The Lost BBS

Hardly a week seems to go by now without another announcement that a BBS is to close its doors. The latest of these announcements came at the beginning of October, with the news that GB7SOL, which serves Solihull in the West Midlands, is set to close in mid-November.

For those radio amateurs affected by the closure of their local bbs, trying to find a new one is becoming increasingly difficult. To compound the problems, the closure of the plethora of nodes that once abounded, has made it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to connect to any other bbs via RF. This situation is leaving radio amateurs with few, if any, options and many now seem to have given-up the struggle and have reluctantly abandoned packet altogether.

Many BBSs have also been affected by the loss of the many RF links that they once used to forward mail up and down the country. As these links have disappeared, so SysOps, faced with large backlogs of mail, have been forced to look for alternative methods of forwarding. Many, including GB7TUT, have turned to the internet in a bid to overcome the loss of these RF links and help keep the mail flowing. Of these BBSs, some have also allowed amateurs to connect to their systems using Telnet - with GB7TUT being one of them.

So, how do you connect to GB7TUT?
Well, as long as you have access to the internet, then it's really very easy.

Start by loading your Telnet program. Most versions of Windows have Telnet.

Telnet's Connect panel

Once Telnet is running, click on Connect, and then on Remote System. A dialogue box similar to the one shown on the left will appear.

Under Host Name, type-in GB7TUT's IP address, which is 84.92.92.3 and under Port, enter 6300.

Now, hit the connect button and you should connect.

GB7TUT's Telnet Access screen

Once connected, you will see the following appear on your screen. You are now prompted to enter your callsign. You will then be asked for your password.

If you are a new user and don't have a password, then just hit the Enter key and you will be allowed access as an Unregistered User with Read-Only rights. This means that you may read any bulletin on the bbs as normal, but you cannot send any messages from it.

You will then be prompted to register, and asked to enter your name, town, postcode, your inside leg measurement, grandma's TV licence number and so on and so forth. Having successfully waded through that lot, you are now free to roam around and to read any of the bulletins on the bbs. As I mentioned, you will only have read-only rights to the bbs.
In order to gain full access rights, you will need to have been issued with a password. This is only available to those that have elected to use gb7tut as their home bbs.

If your BBS has closed-down and you're finding it impossible to access any other BBS close to your qth via RF, then you are welcome to use gb7tut as your home bbs. However, I would ask that you use this method only as a last-resort, and to do so only if it is not possible for you to reach any other bbs by radio - either directly or via one or more nodes. In order to get a password, you will need to log-on to gb7tut, then send me a message (sp g4tut) requesting full access and supplying me with a password that you wish to use.

There are many in the amateur radio world who would criticise me for allowing Telnet access to gb7tut and would argue that accessing a bbs using Telnet is not amateur radio. Roger Cooke, G3LDI has long argued this case and is sure to disagree with me for allowing telnet access. (you can read Roger's views by clicking here - opens in a new window)

I too would agree that telnetting into a bbs isn't amateur radio. However I also feel that by allowing access in this manner, I am hopefully helping to prolong the life of packet until such times as it can make a full recovery, which I hope it ultimately will.

Packet radio is a very useful tool - perhaps one of the most useful that we have ever had - and it would be a great pity if it was to disappear forever.

But, I wonder what you think.

Am I wrong to offer Telnet access?
Should packet bbs access be by RF only?

Have Your Say!
I welcome your thoughts on this subject.
(Sorry, but due to the large amount of spam messages received, I have now been forced to close the comments box)

73
Richard - g4tut

Packet telnet access, is not "Amateur Radio" in the same way that Echolink is not amateur radio. IMHO it is an "extension" of our hobby - just using the internet as a bridge for the traffic.
I became licensed Nov 2005 and have since "played" with packet a bit, although there doesn't seem to be much of an interest here in the Isle of Man.
I can access GB7BG from my car when I'm up in the hills so welcome the idea of being able to telnet into a BBS from my QTH as I can't connect via RF from home.
- My two-penneth worth!
Best regards & 73's

Hi Richard and readers,
Have no fear, I save the bulk of my comments for packet and likely you have read the reason given for the decline of RF BBSes and forwarding many times.

Here I should say however that while you are "hopfully helping to prolong the life of packet until such times as it can make a full recovery" I assume you mean the packet mode of Amateur Radio. If such is the case you are sadly mistaken. What is happening is the Internet is taking over from radio, so yes, you are prolonging packet, but not radio. In fact you are helping the transition from radio to land line.

No, packet won't disappear, but it will disappear as a radio mode.

The only way to reverse this trend is to rebuild the radio network and that can only be accomplished by discontinuing land line first.

The trouble is simply that by putting the cart before the horse the cart can only run backward no matter what direction the horse is pointing. It may be compared to a push-pull trainset, (I'm a rail fan, hi) which can run in either direction without turning around. In a conventional set the locomotive pulls, but a push-pull gets it's name from the locomotive pushing from behind, the train runs backward. Yeah, there's a control car where the engineer operates from when pushing, still the train runs backward.

Packet is quite like this but unfortunately from the perspective of all aboard including the engineer the train is going forward while those trackside see it in reverse.

No, you're not wrong to offer "telnet" access, whatever works for you is OK by me. As for packet being RF only, the answer is a resounding YES! It's your choice whether to keep it an Amateur Radio mode or make it into Amateur Internet
Vry bst 73 de Warren, KB2VXA

Note for those in the London area.
There are still at least two nodes that you can use to connect to gb7tut using RF. One is the excellent Ilford node run by Bill Chewter G0IQK, ILFORD:G0IQK-1 and the other is ENF1:G4CJC-1 which is run by Tony Dixon G4CJC and is located in Enfield Town, north London