[aprssig] 6 meter APRS (KA nodes?)

[Robert Bruninga]

TOP POST:

All reasonable concerns...

But none of the devices you mention have level-4 PACKET
capability (The-NET, NET-ROM or KA node) and that is essential
for level-4 packet.  I think there is still plenty of viability
left in that technology.  But if there is an alternative that is
as ubiquitous and autonomous as AX.25 stand-alone TNC's that run
forever without a reboot or requiring a PC, that is hard to
beat. I am open.

Bob
 
>> Maybe we should make these digis be KA PACKET NODE capable
too?
> 
> So the destiny of this network should be tied 
> to a single product virtually extinct in the 
> amateur market place, that is clearly at the 
> end of it's commercial life???
> 
> KA-Nodes are a proprietary protocol only available 
> in Kantronics TNCs.  At approx USD $230, newcomers 
> simply are not buying  KPC3s in any significant 
> numbers any longer. They are opting for soundcard 
> software TNCs or the new breed of lowcost KISS-only 
> TNCs like the TNC-X, TinyTrak4, or Argent Tracker2 
> that sell for a fraction of the price.
>
> I can't see the KPC3+ remaining in production much 
> longer........    (Or it will be repositioned as 
> a specialty product for commercial telemetry 
> markets and further priced out of the ham market place.)