Subject:
             Guide to the rec.radio newsgroups
        Date:
             15 Mar 1998 23:19:24 GMT
       From:
             jeffreyh@Hawaii.Edu (Jeffrey Herman)
 Organization:
             University of Hawaii
 Newsgroups:
             rec.radio.scanner, rec.radio.shortwave, rec.radio.swap
 Followup-To:
             poster
 
 
 

Archive-name: radio/personal-intro
Revision: 2.2 98/14/05 03:50:23
Posting-Frequency: posted on the 15th of each month

This message describes the rec.radio.amateur.*, rec.radio.cb,
rec.radio.info, and rec.radio.swap newsgroups, as well as their Internet
mailing list counterparts and complements. It is intended to serve as a
guide for the new reader on what to find where. Questions and comments may
be directed to Jeffrey Herman, KH2PZ, (jeffreyh@hawaii.edu), or Paul
Schleck, K3FU, pschlect@novia.net.

 This message was last changed on 14 March, 1998.

History
=======

Way back when, before there was a Usenet, the Internet hosted a mailing list
for hams, called (appropriately enough) INFO-HAMS. Ham radio discussions
were held on the mailing list, and sent to the mailboxes of those who had
signed up for it. When the Usenet software was created, and net news as we
now know it was developed, a newsgroup was created for hams: net.ham-radio.
The mailing list and the newsgroup were gatewayed together, eventually.

Over the years, as the net grew, the volume of discussion became
progressively higher. First one by one, and then as part of two
reorganizations, what was once one group became many. In the process,
developments elsewhere on the net were reflected in the groups as they were
created, most notably the change to place all of the ham radio groups in one
hierarchy.

The collection of newsgroups continues to grow as more people join the net,
and as more topics of discussion gain volume, I expect to see more groups be
created as well. This follows what is happening on the rest of the net.

Nearly all of the radio newsgroups have corresponding mailing lists, the
notable exception being rec.radio.swap. There are also a few mailing lists
that don't have newsgroups.

The Current Groups
==================

It's important to post messages to the group that's appropriate for them,
and not to the groups that aren't. The whole idea of having different
newsgroups is so that folks who aren't interested in, say, homebrewing,
don't have to wade through messages about homebrewing on the way to read
about Field Day. Posting appropriately is just good etiquette.

The rec.radio.amateur.misc group is the catchall. It is what rec.ham-radio
was renamed to during the first major reorganization. Any message that's not
more appropriate in one of the other groups belongs here, from contesting to
DX to ragchewing on VHF to information on becoming a ham.

The group rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc is for discussions related to
(surprise!) digital amateur radio. This doesn't have to be the common
two-meter AX.25 variety of packet radio, either; some of the most
knowledgeable folks in radio digital communications can be found here, and
anything in the general area is welcome. The name was changed to emphasize
this, and to encourage discussion not only of other text-based digital
modes, such as AMTOR, RTTY, and Clover, but things like digital voice and
video as well. The former group, rec.radio.amateur.packet, was removed on
September 21st, 1993. It is obsolete, and you should use .digital.misc
instead (or the appropriate new mailing list, mentioned below).  The group
has .misc as part of the name to allow further specialization if the users
wish it, such as .digital.tcp-ip.

The swap group is rec.radio.swap. This recognizes a fact that became
evident shortly after the original group was formed: Hams don't just swap ham
radio gear, and other folks besides hams swap ham equipment. If you have radio
equipment, or test gear, or computer stuff that hams would be interested in,
here's the place. Equipment wanted postings belong here too. Discussions about
the equipment generally don't; if you wish to discuss a particular posting
with the buyer, email is a much better way to do it, and the other groups,
especially .equipment and .homebrew, are the place for public discussions.
There is now a regular posting with information on how to go about buying and
selling items in rec.radio.swap; please refer to it before you post there.
To answer a frequently asked question: No, there is no mailing list that
goes along with this group. If you can't read Usenet news directly, you're
out of luck.

The group rec.radio.amateur.policy was created as a place for all the
discussions that seem to drag on interminably about the many rules,
regulations, legalities, and policies that surround amateur radio, both
existing and proposed.  Recent changes to the Amateur Radio Rules (FCC Part
97) have finally laid to rest the Great Usenet Pizza Autopatch Debate - it's
now legal to order a pizza on the autopatch, if you're not in the pizza
business - as well as complaints about now-preempted local scanner laws
hostile to amateurs, but plenty of discussion about what a bunch of rotten
no-goodniks the local frequency coordinating body is, as well as the
neverending no-code debate, may still be found here.

The group rec.radio.cb is the place for all discussion about the Citizens'
Band radio service. Such discussions have been very inflammatory in
rec.ham-radio in the past; please do not cross-post to both rec.radio.cb and
rec.radio.amateur.* unless the topic is genuinely of interest to both hams
and CBers - and very few topics are.

The rec.radio.info group is just what its name implies: it's the place where
informational messages from across rec.radio.* may be found, regardless of
where else they're posted. As of this writing, information posted to the
group includes Cary Oler's daily solar progagation bulletins, ARRL
bulletins, the Frequently Asked Questions files for the various groups, and
radio modification instructions. This group is moderated, so you cannot post
to it directly; if you try, even if your message is crossposted to one of
the other groups, your message will be mailed to the moderator, who is
currently David Dodell, WB7TPY. The email address for submissions to the
group is rec-radio-info@stat.com. Inquires and other administrivia should be
directed to rec-radio-info-request@stat.com. For more information about
rec.radio.info, consult the introduction and posting guidelines that are
regularly posted to that newsgroup.

The groups r.r.amateur.antenna, .boatanchors, .dx, .equipment, .homebrew,
and .space are for more specialized areas of ham radio: discussions about
antennas, the older tube based amateur, military, and commercial gear,
commercially-made equipment, homebrewing, and amateur radio space operations.
The .equipment group is not the place for buying or selling equipment; that's
what rec.radio.swap is for. Similarly, the .space group is specifically
about amateur radio in space, such as the OSCAR program and SAREX, the Shuttle
Amateur Radio EXperiment; other groups cover other aspects of satellites and
space. Homebrewing isn't about making your own alcoholic beverages at home
(that's rec.crafts.brewing), but rather construction of radio and electronic
equipment by the amateur experimenter. The .dx group is devoted to long
distance amateur communications.

Except for rec.radio.swap and rec.radio.cb, all of these newsgroups are
available by Internet electronic mail in digest format; send a mail message
containing "help" on a line by itself to listserv@ucsd.edu for instructions
on how to use the mail server.

All of the groups can be posted to by electronic mail, though, by using a
gateway at the University of Texas at Austin. To post a message this way,
change the name of the group you wish to post to by replacing all of the '.'s
with '-'s - for example, rec.radio.swap becomes rec-radio-swap - and send to
that name@cs.utexas.edu (rec-radio-swap@cs.utexas.edu, for example). You may
crosspost by including multiple addresses as Cc: entries (but see below). This
gateway's continued availability is at the pleasure of the admins at
UT-Austin, and is subject to going away at any time - and especially if
forgeries and other net.abuses become a problem. You have been warned.

Mailing Lists
=============

In addition to the mailing lists that mirror the Usenet newsgroups, there
also are a few that stand alone. These cover specific areas of ham radio,
and discussion is focused on just those areas.

The cq-contest mailing list is for discussions of contesting in ham radio.
To join, send email with the word "subscribe" on a line by itself to
cq-contest-request@tgv.com.

The DX mailing list covers the finer points of DXing. This one is also
joined by mailing "subscribe" on a line by itself, this time to
dx-request@unbc.edu.

There's also a VHF mailing list, for VHF operators of the weak signal
persuasion. You can join this one be sending "subscribe vhf" on a line by
itself to vhf-request@w6yx.stanford.edu.

The QRP-L list is devoted to building and operating gear at low-power
outputs. To subscribe, send an email to listproc@lehigh.edu and only
write:    subscribe qrp-l Your Name.

The TopBand e-list is devoted to all areas of operation on 160m. To
subscribe, send an email to   majordomo@contesting.com  and only write:
subscribe topband      and follow the instructions you'll be sent.
This site, contesting.com, also hosts a couple dozen other ham-related
e-lists. Use the above address, and only write:  lists  to get the entire
index.

The Boatanchors e-list is devoted to the older tube-based ham, military,
and commercial communications gear. To subscribe, send an email to:
listserv@listserve.tempe.gov and only write: subscribe boatanchors

For homebuilding transmitters and receivers using tube technology,
there is the Glowbugs e-list; send an email to:
majordomo@piobaire.mines.uidaho.edu and only write:
subscribe glowbugs <your@address.here>

The VHF DX discussion list can be accessed by sending an email
to:  majordomo@blacksheep.org  and only writing: subscribe VHF-DX-discuss.

Qth.net hosts over 100 ham-related e-lists, including lists devoted
to each state, manufacturer, mode, band - too many to state here. Send
an email to majordomo@qth.net and only write:  lists    to get the
complete index.

For one of the most complete indexes of email lists, see
http://pw2.netcom.com/~ac6v/pageae.html

Please do NOT send subscription requests to the mailing lists themselves;
that doesn't work very often, and is very annoying to those on the list.
Also, please keep your electronic mail address current with any mailing
lists you subscribe to, as dealing with returned email is a nuisance for the
person maintaining the mailing list.

A Few Words on Crossposting
===========================

Please do not crosspost messages to two or more groups unless there is genuine
interest in both groups in the topic being discussed, and when you do, please
include a header line of the form "Followup-To: group.name" in your article's
headers (before the first blank line). This will cause followups to your
article to go to the group listed in the Followup-To: line. If you wish
to have replies to go to you by email, rather than be posted, use the word
"poster" instead of the name of a group. Such a line appears in the headers
of this article.

One of the few examples of productive cross-posting is with the rec.radio.info
newsgroup. To provide a filtered presentation of information articles, while
still maintaining visibility in their home newsgroups, the moderator strongly
encourages cross-posting. All information articles should be submitted to the
rec.radio.info moderator so that he may simultaneously cross-post your
information to the appropriate newsgroups. Most newsreaders will only present
the article once, and network bandwidth is conserved since only one article is
propagated. If you make regular informational postings, and have made
arrangements with the moderator to post directly to the group, please
cross-post as appropriate.

--
Jeffrey Herman, KH2PZ
jeffreyh@hawaii.edu