284 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
284 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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Must have logged on with 8-N-1 for ALL binary transfers!
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Options: C(rc xmodem), X(modem), B(atch ymodem), Y(modem),
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K(ermit), A(scii), T(ype)
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Commands: C,X,B,Y,K,A,T ===>
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Illegal option
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Time left = 43 minutes and 57 seconds
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Current download area = pcp
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Current upload area = upload
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Allowable daily download limit = 5416843 bytes
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A(rea change) D(ownload) F(ile list) M(ain menu)
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G(oodbye) T(oggle page) ?( help )
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Commands: A,D,F,M,G,T,? ===> d
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Input file name to download: rvprimer.txt
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Must have logged on with 8-N-1 for ALL binary transfers!
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Options: C(rc xmodem), X(modem), B(atch ymodem), Y(modem),
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K(ermit), A(scii), T(ype)
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Commands: C,X,B,Y,K,A,T ===> a
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Once the transfer starts, you may terminate it by typing a Control-K
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Type a character to start the transfer when you are ready ===>
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08/13/87
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The Racal-Vadic Primer v1.0
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or
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What's this blasted MANUAL ANSWER anyway?
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-----------------------------------------------------
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DISCLAIMER
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------------
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Please be aware that since this mode is unsupported, there is the
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possibility that Telenet could start using a different brand of modem
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which would render this feature invalid. You are strictly on your own and
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therefore can not hold Telenet responsible for not making this mode
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available.
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Furthermore, this text was prepared ad hoc and is in no way a definitive
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guide to the operation and/or use of either PC Pursuit or the Racal-Vadic
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mode described herein. Any errors or ommisions are my own and I am sorry for
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any inconvience this may cause you. Please understand that by using this
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method of dialing you are totaly responsible for your actions and any
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consequences as a result of said use.
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OVERVIEW
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----------
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The Racal-Vadic mode is an unsupported and to date, poorly documented
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feature of the outdial modems that are currently in use with PC Pursuit.
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It enables you to better understand what is happening at the other end of
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your connection by telling you what is happening. This type of operation is
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known as "call progression" because it gives you a response as the modem
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progresses through the phone call.
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ACITVATING AND DEACTIVATING THE MODE
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--------------------------------------
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The first thing we will cover is how to activate and de-activate the
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Racal-Vadic mode. Some of you may have already experienced the rather
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unexpected "MANUAL ANSWER" response after entering the Hayes command
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"ATZ". What has happened is that you have connected with a modem that
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is already in the Racal-Vadic mode of operation. When you entered "ATZ",
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the 'A' was sensed by the modem as the command to manualy answer the
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phone line. If this happens, just press your return key. This will make
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the modem return to command mode signified by the '*' prompt. While at
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this prompt you could enter an 'I' and then press return. This will make
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the modem <I>dle the Racal-Vadic mode and return you to the Hayes mode
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of operation.
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If, on the other hand, you were to receive the normal "OK" response
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from the modem after entering the "ATZ" command. You can activate the
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Racal-Vadic mode by entering <CTRL>-E and pressing the return key. The
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modem will now respond with "HELLO, I'M READY" and the '*' prompt.
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To summarize activation and de-activation:
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From the Hayes mode - <CTRL>-E and <RETURN> - to activate.
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From the '*' prompt - <I> and <RETURN> - to de-activate.
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I suggest getting into the habit of sending the de-activation sequence
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when you first connect to a city node so that you know exactly what mode
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the modem is in. You should also send an "ATZ" to make sure that the modem
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is operational by seeing if the modem sends you back an "OK" response.
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You can then send the activation command to enter Racal-Vadic mode.
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There are two cases where the modem will return by itself to the Hayes
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mode. The first is after you connect to a BBS. The other is while you're
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at the command prompt and haven't entered anything for a short period of
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time.
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DIALING
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---------
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Now your ready to dial a phone number using the Racal-Vadic mode.
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To do this, just enter a 'D' followed by the number you wish to dial.
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For example, "D1234567", (pressing return of course!) will dial 123-4567.
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Well, we've dialed a phone number, what now? After all, any modem can
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dial a number, right? But not every modem can tell you what follows...
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RESPONSE MESSAGES
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-------------------
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The following is a short description of each response the Racal-Vadic
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mode can give you while dialing. They are, for the most part, self-
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explanatory. But there are a few things you should consider with some of
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them and I'll point those out just in case.
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DIALING... - The modem has detected a dial tone and is now dialing
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the phone number.
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NO DIAL TONE - Just what it means, no dial tone was detected. Try again,
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if you keep getting this then there is something wrong with
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either the modem or the telephone line on that end. Contact
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Customer Support and tell them you experienced this, tell
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them the city node you were connected to also.
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BUSY! - A busy signal has been detected. This is not the same
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kind of BUSY as you'd get in the Hayes mode. There is
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circuitry in the modem that can sense a busy signal, so
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it will return to the command mode quicker to allow you
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to decide what to do next. (Please see my note about the
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BUSY response below also)
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RINGING... - Self-explanatory.
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ANSWER TONE - Self-explanatory.
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ON LINE - Self-explanatory.
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FAILED CALL - The phone rang for ten times with no answer. Either the
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the BBS you called is down or no longer in existence, or
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you reached someone's home and they weren't there.
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REDIALING A NUMBER
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--------------------
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After you have received a BUSY! response you can re-dial the same
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phone number up to 9 times with the 'R' command. To use this command,
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enter an "R" and press the return key.
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DISCONNECTING WHILE ONLINE
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----------------------------
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In a manner similar to the "+++" "ATH" Hayes command sequence, there
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is a two control code sequence that will dis-connect you from the BBS
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you are connected to. To activate it press <CTRL>-C then <CTRL>-D.
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Prior to disconnecting from the city node, make sure the modem is not
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in Racal-Vadic mode by issuing the <I>dle command. Be nice to others that
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may not be aware of this mode of operation yet!
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OTHER COMMANDS
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----------------
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The command 'P' or '?' will print the following list of commands that
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the modem is designed to use. Since these are not needed in order to use
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the Racal-Vadic mode effectively they will not be discusssed. This list
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is here purely for your information.
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A MANUAL ANSWER
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D DIAL NUMBER
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G MANUAL ORGINATE
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I IDLE
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K PAUSE
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O OPTIONS
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P,? PRINT MENU
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R REDIAL
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T TABLE OF OPTIONS
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CONTROL A ALB TEST
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CONTROL (CD) DISCONNECT
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CONTROL D REQUEST DLB TEST
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CONTROL H BACKSPACE
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BEWARE THE BUSY
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-----------------
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The BUSY! response primarily indicates that the phone number you dialed
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was busy, common sense tell you that. What I want to point out to you in
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this section is that there are other possibilities that could mean that
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something else is actually occuring.
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a. CONTINUOUS BUSIES
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----------------------
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The first thing to be aware of is Telenet's exchange lock-out feature.
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This prevents you from making a long-distance call or any local calls
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to exchanges that Telenet would be charged more than is profitable. All
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you will know is that you constantly get BUSY! responses when you dial a
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certain phone number. The response tends to be returned from the modem
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much quicker then a legitimate BUSY! for a valid phone number. This is
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not a hard and fast rule though. Two methods that are available to you
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for determining if this is the cause of the continuous busies are:
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1. - Check the exchange lists provided by Telenet, if the exchange is
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not listed for the number your calling, you may as well stop
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wasting anymore time calling that number. It is a victim of the
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exchange lock-out.
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2. - If the exchange is listed but you've always received a BUSY!
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response, try this. Hang-up from Telenet and dial the number
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direct. If you hear a busy signal you can continue trying some
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more, you may have latched onto a very, very busy system. But
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if the phone rings, hang-up immediately. This way you won't be
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charged for the call. You should then leave word with Customer
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Support or on the Net-Exchange that this happened. Telenet may
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have a typo concerning that exchange.
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b. RINGING... BUSY!
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---------------------
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There are a few things that can cause this. Although I'm not talking
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about the RING BUSY RING BUSY... loop that can occure when you first
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connect to a city node. You can get out of that by rapidly and repeatedly
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sending an "ATZ" to the modem in an effort to break out of the loop. There
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is a narrow window where this will succeed, but it can be done.
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The main cause of this is by dialing a person's phone instead of a BBS.
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This will usually be followed by a variable number of rings prior to
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getting the BUSY!. Make certain that the phone number you have is really
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a BBS. If you've never called that BBS before, you may have a case where
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the BBS folded and someone else received the phone number after the sysop
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canceled that phone line. A BBS less than 6 months old or with less than
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24 hour access can be highly suspect. New and odd-hour BBS's tend to come
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and go rather often.
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If you want to continue to dial this number, first call direct to make
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sure that it isn't a person's phone. Constantly getting a carrier signal
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in your ear is not a pleasurable experience. You would also be doing them
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a favor by letting them know that their new phone number used to be a
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BBS. If that's the case they've probably been getting a ton of bizzare
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calls, especially late at night, and could benefit from your call so that
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they can get their number changed.
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If, on the other hand, you receive a carrier signal, try the other
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Baud rate. if that doesn't work you could have reached a private system
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that is looking for a logon sequence immediately or will dis-connect you.
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Another possibility is that the BBS you've called has bombed and the
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modem is dutifully answering calls but there is no computer program
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operating to give you feed-back.
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CAVEAT
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--------
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What I've tried to cover here are the most common things that you may
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run into. But, by no means have I covered every base. There are points
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that I may have passed over completely because they have become second
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nature to me. Others may have not been explained to your satisfaction for
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the very same reason. And still other aspects may have been ignored because
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I'm simply not aware of them. In each and every case I ask you to leave
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word on the Net-Exchange as to what subjects are deficient or missing. That
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way I can expand this text to include your suggestions for the benefit of
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others.
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Thank you and good luck!
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Jack Radigan
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Time left = 42 minutes and 38 seconds
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Current download area = pcp
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Current upload area = upload
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Allowable daily download limit = 5405772 bytes
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A(rea change) D(ownload) F(ile list) M(ain menu)
|
|
G(oodbye) T(oggle page) ?( help )
|
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|
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Commands: A,D,F,M,G,T,? ===> |