Thanks for the link to the discussion of 6PACK and FlexNet. I recall reading mentions of them "back in the day" but that thread gave a good explanation of both. I continued to read the thread and Brian, N2KGC, gives some very good advice in message #287 (https://groups.io/g/EastNetPacket/message/287) that those new to amateur radio data networks will need to heed or they will be plagued by the Hidden Transmitter Syndrome that was so prevalent in the packet heyday (but we had an excuse--TNCs and radios were EXPENSIVE so we threw it up on the nearest grain elevator and hoped for the best). TARPN's use of dedicated links between stations is the most solid way to avoid this, a repeater being a close second, I suspect (I never had the opportunity to run packet through a repeater).
This where an entity like the Amateur Radio Standards Organization conceptualized in ZR 0079 would be useful as clearing house for best practices from the world over. Things like understanding Hidden Transmitter Syndrome need to be part of Amateur Radio Networking 101 otherwise the same mistakes will be made but these days with all of the very low cost hardware and free software at our disposal there is little excuse but to do Amateur Radio Networking right.
Nate - It's certainly no substitute for "ARSO", but there's a Zero Retries Guide to Amateur Radio Networking (in the current century) in the queue for 2023. Hidden Transmitter Syndrome will be an entire chapter.
Thanks for the link to the discussion of 6PACK and FlexNet. I recall reading mentions of them "back in the day" but that thread gave a good explanation of both. I continued to read the thread and Brian, N2KGC, gives some very good advice in message #287 (https://groups.io/g/EastNetPacket/message/287) that those new to amateur radio data networks will need to heed or they will be plagued by the Hidden Transmitter Syndrome that was so prevalent in the packet heyday (but we had an excuse--TNCs and radios were EXPENSIVE so we threw it up on the nearest grain elevator and hoped for the best). TARPN's use of dedicated links between stations is the most solid way to avoid this, a repeater being a close second, I suspect (I never had the opportunity to run packet through a repeater).
This where an entity like the Amateur Radio Standards Organization conceptualized in ZR 0079 would be useful as clearing house for best practices from the world over. Things like understanding Hidden Transmitter Syndrome need to be part of Amateur Radio Networking 101 otherwise the same mistakes will be made but these days with all of the very low cost hardware and free software at our disposal there is little excuse but to do Amateur Radio Networking right.
Nate - It's certainly no substitute for "ARSO", but there's a Zero Retries Guide to Amateur Radio Networking (in the current century) in the queue for 2023. Hidden Transmitter Syndrome will be an entire chapter.