Roger J. Buffington wrote: > Demetre SV1UY wrote: > >> First off PACTOR 3 supports DCD control so it can listen before it >> transmits. Now maybe the Winlink people have a good reason to have >> their automatic MBOS not support the DCD control, but the human >> operator that calls an automatic MBO can listen to the frequency and >> make sure noone else is using it before he transmits. Also this will >> make sure that if someone's life is in danger they can reach the >> autoanswering MBO no matter what. It is not the end of the world if >> in a rare occassion someone's QSO is ruined if it is for a good >> cause. > > I doubt whether this has ever happened. What if the robot interferes > with a live QSO in which lifesaving traffic is being passed? There is > no excuse for any station on either end ever transmitting without > listening first. Pactor mailboxes routinely, often, and flagrantly > violate this basic principle of amateur radio.
What lifesaving operation hes been hampered by a "pactor robot"? Please name one instance of this happening. Factual data, please. Does common law work on factual, or on imaginary precedents? >> I think that this is called >> semi-automatic operation. In the past when we had PACKET FORWARDING >> taking place, non stop, day and night, noone was complaining. Why was >> it OK then and it is not OK now? > Because the Packet stations were confined to a portion of the bands in > which live QSOs usually were absent. The Pactor stations, inexplicably, > insist on operating in the small portions of the bands in which live > QSOs are present. Further, the packet stations were few, and operating > at least in the USA under a limited STA. With packet forwarding, there was noone even attempting to park on a HF forwarding frequency. Common sense prevailed (even when a few crazy contesters sometimes attempted to overpower the BBS forwarding, specially on CW and RTTY contests. Nobody even whined about it). As I remember, packet BBS's were not so few. Quite a few could be found between 14090 and 14115, just to remember the 20 meters activity. I have been a BBS sysop using only radio links since 1991 (three FBB/JNOS BBS's and multiband nodes, and cooperated in setting up another three) and operated in several bands in different seasons. Jose, CO2JA PS: Doing whatever is interesting, fun or novel in ham radio since 1972. Also, hoping this day is not the start of another anti-Winlink rant flood campaign on digitalradio. Please, spare us the undeserved suffering...this is not an appropiate forum for that anti-Winlink whining. Most of us on this list are NOT Winlink 2K MBO operators. __________________________________________ Participe en Universidad 2008. 11 al 15 de febrero del 2008. Palacio de las Convenciones, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba http://www.universidad2008.cu
