[aprssig] NET-51 TNC ?

[Jason KG4WSV]

Has anyone heard of the "NET‑51TNC" or know the author?  Not sure what
the deal is, but I took a quick look at the core servers and about ten
T2 servers. There are about 50 of these devices connected to
third.aprs.net, and none to be found anywhere else. A quick google
turned up this:

https://oh2fxd.wordpress.com/2015/01/04/51tnc-review-of-this-multipurpose-aprs-tnc/

Looks like something out of China.  Could be a spiffy device,
depending on if it's open source (so some obvious deficiencies can be
corrected) and what that modem IC is (can't quite make out the part
number on the CML device).

ugh - looking at the screenshots on the web site linked above, looks
like it doesn't even do DNS lookups, but requires IP addresses!

Hard-coding or defaulting to particular server is not a recipe for
maximum reliability for a client - it's recommended to use
rotate.aprs.net if you connect to the core, and I think T2 has not
only an overall rotate but some regional rotates as well.  By using
rotate your client will try a different server if something (e.g.
network outage) prevents you from reaching a particular server.

And it's absolutely insane to use an IP address - those are subject to
change without warning.  I suspect why they're all connected to third
is that the author hard coded IP address for first second and third,
and since that time first and second have moved (and therefore changed
IPs).

-Jason
kg4wsv