Garry AE5HL you are in Albuquerque, right next to a big cluster of packet stations in TX and across the South, plus the guys to the west in the San Diego area. I¡¯m in UT, where the nearest packet guys are in CO or CA. Whether I¡¯m using 20m or 40m, it doesn't matter. No packets decoded. ? I¡¯m using Soundmodem, which has worked just fine for me on 30m APRS. I¡¯ve tried various wire antennas at my QTH ¨C EFHW, dipoles in inverted-V, etc. And I¡¯ve tried going up into the Wasatch Mountains to get away from RFI. Doesn¡¯t make much difference. I¡¯ve decoded a few packets, which shows that my setup is kind-of working. But it¡¯s very rare for me to decode anything and I¡¯ve never been able to connect to a node, except the one in Clearfield UT I mentioned that has a Vara port. ? My setup is typically a Xiegu G90 (20w) transceiver, Digirig interface, Microsoft Surface Go running Soundmodem and EasyTerm, and a wire antenna of some kind (40m EFHW or 20/40m linked dipole, supported by a 26 ft telescoping fiberglass pole). I¡¯ll accept that my transmitter is on the weak side, but the main issue is lack of reception. ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Garry Cramins (AE5HL) Sent: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 7:02 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [network105] why do people persist with AX.25 when more robust modes now exist? ? I suspect this is more of an antenna problem, or possibly with your TNC (software?). I was up and running in short order with an end fed and a Kam XL... ? I have no choice but to give up on AX.25 since I cannot decode ANY packets in my location on most days, based on several attempts. I¡¯m not decoding any beacons. They should be coming out of most stations about every 10 minutes or so, right? ? ? ? The new modes up and coming but ax.25 is thriving very ans growing slowly.? ? I would it give up on it is a great mode.? I am working on many plans for my bbs.?
LOL!!! A CW BBS would be cool! How about this Garry: After 10 years of hunting, I acquired a copy of C64 RTTY MSO. I have the C64 computer, drive, monitor, AEA CP-1 and CP-100, cables and radios. Just have to test it. VHF/HF RTTY BBS at 100 WPM (75 baud). But maybe I'll slow it down to 60 WPM (45.45 baud) just to piss off the VARA fanatics! LOL! On 09/06/2023 7:33 PM EDT Garry Cramins (AE5HL) <gpcramins@...> wrote: Because we are lazy, and we have equipment that works... And we've all seen what happens with "novelty".... I'd run a BBS on morse code if I could get away with it, just because and I don't care anymore... ? Sweet!? Thanks Jeff.? Let¡¯s see what Billy does with this info. ? Tadd --- Sent from Planet X Hi Tadd,
Yeah, the VARA port is one of my BPQ node's radio ports, with BPQ networked to an (X)Net node (Flexnet-compatible) on a Linux netbook.? (X)Net is linked via VHF to the local Eastnet (they use Flexnet) packet network here in upstate NY.? The VARA backbone link is to N3MEL's FRNPA packet network in eastern PA who is also linked to the DEPN packet network in Delaware via I think UHF, or maybe they switched to a VARA backbone link, I can't remember.? No internet links involved, all RF which is what we're pushing for.? The VARA link moves BBS mail between the NY and PA/DE networks 24/7.? For that purpose, it works very well, far beyond 300bd ax.25.? A disadvantage of VARA is that it's a Windows program.? It will run in Linux using WINE, which I had up and running, but the particular Linux laptop I used for that must have awful shielding because I couldn't get ALC down to zero on HF no matter what audio settings I tried.? So for now, it's running on an old Win7 laptop, which amazingly has been running issue-free for over a year, no reboots necessary.? VARA will run on Rapsberry's as well, but I've never tried it.? Glenn N3MEL has also added a couple more networks on the east coast using his VARA link, including night-time to Wisconsin.
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David, K7DMJ