[aprssig] No more "backward thinkers"! DOGOTP!!!

[Robert Bruninga]

>>> jdbandman at earthlink.net 12/29/04 12:59:16 PM >>>
>The underlying cause is the insistence on continuing to 
>operate at 1200 baud using equipment that is essentially 
>the same as it was TWENTY YEARS ago. 

Like it or not, its because 100% of every ham radio will
do it out of the box and now 100% of every computer
we buy can do it with not even a soldering iron!  Its
simple, its fundamental, it works and now everyone has it.

>Once again, we are perceived as a bunch of old farts 
>playing with radios, set in our ways, unwilling to move forward.

No one is forcing you to use it and no one is preventing
you from investing or building any other RF network you
want.  Go for it.  But for me, I find that using what we have
is a simple way to get things done than dreaming and whining
about what "could be"...

>Now our fearless, self-proclaimed godfather says "let's start 
>doing  connected protocol" and I can't help but wonder why?

Why? because you cannot pass bulk files and long bulk
emergency data  on APRS.   It just wont work and it will fail.
And yet at times there is such a need!  And anyone that has
APRS also has basic AX.25, so why not use it if and when needed!

You sound like my teenage son who doesnt know how to 
remove the cover of a box unless he has a 10 speed 
electric screwdriver or  the batteries are dead.  He will 
spend an hour looking for the electric screwdriver 
and probably not accomplish the job at all when he could 
do the job in 5 minutes with a 100 year old conventional 
screwdriver!

>Unless and until we face facts that we MUST bring our 
>technology into the 21st century then we are doomed to 
>repeat the mistakes of the past.  Amateur radio will be dead 
>in 10 years if we don't. APRS will have gone  the way of the 
>packet BBS system in less time.

Take a deep breath.  If you think that HAM radio can keep
up with the bells and whistles of the internet, and the cell phone 
industry and billions of dollars of wireless technology then you 
are dooming HAM radio to total anialation.

The success of HAM radio is only due to people that get 
the job done with what they have or can bring.  Not
due to their dreams and asperations.  I am all for higher
speeds, better networks, whatever you want to dream of.
But right now, everyone and I do mean EVERYONE
with a radio and a laptop can communicate digitally.
And APRS should just be one arrow in the quiver!  We should
not abandon other capabilities.

>Forget old technology, folks. It's time to say that we are 
>done with 1200 baud, insist that the manufacturers put out 
>equipment that is capable of handling higher speeds and 
>wider bandwidths.

Insist all you want.  Send me an Email  when you get it.

>My interest in APRS has, quite frankly, waned to a point 
>where I NEVER turn on the monitor of the WinAPRS computer. 
>It simply runs to maintain the IGate...

That's because APRS is NOT AN END IN ITSELF.
It is just one tool in HAM radio.  APRS is to facilitate
"doing something" in real time that needs real-time
immediate digital communications.  If you dont have such
a need, then of course, then there is nothing to do...

>My D-700A is now re-tasked to other services (ATCS 
>monitoring primarily) and the all-too-rare voice call 
>(except during storm season).

Nothing wrong with that!  If you arent doing something
that needs APRS, then dont add to the QRM so that
others that do need it in real time can use it.  Or conversly,
think of something that needs doing that you can use
APRS for and go do it...

>APRS and amateur radio have failed to keep up with the times 
>This is exemplified by the insistence of Bob to continue to put 
>out DOS-based software, written in QBasic...

Just supporting my users that's all.

>What I fail to understand is why continuing to write/update 
>software for computers that have long out-lived their useful 
>lives and represent less than 1% of the computers in homes 
>now is even a factor now?

Its called "user support".  If people don't want to use it,
they dont have to.  But for those that like the original APRSdos 
functionality that never got implemented in many of the other 
clones, well, for those people, I like to keep them up-to-date.

>Come on, folks! Wake up and smell the coffee here before 
>we turn into another bastien of sticks in the mud just like the 
>AM'ers of the 60's and 70's. It's time to ADVANCE the radio art, 
>not look backward!
> Jim Duncan, KU0G

The current thread was about getting a link back to the
internet from a disaster area where everything was wiped out.
In that case, it is COME-AS-YOU ARE.  Using 1200
baud via a voice radio and a laptop  by someone who konws
how to do a CONNECT would be quite valuable in such
a case.

Of course, so would a wireless LAN, but the range is less.
I'm all for new things, but the "things" are not the end in
itself.  It is being prepared to use what you have is what
I think is the talent in HAM radio...

de Wb4APR, Bob