Hello Everyone: Piano technicians have our own live chat channel on the Undernet called "#pianotech". The Undernet is part of "Inter Relay Chat" (IRC) and is available to most people with internet access these days. All you need to join us is an IRC chat "client" such as mIRC or Netscape Chat and a ppp (graphical) internet connection. Unfortunately, users of Compuserve may not be able to access the channel due to their connection type. We have set up Tuesday evenings from about 21:00 EDT to midnight as a time for us to meet. All are welcome at any time as you never know who may show up on any day or any time. The room is open at all times (Saturday mornings seem to be a good time to find people there as well) and if no one is there, wait around a bit and someone usually shows up. To join us, load up your chat client (there are many IRC clients out there for all computers) and if you're running it for the first time, answer the questions it asks. Choose a nickname (it will tell you if the "nick" is already in use once you connect and then let you change it), and connect to a server such as "us.undernet.org" or "ca.undernet.org". When it connects, use your software to "Join" the channel called #pianotech (all IRC channels have a pound sign # in front of the name). Most software comes with a list of servers installed already and you can choose any Undernet server to connect with #pianotech. If you encounter slow connections or have problems connecting, keep trying. IRC has a tendency to be a little unstable at times. If you have problems send me EMail (I should get it within a couple of minutes) and I will do my best to help. So far, we've had participants from England, South Africa, Australia, Mexico, Argentina, Portugal and of course, Canada and the United States. Some have been interested piano players but others have been technicians as well. It's been fascinating hearing about unusual piano problems and situations in far-away places! If you do join us, one of the "nicks" that you will see there is "@X". For those unfamiliar with it, X is not a participant, but a program (called a "bot") which keeps the basic information about #pianotech and a number of other registered channels. "X" will not respond if you attempt to converse with it, so just ignore it and wait a while for someone else to show up. If anyone has any questions, just EMail me unless you feel the group might be interested. Live chat is a great way to exchange ideas or just spend some time in friendly conversation with like-minded people. We're hoping to see some of you there on Tuesday evenings (or ANY night!) in #pianotech ! John John Musselwhite, RPT Calgary, Alberta Canada musselj@cadvision.com
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