Ed,

  First, sorry for the long reply...plus, as you'll see, "Everyone is 
entitled to my opinion" (hi hi).

 EV> Were those Amateur Radio BBS's in that bulletin?
 EV> I'm guessing they weren't Ham BBS's just public BBS's, Hmmm ..--.. (?)

  Only one of them...The Ether Net BBS. Bill Shryock, N5HQ, was the 
Sysop. He's still around, but his BBS is long gone. He did have a 
bulletin called "The 10 Comamndments For Technicians", which I've 
incorporated into a PDF file of "Ham Radio Humor"...available from 
a hyperlink off of my bio on QRZ.

  I have some updates to make on the Excel Net List Spreadsheets 
(in Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Time, with close to 200 
nets in a given month, as of late July, 2021). But, I had to deal
with thunderstorms move in here after I finished the QCWA Digital Net 
earlier today, and didn't bring the computers back up until a few
hours ago. I had unplugged everything to prevent lightning damage, 
and had laid down for a power nap. I have found that if I try to work 
on the computer when I'm fatigued, I'm just asking for trouble. The 
only time I get a good sleep anymore, is when I'm sedated for a 
medical procedure.

  I started that "Net List" (which originally began as a page for 
just Echolink Nets only), because the net info at dstarinfo.com was 
WOEFULLY OUT OF DATE (and I've been told, that it still is). I even
made numerous attempts to get the nets that I run, listed; and to get
the information corrected (it was entered wrong), and it was nearly
impossible getting a response.

  So, I started the data in a PDF file, but that became too much to 
work with. Gary, VA3GDZ, sent me a spreadsheet template, that I 
expanded, and now use for the list of nearly 200 D-Star, Echolink, 
and D-Rats nets. I have to make some updates on the list, but with 
thunderstorms today, I did not get a chance to do so. That will have 
to wait until later this week, when the thunderstorm chances diminish.

 EV> My thoughts were a BBS was sorta like the Amateur Radio Club
 EV> Meetings I attended back when I got my Novice License in 1958.
 EV> I could talk with other Ham Operators there to learn enough about
 EV> Radio stuff so to be able to know enough to pass the F.C.C. Test for
 EV> a higher Class Operators License.

  I loved the face to face meetings we'd have, where you could meet all 
of the other BBS users and Sysops. Just like with ham radio, the mental 
image you had made of these folks was NOT at all what they looked like 
in person (hi hi).

 EV> At the last License Exam I took, a F.C.C. Employee was there.
 EV> I think the Volunteer Examiner program should be ended, and revert
 EV> back to having Agent(s) from the F.C.C. in charge of giving the Tests.

  I feel that if that occurs, it's going to be like many hams are 
saying about the "soon coming" $35 fee the FCC is going to tack on for 
a new, renewed, or upgraded license, or a callsign change. I've heard 
far more hams say they'd rather let their license lapse, than pay the 
fee. Yet, many of these hams will lay down one or more $100 bills to 
buy a brick of prize tickets at a hamfest, or buy a high dollar rig,
and not batting an eye...but they're complaining about $35 -- you can
easily spend that on two people in one night at a fancy restaurant!!

  I feel the same would happen if they ended the Question Pools and 
the VEC. Plus, the same would apply if they were to reinstate the 
Novice and Advanced Licenses, as well as the 5, 13, and 20 WPM CW 
exams. The FCC is so short on funds now (never mind the budget 
deficit is so huge), that they can't get enough folks to work with 
enforcement actions, let alone go back to doing exams. 

  And, I feel if they REQUIRED everyone to be RF only, with no 
internet, the number of active and licensed ham radio operators 
would drop like boulder off of a cliff (and I would be one of
them). Not to mention that the many organizations that need
members and their dues to survive, would shut down as well...and
I know they will NOT allow that to happen. 

  The ARRL is a prime example; and while we may not agree with 
everything that they do, they ARE our lobbyist in Washington, 
with the Spread Spectrum Defense to keep our frequencies from 
being taken away from us, and sold off to other entities, who 
are more than ready and willing to pay top dollar for them.

  In short, I feel that "going back to the way it was" would be the 
death knell for ham radio.

  Now, I realize when my internet is out, or if I'm offline for area
thunderstorms, I'm QRT. But, I have too many health issues to worry 
about being on the air in an emergency. Besides, the way technology 
is nowadays, once we have an EMP, EVERYTHING is going to get fried...
and ALL communications are going to fail...RF, Phone, Satellite,
Internet, and everything else. It'll be like going back to the Stone
Age, communications wise.

  Because of nervous system damage from 2 indirect lightning strikes, 
I can NOT copy CW...and I did try a 5 WPM CW test years ago (when it 
was still available)...but I failed the exam miserably. After the FCC
dropped the CW requirement, people began learning CW because they 
WANTED to, and NOT because they had to (you'll never get folks to
learn or do something if you force them).

  Indeed, the phones at Vibroplex (who make keyers) were literally 
"ringing off the wall" for a month either side of the removal of the 
CW requirement 14 1/2 years ago. And, I understand that the F.I.S.T.
CW group, had a surge in membership.

  Unfortunately, the fact of the matter today, is that kids nowadays 
are so enamored in their smartphones and tablets, that they do NOT 
care about the heritage, history, current state, or future of ANY 
hobby (I've seen it both in ham radio and square dancing, one of
my other hobbies). It is hard enough nowadays to find folks to be 
Club Officers, let alone Net Control Stations. Everyone wants the 
glory and benefits, but no one wants the gall and the work. In other
words, don't you dare ask them to be a Club Officer, a Net Control
station, or to head up communications for an event. You likely will
be told in no uncertain terms what you can do with your request, and
it won't be pretty.

  No one knows how to stop the bleeding (in any hobby)...and without 
getting "new blood"...the replenishment of amateur radio operators 
(especially the youth), sooner more than later, attrition will kill 
the hobby...pun intended. None of us is getting any younger, and ALL
of us are going to end up on the Silent Keys page sooner or later.

  I've known hams who've run nets for clubs for years...where they 
could not get any help with doing the nets...when they had schedule 
conflicts or other issue...and with the number of checkins plunging, 
it makes no sense to do the net anymore. 

  There are many hams who I refer to as "Net Hoppers" (or "Hi, Bye, 
and QSY Stations". It's "Net Control, Please checkin [callsign], 
[name], [location], short time, no traffic"...and not a minute later, 
they're doing the same thing on other nets. A fellow ham, who's also 
involved with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), wondered 
"Do they even have a life outside of ham radio??". These think that
there is a prize, bonus, award, certificate, etc. for seeing how many
nets they can check into in a day or evening. To me, they're in the
hobby for their ego, and nothing more.

  I will do a net whether there is one, one dozen, or one hundred 
checkins...but once those dry up, the net is closed...you can NOT 
be "fashionably late" for a net. As the checkins dry up, I go into 
"auctioneer mode"...where they do "going once, going twice, sold 
(and the bidding is closed), it's a next to last call, then a last 
call for rechecks, late checkins, or anything else to come before 
the net. After 15 to 20 seconds, if I hear nothing on both, then 
the net is closed, whether folks like it or not. 
 
  I personally do NOT spend "every waking moment" with ANY of my 
hobbies...whether ham radio, the BBS, or even square dancing. I 
do the MINIMUM of work that's required, then that's it for that 
day. Otherwise, I'm going to get burned out.

  Many long time hams are "purists" who feel that "any internet 
radio is NOT ham radio". Yet, one's health can change in the blink
of an eye, and I can NOT see penalizing a lifelong ham, who has 
been on RF, now having to give up a hobby he or she loves, because 
they have to go into a medical facility, where no RF is allowed,
because of potential problems with medical gear (especially in a 
nursing home, where loneliness is a HUGE factor, considering all
the mess with COVID-19, and no visitors allowed)...and yet, they 
could use "internet radio" to take the loneliness out of their day. 
I can vouch for the loneliness factor...it was that way for my Mom 
in the nursing home before she died nearly 2 years ago now. 
Loneliness also leads to depression, and a loss of the will to live. 
To me, not allowing them to be "internet only" makes it look like 
we're promoting euthanasia.

  Years ago, when VoIP and the digital modes were taking off, an 
official from the FCC official noted  that "We are communicators 
FIRST, and ham radio operators SECOND". Indeed, I feel that 
whatever means of communication you can use to get the traffic 
passed, do it...whether it's RF, VoIP, or something else.

  There was another incident years ago, where the entire HF band 
was completely dead...possibly from a massive solar storm. There 
was an intense hurricane in the Atlantic basin, and The Hurricane 
Watch Net was NOT able to get ANYTHING off of HF, in regards to 
real time weather data, for the forecasters at the National
Hurricane Center. But, there were some stations in the affected 
areas, who still had power and internet, and were able to connect 
to the *WX_TALK* Echolink Conference Server, that the folks at 
The Hurricane Watch Net were monitoring...and the forecasters at
the National Hurricane Center WERE ABLE to critical weather data, 
which was a big help to them in their upcoming advisories and 
forecasts on the storm.

  And, another ham, who with his wife and family, had lived and
worked in New England all their life; but upon retirement, moved 
to Florida. Yet, thanks to the VoIP modes (Echolink, D-Star, etc.), 
he can check into his former local area club nets, and keep up with 
all his old friends, as if he had never left.

 EV> Was "Computer Shopper" the name of a local newsletter, or are You
 EV> talking about the BIG magazine with advertisements for everything
 EV> to build a computer?

  It was the latter. The pages were almost the same thickness as the 
white pages of the phone book.

 EV> 1995 is a long time ago and what the newsletter was called isn't in
 EV> My memory anymore...I don't even know if I still have that issue in
 EV> my collection.

  I'm amazed I still had the memory of many of the BBS's noted in the 
list. One of the former Sysops has also become a fellow amateur radio
operator...in fact, I gave him his Technician exam in the last 2 years.
Ironically, his name was "Bill Clinton", but I can ASSURE you that he
is NOT the one that was the US President for 8 years. I'm not sure 
whether he'll upgrade or not. 

  I haven't done much testing since late 2019, when all the COVID-19 
restrictions kicked in. I had sent back all my Field Stocked supplies
to ARRL/VEC (it cost quite a bit to ship it overnight, but I wanted
to get it there), because I had no idea if I'd ever be able to get a
venue for local exams again. Most of my VE Team is in the older and
vulnerable age group, even though they've had the needed shots. We
also were not keen on the idea of remote testing (although I know
of a club in Arkansas who does offer such), because of the security
issues to monitor for cheating. We still wear masks and do social
distancing, as required. 

  But now after a session, I can scan in all the items from it, and
create a PDF file, that I upload to a private URL that ARRL/VEC has. 
Then, I just mail everything back at my earliest convenience...since 
I got the stuff to them within 10 days of the exam session. But, I 
use the FedEx 3 Day Super Saver option, as unlike the Postal Service,
every time I've shipped something via FedEx, IT GOT THERE WHEN IT WAS
PROMISED.

 EV> There were messages from people in the USA, England and Taiwan on
 EV> that BBS, and after reading many, many messages I decided to jump in
 EV> and write a message, and here I are, still lurking and writing
 EV> occasionally.

  The same with me. The height of BBS's was 30 to 35 years ago...and
there were far more dial-up BBS's back then, than web and telnet.

 EV> Later I called The PRISM BBS and began reading FIDO BBS messages.

  I don't remember which FIDONet BBS locally I started with...but I'm
now a regional independent, with Marc Lewis out of Huntsville, Alabama,
as my hub. The original Little Rock area FIDONet, Net 3821, is long
gone. 

 EV> And also Mike Powell's BBS with a Railroad Train name that I can't
 EV> recall, until He moved to Frankfort, Kentucky out of my local dial-up
 EV> calling area.

  I remember an ANSI logo he had for that, but you'd have to ask him what
that was. I want to say something about the Clinchfield Railroad.

 EV> I 'think' Mike's BBS was named The Pan-Am BBS, was that guess close
 EV> enuf?

  That sounds right. But, when I originally heard Pan-Am, I thought of
the airline, although I've seen some Pan-Am boxcars on freight trains,
mainly on some YouTube Videos by Danny Harmon (also known as Railfan
Danny). He's not a ham radio operator, but fellow "railham" C.J. Griggs,
KJ4PIU, is trying to convince Danny to study and get his license.

 EV> After I retired a friend paid for a few months for a Dial-Up Internet
 EV> Service until they moved away, then I paid for it just a few months
 EV> more and then quit paying the monthly fee and went "cold turkey"
 EV> i.e. No BBS access for a while.

  I think there are less than 20 dial up BBS's left in the US, according
to the Telnet BBS Guide, done by Dave Perussel (who's also a ham radio
operator, but his callsign escapes me offhand). I think there are over
800 telnet BBS's in that listing, though.

 EV> I learned about JUNO Email either just a little earlier than getting
 EV> the Dial-Up ISP Account or maybe it was some time later I learned about
 EV> JUNO, but I really liked having a Free Email Account and used it until
 EV> JUNO quit Dial-In access.

  I was on various ISP's over the years...CompuServe, AOL, Juno, Aristotle,
and Earthlink, to name a few. I'm with Xfinity now, as they are the only
one that has bridge mode available for the BBS. My goal is to get my BBS
into the cloud, which would reduce downtimes from thunderstorms, and the
outages from power, cable, or internet...but between the car wreck nearly 
6 months ago (that I wasn't at fault in), and a plumbing issue at the 
house, the BBS has had to take a back seat.

 EV> So after awhile I had DSL added to my Telephone Bill and Resubscribed
 EV> to Mike's BBS now called The Capital City BBS.

  AT&T did my late Mom dirty years ago. Every time there's a power 
outage or lightning strike, their DSL modem is toast. Three years 
before her death, her DSL modem had failed (again), and I, as her 
computer guru (never mind her firstborn son), was at her house 
(where I'm at now, since both my Mom and Dad have gone on to be 
with The Lord), and on the phone with them.  

  The "Customer Service Agent" (I use the term loosely) was giving 
me the runaround, and I demanded to speak to their supervisor...

  <CLICK!>...they hung up on me.

  I was furious...so I immediately called them back (on my cellphone),
because she had no phone (including 911) or internet service...and 
put the phone on speaker. When the agent said "this conversation may 
be recorded", I basically cussed them out, as I was livid with rage. 

  I apologized to my Mom after I finished getting a repairman 
scheduled to come out (more on that in a minute), and she said 
"I can't say I blame you...I heard every word"...she was as shocked
as I was at the "treatment" I received.

  AT&T was going to make a nearly 90 year old woman WAIT 2 weeks to 
get a new DSL modem (and resulting service...she didn't even have
911). When the repairman came by the next day, and I told him about 
what happened, he exploded in rage. He said "That's not the first 
time they have done this", and added "There was no excuse or reason 
for them to do what they did". 

  Not only did he give us a new DSL modem, he also gave us his card, 
AND private phone number. He said "If this happens again, CALL ME AT
ANY TIME. Either I myself, or one of my crew will be out here within 
24 hours". I was praying down blessings on him and his family.

  When I was going to switch to Earthlink High Speed Internet, they 
could not find a place for the fiber optic cable, and there was an 
AT&T truck outside. I told them about what they did to my Mom before 
her death, and snarled "I wouldn't take your crappy service if you 
gave everything to me forever for free". And, I've heard I'm not the 
ONLY one that AT&T has done this to.

  It goes back to the joke (which is sad, but true) of the word 
"SERVICE". It USED to mean something...such as Customer Service, 
Postal Service, Internal Revenue Service, Amateur Radio Service 
(some areas of HF are like a glorified Citizens Band), etc. 

  Well, I heard 2 farmers talking the other day, and one said 
"He had to get a bull to SERVICE his cows". BINGO!! The light 
came on!! 

  It's like the QWK Tagline: "Borg Burgers. We do it our way. Your
way is irrelevant".

  Indeed, when I used to go into the grocery stores, they'd want 
me to go to self checkout instead of using a human cashier. I 
growled "I don't work here...you can either take care of me, or 
I'll take my business elsewhere". Now, I just go online to order 
my needed groceries, and pay a delivery fee...the delivery cost 
is equivalent to the money I would spend on gas for the car, 
driving to and from the store, plus trying to get a good parking 
place...never mind walking through the store trying to find wanted 
items (if what I wanted wasn't there, I had wasted a trip). They 
bring it to my porch, and I just bring the bags of stuff inside.

  I've also seen it at the State Revenue Offices. Now, I have to go
there in person to renew the Drivers License (mine has the "Real ID"
with it), or pay sales tax on a vehicle. However, for renewing the
car tags, I can do that online. And, with the personal property tax
assessment, I do that over the phone. I go to the Post Office Box 
no more than twice a week (I had to get that, as scoundrels were 
stealing stuff out of my mailbox, and off my front porch). It comes 
up for renewal next month, but I may renew it just for 6 months 
instead of a year, to save a few shekels. 

  But, back to the Revenue Office, and most other businesses, two
sayings come to mind, which seems to be their work ethic at so many
places nowadays.

1) We shall do no work before it's nine. They want to work from 12
to 1, take an hour off for lunch, and get a full check.

2) People who don't believe the dead come back to life, should be
here at quitting time. I've seen that myself, as once the doors
got locked, everyone inside the office HAD to be served BEFORE the
employees could go home...and now, they were on THEIR OWN TIME,
and NOT getting paid for it.

  Now, with the government paying people MORE to stay home, than go
to work, it's no wonder that employers are having an impossible time 
trying to get workers. One Burger King restaurant in Nebraska had
such bad working conditions, and was so understaffed, that on the
sign outside were the words "WE QUIT!! SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE!!".
The photo went viral in short order.

 EV> pc. Yes - lots of things besides BBSing and Ham Radio.

  Yet, some would consider that heresy. 

 DS>   I saw a T-shirt awhile back that noted "I don't need Google. My wife
 DS> knows everything". Talk about a personal search engine. <G>

 EV> That's cute.

  Having worked in silkscreen printing for nearly 20 years, before I 
resigned (basically retired on disability), I saw a bunch of cute
shirts...such as:

1) An ocelot, who looked like he had been sucking on tart, sour, bitter
persimmons. The caption was "I have PMS and a handgun. Any Questions??".
A woman I square danced with years ago told me "I Want That Shirt!!" 
(hi hi).

2) One doesn't get older, one gets better. And, I'm approaching 
magnificent!! (Sounds like Instagram, the ultimate low in self and
vanity).

  Todd Stranberg, who does the raptureready.com Bible Prophecy website,
noted this in his July 26, 2021 "Nearing Midnight" commentary. I don't
use Instagram, and only am on Facebook for the ham radio groups that
I'm part of, and use it for a checkin option for various traffic nets;
as some folks can't get to a rig for the net, but they still want to be
noted as "a bean for the count". 

  Right before my Mom died, I was getting slammed with private messages
to "Like, Share, and View This". I finally said "Enough Is Enough", and
promptly UNFRIENDED EVERYONE. Now, those that I originally "friended"
can still send a private message, but I have no Facebook friends, per
se, anymore...never mind I do not make or accept Friend Requests. There
has to be a compelling reason for me to accept an incoming message.

 EV> Thanks for tolerating me.

 EV> Hmmm, reading that makes me think about a sign I saw that said:

 EV> "All Fishermen are liars, except You and Me. And I'm not so sure
 EV> about You."

  There was another shirt or sign (I can't remember which) that noted
about a certain topic between one person and another (the wearer of
the shirt, and others). But, it noted "Today isn't your day...and
tomorrow isn't looking good, either". 

Daryl, WX4QZ

... "Oh, Bother!!" said Pooh, when he discovered that his desired tagline woul
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