Thank you. I take your advice seriously and will follow up on your recommendations.
I love to build computers and networks and that's how I started in 1982 so what you are suggesting only makes sense. But as you know it is generally a steep hill to climb :-) But if that what it takes, that is what it takes.
One of the things I am working with a lot lately is mini ARM computers like Raspberry Pi and Odroid so I will be interested in seeing how I can apply these units to the IP HAM networking mix as they have more than enough power and are very Linux friendly.
Thanks again for your advice and recommendations. I appreciate it sincerely.
Change is the end result of all true learning.- Leo Buscaglia
-----Original Message----- From: 44Net [mailto:44net-bounces+arnold.villeneuve=rogers.com@hamradio.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of David Ranch Sent: May-31-16 6:50 PM To: AMPRNet working group Subject: Re: [44net] Looking for assistance setting up IP Ham system
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Hello Arnold,
Though your network background will significantly help you come up to speed, there is a lot of unique nuances to amateur radio centric networking. This is one the fun parts of the hobby (to me) so I would encourage you do build up your own system and not try to buy something already build for you. . Much of the systems everyone here uses are is homebrewed with Linux machines, old Wifi routers, etc. Some of it can use modern over the shelf HW from say Mikrotik, Ubiquiti, etc. Some things to ponder:
- Packet radio using AX.25 (not TCP/IP) speeds range from 300baud on HF to 19.2K+ on VHF - Personal favorite of mine and feel very similar to the dialup BBSes from days past. A computer + soundcard (or a HW TNC) + radio will get you on the air. I personally run the Direwolf software based TNC on Centos Linux. This is the same foundation that runs APRS
- AMPR IPIP tunneling networks - that's this group which creates and maintains a fully meshed network of IPIP protocol "VPNS". Other HAMs offer IPSEC based VPNs as an alternative to the IPIP system Many of these networks are created via either Linux machines or BBS applications running on Linux -Jnos and other NOS systems (network operating systems). AMPR 44/8 routes are propagated either via BGP, a customized version of RIP, or a static routes list that can be scripted to update your system's route table.
- Broadband HamNet / HSMM - Wifi mesh networking using select legacy Wifi APs (Linksys, etc) but also supports select modern Ubiquti APs for very fast IP networking assuming you have nearby peers to work with
Ultimately, you won't learn all the details and nuances that makes up these technologies if you just "buy it". You need to build it to learn it. To start your education, start here:
http://wiki.ampr.org/wiki/Main_Page
Beyond that, this is the right group to talk about AMPR related networking and I'm sure lots of people here can extensively talk about some of the points above as well.
--David KI6ZHD