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====== GB7ODZ Houghton le Spring, Tyne and Wear ======

2m packet node with mailbox NoV

Frequency: 144.9375 MHz

Packet mail region #18.GBR.EURO

Sysop: [[https://www.qrz.com/db/M0ODZ|M0ODZ]] (right-click, open in new tab so you keep this page open!)

Locator: IO94gt\\
Lat/lon of grid corner: 54.812500, -1.458333\\
This node is located at the geographical border of Sunderland and County Durham, at the absolute southernmost point of Tyne and Wear.

Sysop notes:

This node is used for experimental purposes and is a testbed for new features.

Hardware specs:\\
The system is running on a HP Z230, a small, cheap (not cheap originally, these are actually great workhorses with very decent specs and expandability) PC that has a real serial port and is fully supported on both Windows and Linux.\\
Kamtronics KPC-9612 TNC, fully upgraded with newest EPROMs and memory expansion ICs.((This node is dedicated to my very close friend [[https://www.qrz.com/db/G7EVW|Nick Kaberry G7EVW]], silent key, and very sadly missed.\\
Without your support, friendship and generous donation of the Kantronics KPC-9612 terminal node controller this node would never have happened.\\
I hope you are pleased with how packet radio is now having a resurgence locally, nationally and globally.))\\
Yaesu FT-845 transceiver.\\

Software specs:\\
[[https://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Documents/|BPQ32]] compiled from latest source\\
[[https://ubuntu.com/|Ubuntu Linux]]\\

Connection info:\\
The node responds to the following connection strings:\\
GB7ODZ:GB7ODZ-1 Node\\
ODZBBS:GB7ODZ-2 BBS\\
ODZCHT:GB7ODZ-3 CHAT\\
ODZCMS:GB7ODZ-4 CMS (RMS - under construction)\\
ODZTLK:GB7ODZ-5 TALK\\

Port info:\\
Port 1: 144.9375MHz radio connection, 1200BPS\\
Port 2: telnet port (authorised whitelisted users only)
Port 3: AX/IP/UDP port (BPQAXIP)

Node features:\\
Text node games available to play:\\
  * Zork 1, 2 and 3 (the Zork Trilogy, a text adventure series)\\
  * [[https://groups.io/g/bpq32/|Packet Wordle]] with worldwide high scores, thanks to Doug VE1LG\\
  * Hammurabi (can you feed and provide an abundance of land for your townsfolk?)\\
  * Hangman (with no hanging man!)\\
Text mode apps:\\
  * cowsay (get a cow to say your thoughts)\\
  * fortune (provide a random fortune cookie for you)\\
  * wx (the current weather at my QTH)\\
  * mc (a *working* work in progress that allows one command to run multiple commands eg MC cowsay Greg Was Here)\\
  * testapp (any app I am currently working on)

Commands enabled:\\
  * TALK - direct conversation with Sysop. Note that this requires a manual disconnect to end the session due to existing BPQ limitations\\
  * CHAT - chat server, talk to other node users and create private rooms\\
  * BBS - packet mail features\\
full command list:\\
BBS CHAT CMS TALK BOFH COWSAY FORTUNE WX TESTAPP ZORK1 ZORK2 ZORK3 WORDLE HAMMURABI MC HANGMAN CONNECT BYE INFO NODES PORTS ROUTES USERS MHEARD

New features are added constantly for testing (see TESTAPP).

Current features in development:\\
I have the full [[http://gutenberg.org|Project Gutenberg book archive]] mirrored and intend to allow download of the text files via packet connection.\\
For those not aware of Project Gutenberg, it contains over 70,000 books that are out of copyright.\\

I am in the process of allowing remote telnet access for NoV licensed amateur packet stations to link to help expand coverage of the net while the resurgence of packet continues.

Neighbour node connectivity:\\
My node can communicate with\\
  * GB7NED\\
  * GB7CNR\\
both of which are located north of my QTH.

My node is in regular use from local amateurs.\\
Thanks especially to my very good friend [[https://www.qrz.com/db/M0XLZ|Simon M0XLZ]] for asking me politely to reactivate the node every week for the best part of a year - I told you I'd do it and I am pleased that you have chosen GB7ODZ as your home mailbox!

I am actively involved in understanding and properly documenting and giving working examples of the full features of BPQ32, as well as contributing patches to the source code.\\
Thanks to the developer G8BPQ for this amazing piece of software, which is open source and cross-platform.\\

If you have a BPQ32 query then there is an active group on Google Groups but I am more than happy to impart what I have worked out from the source code and (unfortunately sparse, disjointed or plain or of date) existing documentation.\\
I understand in depth and can give practical help with BPQ32 functionality:\\
  * Adding custom commands (Linux xinetd.conf, /etc/services, scripting)\\
  * Using and configuring QtTermTCP with BPQ32, including TALK to sysop functionality\\
  * using Outpost Packet Mail Manager (Outpost PMM) with BPQ32\\
  * I have a good grasp of most other parts of BPQ32.\\

Please [[:contributing|consider contributing]] to the wiki with node information and help it grow.