There's a bit of news to report, and good news at that. We heard news from Ray, N9PBY that there's a new backbone node on the air near the town of Mayville, on UHF at 9600 bps. The alias is #WAYN4, and the call-sign is WB9DLT-4. It's intended to help complete the state-wide packet radio network and make linkages where none have been for a long time. Thanks go to Virgil, WB9DLT and Al, N0GMJ for making this possible.
Speaking of backbone and packet network expansion, Fon-Du-Lac is also making a little news. Although nothing is on the air just yet, a location has been secured, I'm told and it's a matter of time before it will help complete the linkage between the North-Eastern and Lake shore segments of the Wisconsin packet network with the South-Central and Madison area network segments. I'll let you know here when it's on the air and all of the pertinent details.
The goal of all of this is to make a big circle of backbone nodes throughout the state. We've still got a long way to go, but these two nodes represent significant progress. Once this circular route is in place, we have redundancy and the ability to route around any temporarily failed network nodes. This is not only a boon to the casual packet user, but is especially crucial to operators who use packet radio as part of their emergency communications services. Of course, that's one are where packet radio can be a definite plus. We can (almost) always use more backbone nodes.
One area that we consider crucial is the Wausau area. Currently, we need to link the Central and South-Western segments of the packet network to the North-Central and North-West segments. A backbone node in this area would accomplish exactly that. If you know of someone who has a good location in this area, and is willing to host a packet node, please contact Joel Papke, N9BQM. You can reach him via E-Mail at:
This would go a long way toward enhancing emergency communications in the North Central and North Western parts of the state, in addition to the Central Wisconsin area.
While we're on the topic emergency communications, Ray, N9PBY would like to remind everyone to turn in your Wisconsin ARES/RACES Group Packet Communications Plan form. It should have been turned in by January 4th. If you haven't done so already, please do at your earliest opportunity. Emergency Coordinators should have received this form with their January, 2002 edition of the Wisconsin ARES/RACES Emergency Coordinator newsletter that comes from Stan Kaplan, WB9RQR. If for some reason you may need a copy of this form, check the Wisconsin ARES-RACES web page at: http://wi-aresraces.org If you don't have web access, you can E-Mail Ray, N9PBY at:
Specify whether you want plain text or MS-Word format. Likewise, you can contact Ray with any questions you may have concerning the form.
That's all the news for this month. I am always looking for news and other information about the Wisconsin packet radio scene. Until next month, 73 from Andy.
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