Using the Wisconsin Network by Andy Nemec, KB9ALN Did you know that a distant BBS takes Requests? Most BBS's can furnish you with a variety of information, all you have to do is ask for it. Best of all, you don't even have to navigate the network to do it. It can all be done by packet mail from your local BBS, saving you time and giving you the benefit of a local connection when retrieving files and other information. There are 3 information servers that most BBS's in Wisconsin have available. You can request the contents of a directory, request a file, and on some BBS's, request a callbook look-up. The reply comes back to you at your local BBS as a mail message. The REQDIR is a function that will return the contents of a remote BBS's directory. This means that you do not have to connect long-distance to a BBS and go through a long process of manually looking at the directory. It can be done with a simple mail message. All you have to know is the call-sign and heirarchial address of the remote BBS (as well as your own, naturally). Let's say that you want to know what is in the directory of our KA9JAC's BBS in Neenah. Start the message with: SP REQDIR@KA9JAC.WI.USA.NA @YourBBS The @YourBBS tells the remote BBS to mail the reply to you at your home BBS. Substitute your actual BBS call-sign with this. The BBS will respond with: "Enter Title or City, State, and Postal Code:" Keep this line blank. Simply hit the Enter key on your computer. The BBS will respond with: "Enter Message (^Z or /EX to End, ^A Aborts)" Leave this blank by sending a Control-Z (or /EX) to end the message. That will start the process. You will get a message by return mail listing the contents of the directory. I did this with the KA9JAC BBS in Neenah, and my reply looked like this: ******** Main File Directory ******** ALIGN.MFJ 1603 ARES BART 2751 CTYHUNT DX-NOTES DXDATA.A-E DXDATA.F-L DXDATA.M-R DXDATA.S-Z FAIL.386 942 FCC FIELDDAY FILE1 846 FREQ-STS.74 2225 FREQCORD.FRM 3832 FREQS GEOGRAPH HUMOR ICOM1.MOD ICOMSERV INTERNET.GAT 1351 KDK KENWOOD1.MOD KENWOOD2.MOD KENWOOD3.MOD KEPS KNWDSERV MFJ MODS MSYS NASA.BBS 627 NEWDXA 1148 NODES PACKET PACKET.10 408 PACKET.WIS REQFIL.HLP 602 REQSAT.DOC 1994 SATELITE USDATA VIRUS 4235 WALL.DOC 1792 WAPR WAPRFREQ.APP 3730 WARNING 881 XMAS 1301 Along with the list of files, you have a list of subdirectories that also contain files. Yes, you can also send another message and find the contents of those directories, too. The procedure is almost exactly the same as in the first example, except for the title. Let's say that you want to find the contents of the WAPR directory. Use the same format to send a message to REQDIR. When the BBS prompts you for a title, send: /WAPR After you get the prompt for the body of the message, just send a Control-Z (or /EX) to close the message. You will get, by return mail, a list of the files in the WAPR subdirectory. Okay, now you have a list of files in front of you. This is nice if you collect lists of directories, but not much good unless you can get one of these files. Of course, you can do this. That is what the REQFIL function does. Let's say that you found a file called WAPR-BL.DOC that interests you. This would be a copy of the WAPR By-Laws, and this file can be mailed to you just as your request for the directory listing was. Using our above example at KA9JAC, you would use this format to send a message: SP REQFIL@KA9JAC.WI.USA.NA @YourBBS The BBS responds: "Enter Title, or City, State, and Postal Code:" You now send: WAPR/WAPR-BL.DOC Notice that we did not include a / in front of the WAPR. It is not necessary. Just remember that you use the / in front of the directory name to request the contents of a directory, but not when requesting a file. Use a / between the directory name and the actual file name. The BBS will now ask you for the message. Again, you will leave this blank and simply close the message with a Control-Z or /EX. You will get the file by return mail for you to retrieve at your convenience. A word of caution is in order, though. Directory listings will show the size of the file that is listed. Keep this in mind when you are retrieving the file. A very large file downloaded during peak hours will almost certainly wreak havoc on your fellow packet operators. If you get a large file returned, take note of the traffic on the frequency and try to avoid congestion. Download it during off-peak hours to keep your LAN a happy place. The last nifty feature can help you out with your QSL'ing chores. Some BBS's are equipped with a call-book server, and you can remotely take advantage of this. A message to REQQTH will do the job quite nicely. Just send: SP REQQTH@RemoteBBS.Address.WI.USA.NA @YourBBS The BBS responds looking for the title, or City, State and Zip. You simply enter in the call-signs of the stations you wish to look up. Separate each with a space, and due to space limits on the title line, you can't do any more than 5 per REQQTH message. An example: N9BQM KA9JAC KE9LZ The BBS will again respond asking you for the body of the message. Once again, leave this blank and close the message with a Control-Z or a /EX. You will get a reply with the callbook information for those call-signs, or a message saying that the call was not found. Naturally, not all of the BBS's you encounter may have any or all of these features available. If a particular BBS does not have a particular feature enabled, you will receive a reply informing you of this fact. It's easy enough to use, and just another way you can enjoy Using the Wisconsin Network. ***End of Part 19***