[KYHAM] ax.25 and Packet networks.

[wa4qal at ix.netcom.com]

Steve White wrote:

> Hello all. 
> 
> I'm a new ham and have a long background in computers and networks. So I'm
> gravitating towards that area currently. 
> 
> Is there a list of current networks? Is anyone else interested in the ax.25
> possibilities that would like to talk about them? Any meetings regarding
> ax.25? 
> 
> Thanks for your responses and 73's 
> 
> KI4HHO
> Steve 

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, AX.25 is mostly a dead subject, at 
least around here.  You can probably find a bit of activity still on 145.01 MHz,
and maybe a bit on the APRS frequency (144.39/145.79 MHz).  But, what's 
left is a far cry from the way things were in the mid-1980s.  Back then, there 
was quite a collection of packet nodes on 145.01/03/05/07/09, as well as 
several BBSes also on those frequencies.  Now, while there are a few 
systems left, that area is mostly a wasteland, at least around here.

I think that there were a couple of reasons for that.  One is that for VHF,
most of those systems typically operated at 1200 bits per second, half-duplex,
on a shared channel.  Back then, that was a reasonable communications 
speed, but now, no one in their right mind would tolerate such a slow speed.  
While there were some efforts to get a higher speed network in place, not 
much ever happened, despite several meetings to organize users from 
across the state.  One of the problems is that the bandwidth restrictions 
on 2 meters limit the maximum data rate to about 9600 bits per second.  
Unfortunately, though, to even get that speed, it is necessary to modify 
radios, which a majority of users were unwilling to do.  There were also 
some efforts at even higher speeds, but these were restricted to the UHF
or microwave bands, which have some serious range limitations, and 
require specialized radios, which sort of resulted in a Catch 22 situation.

Add to this lightning strikes and equipment failures, and the number of 
nodes/BBSes in existance slowly shrank over the years.

There is a bit of activity using APRS, but that's a rather specialized mode.

There were also a couple of users who were using TCP/IP over the AX.25
network (mostly on 145.09 MHz), but I'm not sure if they're still around
or not.

And, of course, there was always a bit of packet activity on HF, but down 
there, the communications speed was even more severely limited (300
bits per second), and was basically used for bulk mail forwarding between
dedicated sites.

There's been a bit of effort recently to map out what's still left (See the
note this morning from Ron Dodson.).

As for the current listing, here's one version of what's up in Kentucky:

http://www.tapr.org/directory/us/ky.html

Dave
WA4QAL