3/12/2021
My amateur radio station has been running a packet radio node for the last year. Packet radio has been around for decades and in many areas there are many stations that are set up as "nodes" allowing users to connect to other stations that would be outside of their normal operating distance. Some nodes are just a radio and a modem, and some are connected to a computer with internet links. I opted for a full-featured node and have been using BPQ32.
BPQ32 gives the system operator the option of adding a telnet port to the server. In the BPQ32.cfg file, just add the following code:
The fields "CMSCALL" and "CMSPASS" require your input. The most important part after that is setting up users. In the "USER" field, the format is "userID,password,callsign,,SYSOP" for the system operator, or "userID,password,callsign" for guests that you want to allow on your system via telnet. Note: the system operator has a blank fourth field (two commas next to each other) and for both the SYSOP and normal users, there are no spaces between inputs. After doing a reset of BPQ32 to import the updated config file, you will just need to open the identified port on your router. It's also important to setup DDNS so that your public IP does not change. I use ddns.net and it has worked great.
Once your BPQ32 telnet port is running, you can access your packet station from anywhere you have internet! This is also a great way of introducing packet radio to other operators who may not be interest in purchasing additional equipment to get into packet - just give them a telnet username and password.