[aprssig] More on the findU server issue...

[Steve Dimse]

I'm very sorry for the timing of the server move with a Cat 5
hurricane threatening. I'm also sorry for needing to say that it was
going to happen at any moment for the last three weeks, and for the
fact that the current server is so woefully underpowered for the
current findU needs.

With my new career starting October 24, I will have the time to
administer the second server, something I have had to step in and do
any time it was needed anyway. What I won't have is the money to pay
for a new server.

Pricing the needed server at Dell currently, a PowerEdge 2850, Red Hat
ES, dual 3.6 GHz Xeon with 6 GB memory, and three 146GB drives in a
RAID 5 array, a server roughly double the present primary server
capcity, will cost a bit over $7000 with tax and shipping.

Presently I have just over $2500 in my server fund from contributions
and google adsense earnings. I'll pledge another $1.5k from future
earnings from AdSense over the next year, which leaves roughly $3k
more from APRS users (another thank-you to those already
contributing). If you want to see findU have a capable backup server,
you will need to contribute that much money. You may use the donate
button on the find.cgi or wxpage.cgi pages (if you can get through),
or PayPal donations directly to

k4hg at tapr.org

It feels awkward to need to put the squeeze on my users, but after
putting out an average of $4k a year myself for servers, with an
income of $23k/year I'm just not able to do that any longer.

Ranger Steve K4HG