Satgen 185  SETI, Meteors, Duplicate Space Bulletins  by GM4IHJ 10 Oct 92

BID of this msg is SGEN185 . USE that BID if you retransmit to avoid dupes

SETI  On 12 Oct 92 NASA will commence a major Radio Search for Extra
Terrestrial Intelligence. You can hold any of a dozen views on this
subject. Eg 1. There is no one there. 2. There is but they are too smart
to talk to us. 3. There is but they are few and far between. 4. We are in
quarantine as the Lunatic Asylum of the Universe etc etc. Most people
doubt whether NASA will get an answer. But Radio Amateurs should not lose
sight of the fact that much of the radio spectrum is "unfashionable" with
professional searchers. In fact there is no reason why the LF, MF or HF
portions of the radio spectrum cannot hold clues to the percentage of star
systems inhabited by compulsive broadcasters. SARA was a good start to
Amateur satellite exploration beyond the earth. We must get clear of the
earths ionosphere to get good HF results so variants on the SARA theme are
desirable at HF. At LF and MF the earths natural transmissions outside the
ionosphere are so loud that we will have to get well clear of earth on any
satellites we use to explore those parts of the spectrum. But lets do it.
METEORS  The concensus of reports on the Aug 11th 92 Perseids says it was
a strong shower with max around 1900 to 2000 ut. But despite the strength
of this years Perseids there is no sign as yet of the presumed progenitor
comet ( either Swift Tuttle or , Kegler ). Next good shower is ORIONIDS
progenitor Comet Halley from 18 to 26th Oct daily between 2100 and 1145
ut.Peak is likely am 20th good for G antenna heading 120 ie G into Europe.
There may be a secondary peak on the morning of 23 Oct 92.
GATEWAYS. Downloading . The most important thing about a bulletin
downloaded from Uo22, HF or Telephone is its BID Bulletin Identifier. Eg
the BID on this msg should be sgen185. Anyone changing that BID is in
effect producing a duplicate which will circulate as a time wasting
traffic blocking nuisance. If you are in country X and you are not a BBS.
You need to tell your BBS the BID if you retransmit the bull into the
terrestrial system. You Do this by Eg SB AMSAT @ X $ sgen185 , as your
address statement to the BBS. Please note the X for which you substitute
your own country Eg SB AMSAT @ F $ sgen185   to send it into France. Do
not use a Continent address Eg EU has at least 6 other gateways who will
probably download any useful bulletin, unless of course you are in a big
country where you occupy most of a continent and you have arranged with
other gateways on that continent , distributions which avoid duplication
of their efforts. Some countries require special licenses to operate
gateways . Here in UK the debate is about whether we license more than one
gateway. But in other countries there is no debate and stations which are
not even bulletin boards are downloading from Uo22, HF or worms direct
into their local BBS oblivious of the fact that unless they specify the
original BID , their BBS will put a new one, causing more duplication.
I realise this is complex . If anyone differs with my statements here
please say so . I am happy to be corrected if you are right. Because it is
important we get this right. At least one country in Europe is relaxing
its licensing to the point where " Non AMSAT users could for example build
Uo22 gateways using them in a non standard fashion to pass short range
traffic around their own country ". 73 de GM4IHJ @ GB7SAN