$Author: plaws $ $Revision: 3.6 $ $Id: scan-l.txt,v 3.6 2002/06/12 17:57:30 plaws Exp $ SCAN-L FAQ http://plaws.net/scan/scan-l.txt SCANNING Scanning is described as the monitoring of non-broadcast radio transmissions above 30 MHz. Radios used for this purpose are commonly known as scanners since they "scan" a set of pre-programmed radio frequencies. Services found in this range include emergency services (Police, Fire, EMS, Sheriff), transportation (Railroads, Aircraft, Ships) and Amateur ("ham") Radio. SCAN-L This list was created by Peter Laws in April of 1995 to provide an electronic forum where folks in the scanning community can discuss activities related to scanning. Neither the listowner, nor the University receive any compensation for providing this service. SCAN-L subscriptions are available to anyone interested in the scanning hobby. It might be helpful to think of SCAN-L as an ongoing, virtual meeting of scanner enthusiasts. Feel free to participate. It is only through active use that a "virtual community" will evolve. The list is "self-moderated" -- you are responsible for what you post. Neither foul language nor threats against individuals or groups will be tolerated and will be dealt with appropriately. Given the state of scanner politics in the USA currently, there will be a certain amount of political discussion on the list. MAKE SURE THAT ANY "POLITICAL" DISCUSSIONS ARE STRICTLY SCANNING-RELATED! SCAN-L runs on L-SOFT's LISTSERV 1.8d for VM at the University of Arkansas. ****US LAW***************************************************************** In the United States of America, it is: 1) illegal to repeat what you hear on most radio bands; 2) illegal to profit from what you hear; 3) illegal to listen to CELLULAR, CORDLESS, and most other radio-based telephone systems. PLEASE KEEP THESE LAWS IN MIND WHEN YOU POST TO SCAN-L. For readers in other countries, please find out what laws may apply to what you post. *************************************************************************** COPYRIGHTED CONTENT Under no circumstances may you post the body of a web page to the list. You may, however, post a link to said content. This is usually well within the terms of the website's copyright notice. An example of this would be an article for a newspaper's online service. Make *certain*, however, that you have the right to post information you receive from a 3rd party! COMMERCIAL CONTENT The intent of this section is to ensure that SCAN-L stays commercial-free. The Worldwide Web makes a far better advertising medium than does this mailing list. Also, the University PROHIBITS commercial use of its facilities. An example of a commercial post might be a list of items available, with their prices and a phone number to call. USENET This list is not and will not be gated to any Usenet newsgroup. Reposts from any rec.radio.* newsgroups are welcome here with the restriction that headers must be trimmed and must only contain From (or Sender), Newsgroups, Subject and Date lines. BINARIES Binary files of any type, uuencoded, MIME or otherwise are not welcome on SCAN-L!! Check your documentation to ensure that you are not sending out HTML, RTF or other versions of every message. Many subscribers pay a fee to download their mail. It would be unfair for them to have to pay to download 50k of uuencoded .WAV files no matter how interesting those files may be. MISCELLANEOUS Obscene or indecent language is not permitted on SCAN-L. Commercial posts of any type are not permitted on SCAN-L. Attacks on individuals or groups are not permitted on SCAN-L. This is a hobby. Remember that. Single quotes around a command should not be sent, but are there for clarity. Remember that a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU goes to a machine, not a human, so it must be a command, while a message to SCAN-L@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU will be sent to everyone on the list. ***LISTSERV 1.8d has dozens of features. Please send the command 'help' *** ***or 'info refcard' to LISTSERV for a more complete listing of commands.*** Q1 How does somebody subscribe to the list? A1 Send a mail message to LISTSERV with 'subscribe SCAN-L Your Real Name'. Note that Your Real Name is *not* your userid, but the name your parents gave you! Q2 What if I have technical questions about how to get SCAN-L? A2 If you run into difficulties, please contact your ISP first. The majority of problems involving subscriptions to SCAN-L or other lists can be traced to incorrectly configured mailers. As a last resort, you can contact SCAN-L's owner at OWNER-SCAN-L@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU. Q3 How to I post a message to everybody on SCAN-L? A3 Send your message to SCAN-L@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU. The list is not moderated, but you must be subscribed to SCAN-L before LISTSERV will let you post. Use a descriptive subject line. Many people decide whether they want to read a message based solely on the content of the subject line. It is to *your* advantage to use a descriptive subject line! Q4 How do I leave the list? A4 You just subscribed and now you wanna leave? :-) To unsubscribe and leave the list, send the command 'signoff SCAN-L' to LISTSERV. This command must also come from the address from which you originally subscribed, so that LISTSERV can find the exact match. Q5 Vacation's coming. How do I just "suspend" SCAN-L for a while? A5 If you don't want to receive mail temporarily (if you are leaving for a vacation, for example), send 'set SCAN-L nomail' to LISTSERV. To start it again when you return, send 'set SCAN-L mail' to LISTSERV. Q6 I want to follow SCAN-L, but I don't want messages arriving all day. A6 Send the command 'set SCAN-L digest' to LISTSERV and it will save all the messages for the day and send them in one batch that evening (USA Central time). Q7 I don't even have time to read the digest . . . A7 Send the command 'set SCAN-L index' to LISTSERV and you will get only a list of subject lines once a day with instructions on how to get any particular message you might want. (This is another good reason to use descriptive subject lines!) To change back to the regular postings from either DIGEST or INDEX, send LISTSERV the command 'set SCAN-L NODIGEST' or 'set SCAN-L NOINDEX'. To check your distribution options, send 'query SCAN-L' to LISTSERV. Q8 I see that many columns are posted to SCAN-L. Most of them are quite good. Is there a way to subscribe to SCAN-L and receive *only* the columns? A8 Why, yes, there is! After you've subscribed, simply send the command 'set scan-l topics: Journal' to LISTSERV. This will enable the "Journal" topic. Topics on LISTSERV function somewhat like a CTCSS tone. Once a topic is set, only those messages transmitted with the correct topic will be received. Having no topic set is like operating with carrier squelch, i.e. all traffic is received. Unlike real CTCSS, however, you can invert it's operation. Should you wish to *NOT* receive columns, send the command 'set scan-l topics: All, -Journal' to LISTSERV. To reset your subscription to normal, send the command: 'set scan-l topics: All' to LISTSERV. DO NOT REPLY TO ITEMS WITH 'JOURNAL:' IN THE 'Subject:' LINE! If you *must* reply to a column, CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE! If you don't, your reply will go out to those who have chosen to only receive the columns. This will annoy those folks and cause them to send you nastygrams. Q9 Can I see what has been on SCAN-L in the past? A9 Yes. Each message is archived in a "notebook." One notebook contains everything that has been sent to SCAN-L for a month. For instance, to get the notebook for March 1997, send the command 'get SCAN-L LOG9703' to LISTSERV. The first two digits indicate the year and the last two indicate the month. The previous twelve months' logs are kept by LISTSERV. Q10 Hey! I just got summarily deleted! What gives? A10 Nothing personal. :-) Likely, your site was bouncing mail for a period of days, and either LISTSERV or SCAN-L's owner deleted you. Depending on the error, you may also have your subscription set to DIGEST. Q11 I tried to renew my subscription and followed LISTSERV's detailed directions to the letter, but it says I'm not subscribed to SCAN-L. How can that be? A11 One of two things has happened. Either you didn't reply to the renewal message within the generoius 14 day grace period OR your address is different from the one under which you subscribed. 99 times out of 100, it's the latter. Q12 I've switched ISPs and my address has changed. Please change my address to ... A12 Hold on, pardner! Send the command 'CHANGE listname newaddr', where listname is 'SCAN-L" and newaddr is your new email address. I don't add addresses manually as that defeats LISTSERV's address verification features. NETIQUETTE The cryptic, often-uninflected style of email writing can result in messages being interpreted in much harsher terms than the writer intended. All too often, this leads to "flame wars" resulting in waste of computer resources, hurt feelings, and a general disaffection. Biting criticism and personal attacks are unfunny and unwanted. Remember, there is a real person on the other end. You are responsible for what you write. Finally, be aware that it is a trivial job for "someone" to monitor electronic mail or any discussion list. It is also extremely easy to save any message and to forward it electronically or repost to another list tomorrow or in 10 years. This FAQ is maintained by plaws@plaws.net (owner SCAN-L). It contains passages from and is based on the FAQ for CARR-L (Computer Assisted Research and Reporting List), Owner: Elliott Parker <3zlufur@cmuvm.csv.cmich.edu>.