[aprssig] Reaching an Igate should not be the utimate goal foreveryone

[AE5PL Lists]

You are correct, reaching the Internet should not be the ultimate goal.
Reaching the network backbone should be, however, when trying to
communicate over long distances.  Attempting to go through multiple
repeaters on a single channel should be avoided due to exponential
degradation of bandwidth and reliability.

Why do you think that Ethernet repeaters have all but disappeared (I
think I just dated myself ;-)?  Because the networking world found out
early on that using a single channel medium with repeaters severely
degraded the usability of that channel.  And that was at 10 megabits per
second!  Why can't amateurs figure out that multi-hop repeating on a
single channel renders that channel virtually useless when more than 2
or 3 stations are on that channel, especially when that channel only
supports 1200 bits per second?

The backbone doesn't have to be the Internet, although that provides the
worldwide connectivity we use today.  Germany, for instance, has an RF
backbone that has a portal into the Internet but most "IGates" are
connected to this RF backbone, not to the Internet directly.

Our RF networks also may (and do) fail in emergencies.  To believe
otherwise is to ignore history.  Dependence on APRS for messaging in
times of an emergency is questionable at best considering the other
mediums we have available to us that are more reliable for emergency
traffic.  In times of emergency, the local emergency operations need to
operate autonomously with minimal interference to other areas, even in
wide-area disaster scenarios.  Those local operations then communicate
up a hierarchy via communications methods best suited for that
particular type of message exchange.  In most cases, APRS does not
factor into this messaging scenario at all.

All of these path issues would be mute if amateurs would investigate
implementing a system which eliminates source routing and puts APRS
AX.25 network on par with other modern networks.  See you at DCC.

73,

Pete Loveall AE5PL
mailto:pete at ae5pl.net 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Germino
> Posted At: Friday, August 26, 2005 11:35 PM
> Subject: [aprssig] Reaching an Igate should not be the 
> utimate goal foreveryone
> 
> Reaching an Igate should not be the ultimate goal. 
> The Internet is a great addition to APRS, but it shouldn't be 
> the Holy Grail.  As we get more and more bound to a network 
> that may fail in an emergency, we lose some of the reasons we 
> play with APRS.
> 
> I can see everyone's reasons for changing or not wanting to 
> change.  One day there will be a "FIX" or a new system.  At 
> that time I hope we retain the radio part of the system as a 
> very important part.