[FADCA] Telpac revisited

[bud thompson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Sinbine" <n4xeo at bellsouth.net>
To: <fadca at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 21:50
Subject: [FADCA] Telpac revisited


>
>
> Hi All
>
> I was looking back at my saved messages looking for something and I came 
> across this old message and felt that it had merit to be re posted since 
> bud and I were just talking about it Wednesday night.
>
> With the increase in Telpac stations we need to have the standard for the 
> quick connects in FPAC...
>
>
>
>     I don't have a problem with using -6, well maybe a slight one. We have
> a bbs (n4joa) using -6 now, but I think this can be moved.. If there are
> no further comments I think I will get started making the changes. Now, 
> the
> question is what Telpac nodes are out there?
>
> Info is needed for the following that do not have a station listed:
>
>
>
> Lan / City                              TelPac/WL2K Station
> Arcadia / Brownsville
>
> Boca Raton
>
> Ft. Pierce
>
> Lake Harbor
>
> Lake Placid
>
> Melbourne                            kn6kb
> Okeechobee
>
> Sarasota
>
> Stuart
>
> Vero Beach
>
> West Palm Beach                kd4lxb-2
>
>
> Please note - this list in not all inclusive, info is needed for other 
> areas
> also.
>
> Station should have a good reliable connection into the network, 
> preferably
> at a high speed.
>
>
>
> Bud, on your proposed Lan frequency list you might include the TelPac 
> station
> and the quick connect..
>
>
>
> Now, the discussion on additional quick connects:
>
> Adding additional quick connects to fpac above ssid -15 will not be 
> useable
> from a users tnc. Most tnc's will not accept a connect request with -17 or
> -a. This is built into ax25 protocol. Since Fpac already uses -0 to -6 
> (quick
> connects) and -8, -9 -10 (switch call) this leave only 6 ssid's for 
> possible
> additional quick connects. Probably not enough for a busy EOC that has to
> connect to a bunch of shelters and other EOC's.
>
>     An alternate solution might be to use the FPAC quick connects for 
> common
> things like TelPac, local BBS's, etc. and move the other needs to the 
> terminal
> program in the EOC, Shelter, etc. A simple program like Packcom has up to
> 40 function key positions (F1, shift F1, Alt F1 and Cntrl F1-10). Windows
> based terminal programs probably have even more. A cheat sheet could tell
> the operator which key to use for a certain connection.  Using a standard
> program, identical key assignments and a cheat sheet should make it easier
> for the operators if they go to different location as needed.
>
> My 3 cents :-)   (inflation,
> you know)
>
>
>
> 73  John
>
>
>
>
> bud thompson wrote:
>
>
>   Deltona
> Thursday April 9 0535EST
>
> I agree on having a standard SSID for TelPac throughout the system.
>
> We discussed this a year ago when KN6KB first set up the SMS node which
> TelPac now transcends.  At that time we only had the one SMS node KN6KB on
> the fledgling Melbourne FPAC switch and we decided on -4 ssid (W4MLB-4) as
> the standard.   Changing a quick connect SSID in FPAC configuration is a 
> no
> brainer - except at Melbourne where we continue to not have site access, 
> now
> thanks to the War on Iraq!  Hopefully that will be short lived - both the
> war and lack of site access.
>
> I'm not particular at this time, but we might consider the standard for
> TelPac as SSID -6 as that is the highest one available  therefore stands 
> the
> best chance of not getting in he way of some already established.
>
> Here on the DeLand FPAC we already have SSIDs 0 through six assigned, but
> only 0 through five are presently in use.  FPAC DOS presently restricts
> SSIDs for quick connect to a total of six, -1 though -6.
>
> Since we apparently cannot get any changes made to the FPAC DOS code -
>
> What I propose is that when we move to LINUX FPAC we establish more alias
> capability, which I naively assume could be done since LINUX 
> programs/stuff
> apparently can more readily be changed/modified at the user level.  We 
> could
> actually use mnemonics - as we will certainly run out of ssids in the long
> run anyway.  That way we could use TELPAC or WL2K (which is where TelPac
> leads), and others, such as EOC, DABBBS, etc. We could have as many as we
> decided was reasonably, perhaps 16 or so.
>
> Most Airmail mobiles (Sailors/RVers) who would be acquainted with WL2K 
> would
> be able to pick up this information on the Winlink web site - though it is
> not yet there since we are still in testing phase. Eventually, this
> information, along with the LAN frequencies could be set up as a WL2K
> catalog that can be requested via radio link.
>
> Additionally a link to the FADCA pages will be on the winlink web site and
> the LAN frequencies can be determined from the interactive map.  I suggest
> we also have a list of LAN frequencies available there in text form -
>
> CITY   COUNTY    SWITCH CALL LAN FREQ
>
> Good job, John.
>
> bud N0IA
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>


When we started considering the Quick Connect standard for the SMS (Small 
Mail System - which ultimately became Packlink AGW/TelPac) we only had Quick 
Connect SSIDS from 1 through 6 available in FPAC DOS.  With FPAC LINUX on 
the horizon we should be able to use text aliases like

C Telpac

and have FPAC direct the connection to a specific Telpac whose mycall-ssid 
the user doesn't need to know.  If Chuck can pull some magic, maybe FPAC 
LINUX could make other 'decisions' for us - for instance if the Telpac node 
that C Telpac is redirected to is not up, it might just send the user to 
another one... or if the first Telpac on the LAN is currently in the user 
mix, C Telpac just takes the next user to another Telpac!

Since all this transpired, I've been suggesting a standardized ssid for 
Telpacks as -7 because that is not involved with any FPAC-specific SSIDS on 
a LAN in case the FPAC MYCALL is also being used by a TelPac Node on the 
LAN.

If the LINUX alias will work - then it is not necessary to standardize 
TelPac node ssids - but might still be a worthwhile thing to do.

Perhaps we can hash this out soon (no later than when we leave the Tampa Ham 
fest) so that if -7 is not selected, I can start changing the SSIDs on 
the -7s we've done so far!

bud