Vintage Packet BBS Station

New tech working alongside vintage tech: sending a packet BBS message from a portable RF packet station.

A Heath Pocket Packet HK-21 TNC connected to a Yaesu FT5D handheld and an HP Jornada 720 handheld computer showing a packet BBS welcome message, on a workbench beside an old Heath manual — The whole station: the Heath HK-21 on the left, the Yaesu FT5D behind it and the HP Jornada on the right

This is a portable RF packet and BBS station, built from gear of very different ages:

A Heath HK-21 Pocket Packet TNC, 45 years old when I took this photo
An HP Jornada handheld computer, 25 years old
A Yaesu FT5D handheld radio, 4 years old

The Jornada runs the terminal, the HK-21 turns the text into packets, and the FT5D sends them over the air. On the screen is a message on my packet BBS, the N7WDZ PBBS. It runs on a Raspberry Pi 5 with Direwolf and TNCEMU, a virtual TNC that is based on the Heath Pocket Packet HK-21.

The front of the black Heath HK-21 Pocket Packet TNC, with its radio port, speaker jack, status lights and power switch — The Heath HK-21 Pocket Packet

The HP Jornada 720 open on a workbench with a terminal window showing the N7WDZ packet BBS welcome message, beside the Yaesu handheld — The Jornada showing the BBS welcome message

Links

Pocket Pico TNC Live APRS