> Brian Glenn wrote:
> > Hey guys I just got my ham liscence and was wondering which or you
> > are using Packet Radio For linkup and if so is there anything not to
> > expensive for the 70cm band (440 Mhz) that is considerably faster than
> > 28,800 (like 57k or something) that I could set up two of for a point to
> > point connection...
>
> Years ago ('93 or so) I used a MFJ TNC with my Icom 2m base station and
> a KPC TNC-3 with my RS 2m HT. The base was hooked to my SPARC 1+ (wow!)
> in my dorm room, which had an ethernet drop. For the mobile side I used
> my HP-48 with a VT-100 emulator.
>
> However, 1200 baud with a very lossy link made it only slightly more
> usefull than a technical demo. I could check my mail in class, subject
> to the rather stringent restrictions of packet content. The KPC-3 would
> frequently time out and require me to reconnect.
>
> All in all, I don't recommend packet for wearable use for several reasons:
>
> - Content limitations (Fuck the FCC!)
> - High-power draw of radio equipment (One hour of runtime anyone?)
> - Limited mobility (I couldn't leave campus without loosing the signal)
> - Cost per station is very high
an ht isn't the best way to go.
you're a lot better off if you get a proper radio and open up the front
end. with good antenna placement (years ago, i used to put the antenna
up somewhere like roof of tallest building in city), i had good coverage
of most of the city, including interiours of some buildings and along
some subway routes (something you don't get with cellular phones).
when cellphones started to come onto the market, often i'd be in a
building where someone couldn't place a telephone call with their
cellphone, and i'd still be able to get a good solid net connection.
a great deal of this has to do with good antenna placement and a good
radio (e.g. not an ht).
of course my old rig (1987 design) was only 56kbps, but now
with 2megabits/sec we're a lot happier with our throughput.
i often run x windows across the radio, and my wearcomp is just
like a real desktop computer. we're also looking at designing faster
(e.g. 10 or 100mbps) radios.
cdpd is terrible, both in terms of reliability, as well as throughput.
of course it's useful as a backup (fallback) when going to another city
that doesn't have a gateway.
if anyone's visiting toronto, let me know, and we'll see what we can
do to give you connectivity while here (bring your tnc, etc..).
i've still got my old rigs and can setup anything from 1200bps
to 56kbps with the old rigs.
steve
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