated by "202A" style modems.
Both W3IWI and N5AHD are among the 21 amateurs approved for the
TelePort STA.