R:080402/1301Z @:NN0DVD #:307
R:080401/2330Z @:NN0MDH #:2488
RR NOASG
DE NNN0ASG 001
T NOALL CENTRAL AREA
R 011500Z APR 2008
FM NNN0ASG IL
TO NNN0ALL CENTRAL AREA
INFO NNN0AS4 GA
ZEN/NNN0AS5 MN
NNN0ASA VA
NNN0ALD
BT
UNCLAS
SUBJ: CENTRAL AREA BCST 01/08
1.  WINLINK 2K:  AS YOU ALL SHOULD KNOW BY NOW, THE USE OF WL2K
HAS NOW BEEN AUTHORIZED FOR USE IN THE TRANSMITTAL OF ACTUAL MESSAGE
TRAFFIC.  NOW, FOR MOST OF YOU THIS IS A DRAMATIC CHANGE IN THE WAY
MARS DOES BUSINESS.  THERE HAVE BEEN QUITE A FEW DISCUSSIONS OVER
THE PRO'S AND CON'S OF THIS NEW SYSTEM AND THE BEST I CAN TELL YOU
IS THAT YES, THE SYSTEM DOES WORK.  YES, IT'S DIFFERENT THAN THE
MDS IN MANY WAYS AND YES, IT DOES UTILIZE THE INTERNET FOR THE
DISTIBUTION OF TRAFFIC HOWEVER THE OVERALL SYSTEM DOES WORK.
GRANTED, THERE ARE BUGS THAT ARE BEING WORKED ON AT THIS TIME BUT
I'M SURE THAT THERE ARE THOSE OF YOU WHO REMEMBER THAT THE INITIAL
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MDS SYSTEM WAS NOT WITHOUT ITS SHARE OF
ISSUES IN THE BEGINNING AS WELL.  THE BIGGEST ISSUE I'VE HEARD OF
SO FAR IS THE USE OF THE INTERNET IN THE DELIVERY OF TRAFFIC.
LET'S FACE IT; THE INTERNET IS HERE TO STAY.  IT'S EXTREMELY ROBUST
AND THE CHANCES OF A WORLDWIDE INTERNET OUTAGE ARE INFINITESIMAL.
GRANTED A LOCALIZED OUTAGE IS DEFINATELY IN THE REALM OF
POSSIBILITIES HOWEVER THAT IS WHY WE HAVE PMBO'S SCATTERED ACROSS
THE U.S. AND CMS(S) DISTRIBUTED WORLDWIDE.  NOW, WITH THAT BEING
SAID I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE IT KNOWN THAT MY POSITION ON THE USE OF
TELNET (THE INTERNET) TO SEND AND RECEIVE MESSAGE TRAFFIC TO AND
FROM YOUR HOME STATION SHOULD BE LIMITED TO TIMES WHEN PROPAGATION
IS POOR AND YOU HAVE NO OTHER WAY TO CONNECT TO WL2K VIA HF.
TELNET SHOULD NOT BE USED AS YOUR PRIMARY MEANS OF ACCESSING WL2K.
NONE OF US JOINED MARS TO SEND MESSAGES OVER THE INTERNET.  GRANTED,
THERE ARE SOME OF YOU WHO DO NOT HAVE THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT AT
THIS TIME TO UTILIZE THE HF PORTION OF WL2K SO BY ALL MEANS, SET
UP AN ACCOUNT ON WL2K, DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL AIRMAIL, AND USE THE
TELNET PORTION TO CONNECT.  BY DOING THIS YOU ARE AT LEAST
FAMILIARIZING YOURSELF WITH THE SYSTEM.  PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT
IN THE MARS WORLD THE WL2K SYSTEM IS STILL IN ITS INFANTCY.  IT'S
GOING TO TAKE TIME TO INTEGRATE IT INTO OUR DAILY ROUTINE AND UNTIL
THEN WE WILL STILL HAVE THE MDS AS OUR PRIMARY MESSAGING SYSTEM.
WE ARE NOT GOING TO TURN OFF THE MDS TOMORROW AND HAVE EVERYONE
SCRAMBLE TO IMPLEMENT WL2K.  THIS IS A TRANSITIONAL PERIOD.  IF
WE ALL TAKE OUR TIME, SHARE INFORMATION, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
WORK TOGETHER TO GET THOUGH THE TECHNICAL ISSUES THEN WE CAN
MAKE THIS WORK WITH MINIMAL DIFFICULTIES.
2.  WL2K CONTACT INFO:  FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE CURRENTLY ACTIVE
ON WL2K I NEED TO KNOW.  PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO
NNN0ASG@WINLINK.ORG AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  I'M CREATING
DISTRIBUTION LISTS FOR STATES, REGIONS, AND THE CENTRAL AREA AS
A WHOLE AND I ONLY KNOW OF A FEW MEMBERS WHO ARE CURRENTLY UP
AND ACTIVE ON WL2K.  ADDITIONALLY, I WILL BE LISTING THOSE MEMBERS
IN MY MONTHLY BROADCAST IN ORDER TO PROPERLY DISSEMINATE THIS
INFORMATION TO ALL MARS MEMBERS IN THE CENTRAL AREA.
3.  ROSTER UPDATES:  FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE MOVED, CHANGED
PHONE NUMBERS, OR HAVE A NEW EMAIL ADDRESS, PLEASE FILL OUT THE
APPROPRIATE PARTS OF A 2093-1 AND SUBMIT IT TO YOUR STATE DIRECTOR.
THE 2093-1 IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN CORRECTLY MAKE CHANGES TO THE
MEMBERSHIP DATABASE.  LETTERS, EMAIL, PHONE CONVERSATIONS, OR
PASSING THIS INFO ACROSS A NET ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE MEANS OF
SUBMITTING CHANGES TO YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION.  PLEASE UPDATE
YOUR INFORMATION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
4.  DIGITAL SSTV:  NNN0EPY HAS BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH A PIECE OF
SOFTWARE CALLED EASYPAL.  THIS SOFTWARE IS A FILE TRANSFER PROGRAM
SIMILAR TO SSTV THAT ALLOWS YOU TO SEND AND RECEIVE PICTURES
(JPG'S, GIF'S), DOCUMENTS (PDF, WORD, EXCEL, PPT ETC...) AND ZIP
FILES (THINK SMALL SOFTWARE PROGRAMS).  EASYPAL IS FREE, EASY TO SET
UP, AND EASY TO USE.  IT USES THE SOUNDCARD ON YOUR COMPUTER SO
CHANCES ARE IF YOU CAN RUN MT63 YOU CAN RUN EASYPAL.  I HIGHLY
RECOMMEND MEMBERS DOWNLOAD THIS SOFTWARE AND EXPERIMENT WITH
IT'S USE.  THE SOFTWARE CAN BE FOUND AT:
HTTP://WWW.KC1CS.COM/DIGI.HTML.  FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE
SET-UP AND INSTALLATION OF EASYPAL PLEASE CONTACT DAVE OUELLETTE
NNN0EPY MI AT NNN0EPY(AT)CABLESPEED.COM.
5.  MESSAGE TRAFFIC VIA EMAIL (NON-WL2K):  LATELY I’VE BEEN
HEARING RUMORS OF MEMBERS DISSEMINATING MESSAGE TRAFFIC VIA EMAIL
RATHER THAN HF DUE TO POOR PROPAGATION ON THE HF BANDS.  LET ME BE
PERFECTLY CLEAR; THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.  AS STATED ABOVE WE DID
NOT JOIN MARS TO SEND OUR TRAFFIC VIA EMAIL.  I REALIZE THAT FOR
THE PAST FEW MONTHS PROPAGATION HAS BEEN WORSE THAN NORMAL BUT THAT
DOESN’T MEAN WE SHOULD JUST GIVE UP AND TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT.
MOST OF THE HAM’S I’VE MET IN MY ADMITTEDLY SHORT TIME IN THE
AMATEUR RADIO WORLD WOULD CONSIDER POOR PROPAGATION TO BE A
CHALLENGE AND DEVELOP ALTERNATE MEANS OF DISSEMINATING TRAFFIC.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I EXPECT FROM MARS MEMBERS.  NOW, IT SHOULD GO
WITHOUT SAYING THAT IN THE EVENT OF AN ACTUAL EMERGENCY THEN
ANYTHING GOES.  IF IT COMES DOWN TO SMOKE SIGNALS AND CARRIER
PIDGEONS THEN THAT’S WHAT WE’LL USE TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT BUT IN A
NORMAL EVERYDAY TRAINING ENVIRONMENT WE NEED TO STICK TO HF AS OUR
PRIMARY MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
6.  STAFF CHANGES:  NNN0ASG EIGHT: FOR THE PAST 10 YEARS BEN RICE,
IN THE POSITION OF NNN0ASG EIGHT, HAS BEEN FAITHFULLY PREPARING
THE NEWSLETTER FOR THE CENTRAL AREA.  BEN HAS RECENTLY REQUESTED TO
BE RELIEVED OF HIS POSITION AND WHILE WE ARE SADDEND TO SEE HIM GO
I'M SURE EVERYONE WILL AGREE THAT 10 YEARS IS MORE THAN ANY ONE
PERSON SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO SERVE IN THIS POSITION.  I WOULD LIKE
TO PERSONNALLY THANK BEN FOR HIS HARD WORK AND DEDICATION OVER THE
YEARS AND TO ASSURE HIM THAT HIS CONTRIBUTION WILL BE SORELY
MISSED.  BEN'S REPLACEMENT AS AREA ASSISTANT FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS
WILL BE DOCTOR FRED HAMBRECHT NNN0AAG SC. WELCOME TO YOUR NEW
POSITION AS NNN0ASG EIGHT FRED.
7. ITC(SW/AW) ANDERSON DIRECTOR CENTRAL AREA:  TOGETHER WE CAN
ACHIEVE ANYTHING.
BT
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