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September 18th 03, 02:57 PM

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article ,

(K0HB) writes:

(N2EY) wrote

Would you enjoy it as much if your QSOs went through a series of
automated
digital systems that would insure perfect copy at both ends with no
operator skill required?

Because I'm a 'tinkerer' sort, with a strong sense of curiousity,
certainly yes, at least the first handful of times, just to see what
made it work.

Wouldn't you?

Like you, it would be interesting *the first handful of times*.

But after that?

You guys have managed to precisely describe what happened to packet radio,
when packet/internet gateways were intoduced into the network, to "speed
things up", and make it more "reliable".

Hams using HF to route messages over long distances would find that they
could no longer send those messages because they were already there,
forwarded over the Internet in order to "speed things up" and make packet
more "reliable"...

As a direct result of this misuse of packet/internet gateways in order to
"route around" hams using radio, an organized, global HF digital network,
one of the most impressive accomplishments ever by hams around the world,
was undermined and eventually destroyed. Dozens of digital HF stations
around the world had to shut down, deprived of traffic while others were
overloaded by tons of inappropriate overseas traffic shovelled into our
VHF/UHF networks through the packet/internet gateways.

And, as you noted in your post, U.S. hams found the new non-ham network
intrusion to be interesting *the first handful of times*, then they lost
interest in packet altogether. It was no longer ham radio.

The packet/Internet gateways speeded things up as advertised, but in view of
the fact that they undercut and eventually destroyed the network, they could
hardly be said to have made the network more reliable on anything but a
short-term, short-sighted basis.

In Europe, where it was illegal to impose non-ham networking into an amateur
radio network, the packet network continued to advance and grow all the time
that ours was dying away from lack of interest. Interest in the Internet is
often put forward as a cause for the setback in the U.S. digital network,
but it should be noted that European hams had Internet access during this
time as well, and it did not have that affect upon them, despite the fact
that they had cable access to the Internet long before it was common here in
the U.S..

The difference was that the Europeans stuck with ham radio in their digital
ham radio network, and we didn't. It's that simple.

The "series of automated digital systems that would insure perfect copy at
both ends with no operator skill required" took the fun out of packet radio,
here in the U.S., and that is why USPN considers non-ham networking to be
off-topic, irrelevant to the business of rebuilding a digital amateur radio
network here in the U.S., where the misuse and abuse of packet/internet
gateways has already caused us so much damage, and has set us back so far.

Besides, there is the simple, no-brainer fact that you cannot provide
emergency backup for a network that you are dependant upon. - Like a special
number to dial when the phones go dead, systems such as EchoLink and
packet/Internet gateways are inherently useless for emergency communications
and do nothing to advance our understanding and use of radio, and so are
ultimately irrelevant to our purpose as hams.

In the area of packet radio, we are making some great progress in
eliminating this problem here in the U.S... Sad to say, the repeater folks
may have to go through the same crippling slump and lack of interest before
they too begin to clean up their act and get back to ham radio.

Charles Brabham, N5PVL
Director: USPN
http://www.uspacket.net

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