ATHnet
The Greater Athens Radio Amateur TCP/IP
Metropolitan Area Network
ATHnet is a group of Athenian Radio Amateurs who love internetworking via radio. It does not belong to any Club, nor is it funded by any authority. It is funded by the owners of the nodes that offer the various services and it is based on these peopleīs voluntary work. The reason for ATHnet's existence is to CONNECT the Greek origin, the Greek speaking and the friendly towards Greece Radio Amateurs who live outside Greece, with the Amateur Packet Network in Greece in order to promote the friendship between Radio Amateurs and to show the Greek Civilization and Hospitality to the World, using TCP/IP mainly. It also allows the Greek Radio Amateurs living in and around Athens to LINK with other TCP/IP Radio Amateur Communities in Greece (MACnet in Thessaloniki, RDSnet in the island of Rodos, PATnet in Patra, LAMnet in the city of Lamia, LEFnet in the Island of Lefkada etc.) and with the rest of the world, using REAL TIME applications as well as e-mail and PBBS mail.
Users who live in ATHENS can access ATHnet on our USER ACCESS FREQUENCIES.
Below you can find a list of our MAIN HOSTS which operate 24 hours a day and can be found
in the following frequencies:
- 144.600 Khz (sv1aaw.ampr.org-SV1AAW-8),
- 144.625 Khz (byron.sv1uy.ampr.org-SV1UY-1),
- 144.625 Khz (sv1day.ampr.org-SV1DAY-5),
- 144.650 Khz (athnet.sv1uy.ampr.org-SV1UY-1),
- 144.650 Khz (sv1vv.ampr.org-SV1VV),
- 438.025 Khz (uhf.sv1uy.ampr.org-SV1UY-14),
The frequencies on VHF can be accessed using TCP/IP or plain AX25 1200 bps PACKET.
The one on UHF can be accessed using TCP/IP or plain AX25 9600 bps PACKET. All the above
HOSTS are linked to each other on 430.650 Khz using 9600 bps. Please
do not use 430.650, it is not USER ACCESS but a BACKBONE FREQUENCY. If you want to operate
9600 use 438.025 instead since you will operate faster than on the backbone which always has traffic.
Remember that if you are connected to one of these MAIN HOSTS and you want to connect to another one, you do not need to change FREQUENCY. These HOSTS allow any user to CROSS-CONNECT to any other AMPRnet HOST in Greece or World Wide.
Athnet.ampr.org (our AMPRnet GATEWAY in Athens) is participating in a Worldwide Radio Amateur experimental project where AMRnet GATEWAYS are part of a global Amateur Radio Network that uses Internet and Radio Waves to connect Radio Amateurs of all countries. Only Licensed Radio Amateurs are allowed to use this network and the AMPRnet GATEWAYS around the world are also acting as Firewalls in order to make sure that nobody else gets in. Internet is used as a fastlink between the AMPRnet GATEWAYS and the Radio Amateurs can use their computers with simple VHF radios and MODEMS to connect ONLY to other licensed Radio Amateurs around the globe at any time.
This SERVER offers FREE WEB PAGES to our members, i.e. RADIO AMATEURS who feel friendly towards the Greek TCP/IP community (membership is FREE).
Please note that our WEB SERVER is still one of the ONLY REAL RADIO AMATEUR WEB SERVERS in GREECE, which is accesible via amateur radio on radio amateur frequencies and not only the Internet, unlike other SERVERS which are located outside GREECE, and their owners pretend they have their own SERVER in Greece, using alias hostnames and other tricks.
Of course there are also http://agrinio.ampr.org (admininstrator SV1CPO) and http://lefkas.ampr.org (administrators SV8BUS and SV8BUR) who are also promoting AMPRNet and PACKET RADIO.
If you like to visit our WEB SERVER please use the URL http://www.athnet.ampr.org
Apart from the WEB SERVER, athnet.ampr.org and the rest of the other MAIN NODES of ATHnet offer AMPRnet e-mail, MAILING LISTS of Radio Amateur content, WORLD PACKET Radio Connectivity (AX25 and NETROM), WORLD AMPRnet Connectivity, WORLD DX-CLUSTER, WORLD CONVERS SERVER, APRS IGATE and much more. We even offer PBBS MAIL, but this is the least of our worries. We think that MAIL (or else BULLET) FORWARDERS are the ones that made many Radio Hams get sick of PACKET RADIO. Athnet.ampr.org is the GATEWAY for the ATHENIAN AMPRnet Metropolitan Area Network.
All these SERVICES in all our NODES are FREE FOR LICENSED RADIO AMATEURS, PROVIDED THAT THEY ARE USED FOR RADIO AMATEUR PURPOSES ONLY!!!
Internet against Ham Radio? No!
We always look forward to replacing our Internet links with radio links and form a PURE RADIO NETWORK that every radio Ham would desire, but until we can find fast enough radio links that are able to connect different countries and different continents, we will continue to use internet and AMPRnet without stopping our own RADIO EXPERIMENTS though (see our future projects about PACTOR further down). The very few HF radio links that exist today, along with the attitude of their sysops, that insist on playing gods, allow only the MAIL they like to get through by censoring everything that passes through their BBS. Even a little child can understand that MAIL FORWARDING IS NO NETWORK. It is a joke. We are talking about REAL TIME APPLICATIONS here, not about jokes!!! One way would be to use amateur geostationary satellites to provide fast enough GATEWAYS (not like Internet but fast) between the countries, but this is only a dream for little children. Radio Hams would never raise the sums that are necessary for a geostationary satellite, never mind for a network of these. Of course we cannot wait forever until the Intercontinental Ham radio network gets developed. Whoever believes that this is wrong, he/she should stop using Internet for Ham Radio altogether and also stop talking on the mobile or landline phone to his/her mates about Ham radio.
NEW Projects
HF Pactor <===> AX25/TCPIP GATEWAY
SV1UY is in the process of setting up a PACTOR <===> AX25/TCPIP GATEWAY which will operate mainly on 20 and 40 metres, but 80 will be tried as well. This GATEWAY will enable an HF PACTOR user to cross connect to our local or the international TCPIP amateur packet radio network (AMPRNET). This GATEWAY will be useful to these amateurs who travel in the land or in the sea or to the ones on holiday and generally to radio amateurs that have no access to our VHF/UHF PACKET network or to AMPRnet. Of course they will need an HF MOBILE or HF PORTABLE PACTOR installation.
The GATEWAY will also be good for the radio hams who want to see how a REAL RADIO NETWORK should be. Of course it will be slow but nevertheless useful. It could also be used to pass traffic in and out of Greece when our AMPRnet Gateway is out of service, or in the unwanted case of a natural disaster when the telephone network is usually out of service.
So he has recently got a PTC-II from SCS and he intends to use it as an HF PACTOR <===> AX25 PACKET GATEWAY. It should be ready by the end of this summer (or whenever I find the time. Please do not forget that this is only a HOBBY) and it will operate on 7030/14063/14073 KHZ and later on 80 meters.
At the CLIENT side, for accessing this GATEWAY, you will need a sort of PORTABLE or MOBILE HF radio, a MULTIMODE controller that supports PACTOR, a small computer ranging from PALMTOP to NOTEBOOK and of course some kind of portable or mobile antenna for HF. Remember, a slightly longer than half a wavelength piece of wire and a small L type antenna tuner enables you to tune on 20 metres without any radials and you will have no RF burning your fingers when you touch the radio. Using a 1 meter long radial, just to keep the ATU happy might be better in some situations though. This is a very good and simple portable antenna. One can even use a 4 - 9 metre fishing pole as a support, 20 metres of wire and make a helical antenna by winding the 20 metre wire around the fishing pole, as a very big coil or as an inverted L antenna. This can tune between 40-10 metres without radials. If you use 40 metres of wire then you can operate between 80-10 metres without any radials. Of course it is always better to use 1 radial. Donīt forget the ATU.
You can access ATHnet's FREE SERVICES by following the links:
ATHnet's WEB SERVER
ATHnet's GATEWAY . Please use TTYlink as a TELNET CLIENT.
*** Type "CONV" to join our CONVERS via our GATEWAYS's mailbox.
When you are in the CONVERS SERVER (you may have to ENABLE LOCAL ECHO in your TELNET CLIENT), go to channel 154 to have a QSO with SV Radio Amateurs. Please use your CALLSIGN to logon. You will probably find me there from Monday - Friday after 19.00 GMT (Summertime) or after 20.00 GMT (Wintertime) and anytime during the weekend.
*** Type "DXC" to join our DX-CLUSTER.
You may need to DISABLE LOCAL ECHO in your TELNET. If you have problems using this SERVER please e-mail sv1uy AT sz8l.gr
Athens 1 October 2004
73 de Demetre SV1UY
e-mail sv1uy AT yahoo.com
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