LONNY LINES!

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Many years ago, in the very early 1990's, I recall hearing a QSO on the local 147.12 RACES repeater where the topic of conversation was something called LONNY. Local hams were talking about connecting down to New York City and then connecting overseas to London. My personal knowledge of packet radio was nil and this was also just before the Internet burst forth as the Information Superhighway. The concept was quite intriguing but it was also clear from the content that there was some confusion as just how the LONNY infrastructure was laid out. By 1996, I was into the packet scene bigtime, quickly mastered the NEDA (North East Digital Association) network node maps, located useable although far flung packet-to-the-Internet gatways and discovered LONNY.
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Perhaps due to whatever genetic peculiarities I may harbor, I documented virtually every system I probed, scanned and employed. LONNY was no exception. I came across some text files I preserved from my exploration of this remarkable amateur radio communications system, along with an eventual death notice from one of LONNY's SysOps. These text files have been repaginated for display within the Blogspot message posting environment.
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LONNY SYSTEM OVERVIEW
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The LONNY system consists of 2 BPQ netrom nodes connected together at 9600Bd full duplex over a commercial data circuit. The London end is located in the NBC NEWS buro next to centre point (io91wk) the New York end ,30 Rockefeller Plaza central NY at NBC NEWS HQ. A further 9600 Bd wormhole also connects NY to Burbank in California. The node calls are LONNY GB7GBR-1,NYHUB WA2NDV-10 and BURBNK W6RCL-2 LONNY and NYHUB also have co sited BBS and TCPIP routers,#gbbbs gb7gbr,IPNBC gb7gbr-5,BBSNDV wa2ndv-4,NYTALK wa2ndv-9. All the nodes are fully integrated into their respective local packet networks,NYHUB and LONNY both supporting 2 9K6 links each to their neighbouring nodes plus other 1200Bd links. The data circuit is owned by NBC NEWS and the ham service is multiplexed into the primary 128KB data stream carrying the networks news computer links. The service is tolerated as the amount of data added by the amateur network is negligble relative to the main service. The circuit is carried over an undersea transatlantic fiber optic cable TAT9 with a back up path available via 56 kb ISDN dial up. The Lonny node and BBS run on a 386 33 mhz machine while IPNBC is running on a seperate 486 dx 66 machine. The system has been running for approximately 4 years continuosly and in the last year tcpip routing to an internet gate in New Jersey has further enhanced the available connectivity of the system. Users should be aware it is illegal for uk stations to originate msgs on USA BBS systems and vice versa. BBSNDV and GB7HSN forward twice hourly so launch your mail from the right side of the pond please. Equipment for the system is all donated by and maintained by local amateurs and the nbc radio club. In particular G1HSN and G4ZEK who both have invested substantial time and equipment in providing various Rf links and computer equipment.
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regards Julian (g4nqo sysop lonny UK)
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This system is co sited with the Lonny BPQ node/wormhole which is linked to WA2NDV-10 in New York USA on a private data circuit at 9600BD WA2NDV-10 has a 9k6 rf link to the internet gate k2mf-5 in New Jersey. LONNY has 2 9k6 rf links to g1hsn-1 and gb7me and IPNBC has 2 1200bd rf links on 4m linking to the catrad network and 6m user access with no links. Telnet connects from this site to any of the ham/internet gateways typically take 5-10 seconds sometimes less. All international tcpip traffic from this site routes via k2mf-5 44.64.20.2 If you wish to reach the IPBBC gateway please note telnet connections route to it via k2mf-5 (recommended as its fast). Alternatively you can use the RF path by connecting to g8lws-1 then IPBBC. An AXIP Link to IPBBC also runs from WA2NDV-10. To use that connect to NYHUB (wa2ndv-10) then connect to IPBBC. This will again route via k2mf-5. Due to differing route quality standards in the US and UK I do not advise you try netrom connects more than one node out from lonny to any UK nodes as many netrom routes are one way ie lonny is on node tables of nodes that don,t appear on lonny,s node table. Best go to WIGGY or MOTTHM or CATA40 or GB7ME and then netrom out further from those nodes. Avoid using the world wide converse server on IPNBC as it hammers the memory resources. This system provides international links for most of the SE UK if it crashes a lot of people are affected. Check NEWS and RULES for more help or info.
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***** DO NOT *****
Telnet to non 44. XX ie non ham ip addresses.
Multiple stream connect to or through this system
Access the IPNBC converse server unless your desperate
Converse link your converse system to IPNBC without asking
Access converse servers along way away..use your nearest one thats linked
Drag me or this system into pro/con debates on BBS,s
***** -X- *****
ENJOY
de G4NQO
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World Wide Converse in the UK
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The worldwide converse (WWC) is made up of numerous converse nodes around the world linked together over internet and amateur packet links. Generally the international links use very hi speed internet links while the links around a particular country utilise amateur packet links. A station logging onto a linked WWC node can expect to find anything upto several hundred stations logged on at any particular time on dozens of different logical channels.
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Obviously this amount of traffic generates huge amounts of data every frame of which must be successfully carried to every node on the network and if the system is to work correctly, be carried pretty damn quick. Consequently if we are all to enjoy this relatively new facet of packet
radio some simple rules should be followed to minimise the loading it imposes on the amateur network.
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1) Stay Local! use your nearest converse server. Each node you hop through to reach a converse server will have to carry the full converse load just for you. If you go the same route the converse links are already using you double the traffic load,jam the converse network and gain nothing..don,t do it...EVER!!!!!
2) Keep off the default channel 0. Its the busiest most chaotic thing you will ever see on packet
3) use the /w q command rather than /w. to see who,s connected.200 calls plus their names,qth,age,sex and the weather is an awful lot of traffic. Unless you have a very good link its unlikely the converse server will get all this info to you before it times out and dumps you. /w callsign will tell you a stations personal text on jnos systems.
4)You want to be a converse server? If so you will need to conv link your nos station to an exsisting converse server. Golden rules 1) ASK first! 2) make sure you have a fast reliable route. 3) Don,t link to two linked converse servers at the same time you will generate a converse loop and you will cause chaos ultimately someone will disconnect the converse link to the UK to maintain the service and its real embarrassing having to ask to be reconnected afterwards. Not too much to ask is it??
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73 Julian (sysop Lonny/ipnbc/gb7gbr)
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Message #16
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 16:00:37 +0000 (GMT)
From: Gareth Rowlands
To: all
Subject: *** LONNY CLOSEDOWN ***
Message-Id: 4430_GB7BBC
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Hi Lonny users
I have reluctantly decided to shut down the Lonny node RF ports for an indefinate period while various licence issues are addressed. To date i have tried to quietly keep abreast of of the various issues that have been raised on the packet network and the represnetations made to the DTI/RA/RSGB and have felt fairly confident of battling through but with the latest warning that BBS are restricted to operation from home addresses, the front end node restrictions, technical problems at the site and a lot of work going on I just havn,t got the time at the moment for something that is rapidly having all the fun taken out if by seemingly endless red tape..I,m an engineer not a pen pusher!all the best for now
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Julian (g4nqo sysop Lonny/IPNBC/GB7GBR)