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PART ONE - FOR THOSE NOT FAMILIAR WITH IRC |
| What Is IRC? |
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IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. An IRC network (of which there are dozens) is a network of servers that are all connected to one another. Using an IRC client program (the software you install on your computer that allows you to connect to an IRC network), you can connect to any one of the servers in a network and chat (type messages back and forth) with anyone else who is connected to that network. |
| What Are Channels On IRC? |
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At any given time, thousands or even tens of thousands of users may be connected to any particular IRC network. As you might imagine, it would be absolute chaos if they were all able to see what everyone typed over the entire network. Besides that, if you wanted to chat with fellow hams about radio or club business, you sure wouldn't want to read all the stuff typed by 14-year old kids discussing rap music! Therefore, IRC uses CHANNELS to allow groups of users to group together for convenience. Generally, all the users in an IRC channel can see what all the other users in that channel say. In order to see what your fellow ARATS members are saying, you'd have to be in the #ARATS channel. Then you can see what is being said by the other users in #ARATS - but not what is being said by the users in (for example) #raptunes or whatever. Another catch is that with so many different IRC networks, you have to be connected to the same network in order to chat with someone. |
| OK, How Do I Get Into The #ARATS Channel? |
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The #ARATS channel is on the IRC network known as ZiRC. To connect and chat with fellow ARATS members on the club IRC channel, you first need to install an IRC client program. For users of IBM or compatible computers, the program mIRC is an excellent choice and one that I highly recommend. You can download it for free here: |
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The file to install mIRC is a self-extracting .EXE executable. You download the file, the run the .EXE to install the program. Feel free to nose around on the www.mirc.com website while you are there - there are some excellent tutorials there to help you learn the basics of IRC and setting up the mIRC program. Just read them! Once you have installed mIRC, the next step is to set up the basic options for the program - namely, picking yourself a suitable "nick" - the screen name others will know you by on IRC - and selecting the network (ZiRC if you want to visit the #ARATS channel) and one of the servers on that network that is near you. Your callsign makes a good nick for IRC, since it is going to be unique. The program will also ask for a backup nick, to be used in case your regular one is already in use. I recommend NOT using your first name. It will probably already belong to someone else. Try to come up with something more unique - perhaps a variation on your callsign with a suffix added (W2SEX-2 or KC2HMZ-2 - but use your own call not mine or the club's!). To visit the #ARATS channel you want to select the ZiRC network. Then from the list of servers in the ZiRC network you can pick one near you, or just select "Random ZiRC server" and let mIRC choose one for you. However, I'd advise picking one near you. Some of the servers on the network are in other countries! It will take longer to connect to the server in Germany than the one in New York. Once you're connected to the server, you'll see that mIRC will open a status window, with an edit box at the bottom into which you can type text. To enter the #ARATS channel you type this: /join #ARATS This will open another window into the #ARATS channel. Along the right side you'll see the nicklist, which shows you all the other people in the channel (and yourself as well), if any. Anything you type into the edit box in this window will be seen by everyone else in the channel. You are there - have fun chatting with your fellow hams! |
| More On The #ARATS Channel |
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OK, time for a short history lesson here. I first became involved with IRC as part of my shortwave listening activities back in the mid to late 1990's before I got my first ham ticket. On an IRC network called IRCNet there were a couple of channels dedicated to hobby radio called #monitor and #airband and I became a regular user there. The #milcom channel was also eventually created, and I was one of the four channel managers of the original #milcom on IRCNet. It was one of the other three #milcom channel managers (namely Mac McCormick, KF4LMT) who convinced me to get my ham ticket back in September 1999. However, for various reasons I kind of drifted away from IRC and the internet for a few years sometime after that. Back in February of 2004, though, there were some technical problems that developed on IRCNet, and as a result, the #monitor, #airband, and #milcom channels were re-created on the ZiRC network. Shortly thereafter, I was contacted by the person who founded those channels on ZiRC and kind of coaxed out of IRC retirement. Since I was hanging around on ZiRC anyway, I founded the $ARATS channel there. I have it set up as a publicly accessible channel, so that anyone can /join #ARATS and visit the club channel. My intent in so doing is for any hams anywhere to be able to visit with ARATS members and other hams via the #ARATS channel. If we want a private channel only for ARATS members, I can just as easily add an #ARATS[members] channel with password access so that only ARATS members can /join the channel. When I am able to do so, I also operate what's known as a BOT on the #ARATS channel. When the bot is in the channel its nick is either CAMSLANT or CAMSPAC, and it will let you download files for free from my computer by typing the trigger !filebot - it works kind of like an FTP session - and browsing the directories (folders) there. I have some mIRC-related and radio-related files available now, and will add to it as time goes on. You can even download the fileserver script for the bot if you want to run a fileserver of your own! |
| #ARATS Channel Policies |
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As founder of the #ARATS channel, I retain ownership of the channel as far as the providers of the service (ZiRC) is concerned. The software that operates the ZiRC services grant a channel founder certain privileges that aren't given to other users on a channel. This includes the capability to create access lists, designate channel operators, and even to ban users from the channel should this become necessary. I'll be more than happy to grant channel operator status to any ARATS member(s) who are sufficiently familiar with IRC to handle channel operator privileges. Channel operators can do things that users who aren't "opped" cannot do, such as kick troublesome users out of the channel (useful if the channel is visited by one of the porno-ad senders that sometimes pop up in IRC networks), grant operator privileges to others, etc. If you're an ARATS member who's well-versed in IRC, let me know and we'll discuss adding you to the channel operators' list. Other than that, I've really set no rules other than the following: 1. Advertising scripts (like the aforementioned porno-ad senders) are not permitted. (The CAMSLANT bot advertises its presence and feautres occasionally to let users know that it is there to be used - FServe Bots are permitted to advertise as long as the advertising isn't excessive) 2. Participation is like our club's general membership meetings - open to anyone with an interest in ham radio. However, only ARATS members are eleigible to receive channel operator status. 3. Users are asked to observe rules and policies of the ZiRC Network (in particular, note that ZiRC permits a maximum of three connections per IP). If you get yourself kicked off of ZiRC by the ZiRC staff for violating network policies, neither I nor anyone else on the #ARATS channel can help you...so behave yourself! |
| Elsewhere on ZiRC |
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As previously mentioned, there are some other radio-related channels on the ZiRC network. These are #monitor (mainly focusing on shortwave utility station monitoring, although nothing radio-related is discouraged there), #airband (military aircraft band listening), and #milcom (military communications monitoring). These are open to anyone, but please observe the channel topics when visiting them. |
| In Conclusion... |
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...IRC can be a lot of fun, and a good way to meet people and make friends and learn new things - sort of like the hobby of amateur radio. Granted that it does not use radio directly, this is strictly an Internet activity. However, it does allow users to send files back and forth, play music and other sound effects (which is forbidden in the Amateur Radio Service), and other things that are not all that easy (or illegal) to do over the radio but perfectly acceptable on IRC. Consider this your invitation to set up an IRC client on your machine and visit the #ARATS ZiRC channel. I look forward to chatting with you there when I can! |
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| PART TWO - FACTOIDS FOR THOSE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH IRC |
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The information in this section will probably make little sense to you if you are new to IRC. However, if you are at least familiar with the basics - and especially if you're a somewhat experienced IRC user - the information in this section is intended to help you take full advantage of the services on ZiRC and the #ARATS channel. |
| Registering Your Nick |
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ZiRC uses IRC Services somewhat similar to what's in place on DalNet and other IRC networks. To register your nick you must be logged on using the nick you wish to register, and the nick must not be already registered to someone else. To find out of a nick is available use: /msg nickserv info <nick> where <nick> is the nick you would like to register (don't use the brackets just type the nick). If the nick is registered, you'll get information from NickServ about it. If the nick is available, you won't, and then you can register the nick to yourself using the REGISTER command. The syntax for REGISTER follows: /msg nickserv register <password> <email> where <password> is the password you wish to use to /identify to nickserv when you log onto ZiRC, and <email> is a vaild eail address where nickserv will send an authcode for you to send back to nickserv on IRC to complete registering your nick. Registering a nick is good for as long as you wish to keep it, however, if you don't use a nick for 14 days, you lose it. I recommend doing this for both your primary and secondary nicks. The CAMSLANT fileserver bot will allow you to download the complete manual on ZiRC services. Look for the file in the mircstuff directory and GET it! |
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Settings On My IRC Client Program |
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My own registered nicks are KC2HMZ (my callsign) and KNY2VS (my monitoring station registry ID issued by CRB Research in New Jersey). The CAMSLANT and CAMSPAC nicks used by my fileserver in #ARATS are also registered to me. |
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As of this writing (April 2004), my personal IRC client is mIRC Version 6.14 (32-bit) with several scripts incorporated. I do connect using a secure connection (e-mail me for more info on how to do this) which has DES encryption on the connection between my IP and the server. I also have the capability to use RC4/CS1/CS2 strong encryption in any channel (the script for this can be downloaded from the bot - it's in the mircstuff directory, and the filename is rcforge.zip), but of course we must be using the same encryption method and key in order to communicate this way. These encryption method are very difficult to break using brute-force techniques. The Cray mainframes at Fort Meade might be able to brute-force the encryption in a week or so, but presumably the NSA boys have better things to do. |
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The CAMSLANT/CAMSPAC file server is mIRC version 5.51 (32-bit) running a script known as FServe3000 - this script is the fs3000.zip available in the mircstuff directory on the fileserver. In fact, all the scripts running on both my personal client and the bot client are available for download via the bot. These include the fserve script that drives the filebot, an away system, last seen nick utility, and several popups collections. |
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Both CAMSLANT (or sometimes CAMSPAC instead) and my personal client listen for !nick filename.ext sound file GET requests. My personal client listens for sound requests; the bot's doesn't since it is running on the same machine. In any event you can direct GET requests for sound files to either instance, but /splay commands will be responded to only by my personal client instance, not by the bot. My personal client program generally ignores file transfer requests (except !nick soundfile.ext) and CAMSLANT ignores file send requests (there is no need to upload to the bot since all the files are free, full leech, no ratios). In fact, the bot ignores all dcc chat requests except: 1. Requests for an fserve session (initiated with the !filebot trigger) 2. Requests for a random file (initiated with the !free trigger) - this will cause the bot to pick a file at random and dcc-send it to you, a convenient way for you to test your dcc file transfer sendings. The bottom line here is, if you want to initiate a private chat, initiate it with my personal client (KC2HMZ or KNY2VS), not the bot (which will ignore you). If you want a sound file you can request it from either client, they share the same sounds directories. If you want to download something that isn't a sound file (mIRC scripts/addons, radio-related stuff), grab it from the bot. To get my attention if I'm away from the keyboard or have mIRC minimized while working on something else, try using /splay sttng.wav which will play a short part of the theme song from the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show theme song. You can get this file yourself by typing !camslant sttng.wav or !kc2hmz sttng.wav (or the alternate nicks, if they're in use). |