[nos-bbs] conv bridge - keep connected

[(Skip) K8RRA]

Dave and I have a unsettling experience.
The conv bridge shows signs of instability...

I am connected to Dave via RF on 2meters.
Dave is connected to Jay (a master node for Michigan) over Internet.
I booted 5 days ago.
Dave took a power outage and rebooted 2 days ago.
Finger mstat shows Jay booted for 8 days.

I show the link to Dave open and idle (sysop console).
Dave shows the link to me missing and the link to Jay open.

When Dave opens conv he shows the link to me broken (yesterday).
When I open conv I show the link open and another station active with
Jay using the "/w" command.
After I open conv Dave shows the link to me open (today).

The above activity demonstrates:
 a) links are only opened "up" the hierarchy toward the "trunk"
 b) links are not using "keep alive" activity "down the branch"
If the conv network only has meaning in a hierarchical context, perhaps
this is normal behavior, but the feature has no tools (except very smart
sysops) to keep the structure pure and the links open and active.

Dave reports to me similar(?) flaky behavior with Jay / but without
detail of the circumstance in that conversation.

SO - this post is to ferret out experiences where the conv bridge act in
strange ways.

My first example is that the sysop console reports conv status at time
of boot / connect time (or perhaps at "last use" time), but does not
report status in real time.  For my purposes, "real time" might be a
30-minute window or otherwise defined in configuration parameters.

My second example is that the sysop consoles on two ends of one link do
not show identical status results.  Or at least the information shown on
sysop console requires further interpretation or experimentation?

I hope to hear from others with situations deemed "unusual".

The information I gather will find it's way into the wiki to establish
users expectations in dealing with jnos conv bridge.

73
de [George (Skip) VerDuin] K8RRA k