[aprssig] NetNodes, the future

[Robert Bruninga]

The thing we really need is NetGates.

These are simply a TNC and a radio hooked to the internet
but they look to the RF user just like a TheNet or NetROM 
node.  Thus, they are a global level-4 AX.25 packet radio 
Network that is independent of application and transparent
to the existing RF system.

About the only thing that has to be different is the node list.
It can't be 3500 nodes deep.  The basic node list would
have to be organized around distance.  If you ask for nodes,
it will give you a list of the 10 nearest.  Other than that
it has connectivity to every node in the world.  All you need to
know is its callsign.

That would be HAM radio at its finest.  It wouldn't mater if
the node was in the next town by RF or the next state by
the internet.  It appears like a NetROM or TheNET node
with one-hop connectiivty to the RF node.  Which I suggest
we call a NetGate.

If I knew how to write the code, it would be sure fun to do..

de Wb4APR, Bob