Subj : Re: Packet Radio
To   : Andre
From : tenser
Date : Fri Jan 22 2021 08:40:15

On 21 Jan 2021 at 08:32a, Andre pondered and said...
 
 An> On 19 Jan 2021, SetiOp said the following...
 An>  
 An>  Se> I wish I could find out how to get people interested in it here in Ca
 An>  Se> again. We had quite a good network in our area at one time.
 An> 
 An> That's the trouble with a lot of amateur radio, and really some of the
 An> trouble I see with some of the people who think they're going to start
 An> a revival with their novel BBS.

I think people conflate things.  There's going back
to the salad days of AX.25 packet BBSes and things like
that, and yes, that's just not coming back.

But I think there's room for experimentation with data
and digital modes.  Things like NPR ("New Packet Radio")
are good examples of what _can_ be done, if we had a
more experimental mindset.

 An> The nostalgia is briefly interesting, but then people move on. The only
 An> reason APRS is so popular is because it's built in to radios and takes
 An> zero effort to setup. On the other hand, packet radio is a absolute
 An> nightmare just to get the hardware/radio working right, even more so to
 An> try to have a successful contact.

^^ This.  More generally, the problem is hams.  Here in
the US, the symbol-rate limit is an unnecessary barrier
to experimenting with newer modulation types and building
higher throughput systems.  But when I scan through the
comments on the ARRL proposal to eliminate the symbol rate
limits from the rules governing the amateur radio service,
instead using _bandwidth_ limits (which frankly makes a
lot more sense) much of the argument is against the proposal
and much of the reason for that are septuagenarians and
older mad about PACTOR III.  "What's wrong with AX.25?!"
Nothing is _wrong_ with it, but we're supposed to be a
service that is dedicated in large part to _improving_ the
state of the radio art.

 An> There just isn't any benefit or usefulness to packet radio anymore...
 An> Other systems like winlink or olivia do it much better. And there isn't
 An> any sort of pushing the envelop of technology with it either, like there
 An> is with things like mesh.

Yup.  You're right.  AX.25-style packet is basically dead,
aside from APRS.  I'm much more interested in things like
HamWan (http://www.hamwan.org/index.html) and the Pugent
Sound Data Ring forming a high-speed metro-area RF network,
and coming up with something new and innovative for slow/medium
speed devices to connect in.  AX.25 ain't it.  Something like
6LoWPAN and https://destevez.net/ipv6-for-amateur-radio/ might
be.

 An> As my elmer said to me, "You missed the boat by about twenty-five
 An> years." I wish it weren't true, and I'll probably try to set something
 An> up for the Milwaukee metro area this year, but I know it's all in vain.

I'm cool with that.  It's what comes next that I'm really
interested in.

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