Chapter 7 Maildrop Operation
Chapter 7
Maildrop Operation
Overview
The DSP’s Maildrop acts like a small post office—it uses a subset of the well-known W0RLI/WA7MBL packet
BBS commands to send and receive messages manually or automatically. Not only can you originate and receive
messages to you, but with
3RDPARTY
ON
,
you can accept and relay messages left for others.
The Maildrop also supports forwarding and reverse-forwarding of packet messages if properly coordinated with a
local or “full service” BBS. This means that your station can receive messages from that BBS, hold or send them on
to their recipients, then return replies later after they’ve been answered. Hierarchical message addressing is now
supported to simplify the routing of both national and international traffic.
The Maildrop operates in the packet, AMTOR and PACTOR modes—a “user” (another station) can access your
Maildrop as long as your station is operating in the same mode. For example, if your radio is in the AMTOR mode,
a user can only reach your Maildrop if he, too, is in AMTOR.
At this writing, unattended 3rd party traffic below 30 MHz is not legal for US amateurs unless they hold a Special
Temporary Authorization (STA) from the FCC for this purpose. This restriction may soon change, but until then US
amateurs must be sure to always have control of their HF transmitters when any automatic device such as the DSP
Maildrop is in operation.
Note
: You needn’t have your computer on for your DSP-232’s Maildrop to function, but you must leave your
radio on to allow other stations to access the Maildrop, or if you want to record the radio traffic the DSP
hears.
Maildrop Memory
Approximately 18K bytes of the standard 32K RAM are available to your MailDrop as if comes standard from the
AEA factory. Maildrop may be expanded to as much as 242 K (256 K RAM). RAM space is dynamically allocated
so that it is possible to store as many messages as you like until all the memory is filled. As your Maildrop fills with
messages, the RAM space will decrease until there isn’t any space left for messages or any other activities. When
this happens, the MULT light will blink on the front panel of the DSP to let you know that all the RAM memory has
been used up . If someone tries to connect to your station when this happens, they’ll get:
***
(
your callsign
)
busy - DISCONNECTED
. . . and will be automatically disconnected from your station.
Along these lines, while you’re logged on to your own Maildrop, if a Packet station issues a connect request to your
DSP it won’t let it—it’ll display the message:
***
(
your callsign
)
busy
September, 05
7-1
Summary of Contents for DSP-232
Page 120: ...Chapter 6 GPS Applications September 05 6 1...
Page 138: ...Chapter 7 Maildrop Operation 7 18 September 05...
Page 158: ......
Page 159: ...Chapter 8 ASCII and Baudot Operation September 05 8 1...
Page 185: ......
Page 186: ...Chapter 9 AMTOR Operation September 05 9 1...
Page 198: ......
Page 199: ...Chapter 10 Morse Operation September 05 10 1...
Page 207: ......
Page 208: ...Chapter 11 SIAM and NAVTEX Operation September 05 11 1...
Page 230: ......
Page 231: ...Chapter 12 PACTOR Operation September 05 12 1...
Page 240: ...Chapter 13 Troubleshooting September 05 13 9...
Page 254: ...Chapter 13 Troubleshooting 13 9...
Page 256: ...DSP 232 Manual Addendum September 05 AD 2...
Page 259: ...Appendix A Radio Connections Radio Connection Diagrams September 05 A 3...
Page 260: ...Appendix A Radio Connections A 4 September 05...
Page 261: ...Appendix A Radio Connections September 05 A 5...
Page 262: ...Appendix A Radio Connections A 6 September 05...
Page 263: ...Appendix A Radio Connections September 05 A 7...
Page 267: ...Appendix D Mailbox Upgrade September 05 D 2...
Page 268: ...Appendix E Schematics and Pictorial September 05 E 3...