higher the antenna, the more effective a digi will be, but remember, every TNC
has the capability of being a digipeater.
If we turn the MRPT command ON we will begin to see more than just the
“from” and “to” stations of the monitored packets. We will also see the callsigns
of those stations that have been used as digipeaters. This list of stations is often
called a path. Here is an example of what you might see:
NØKN>KBØNYK, IAH*,LAG,AUS:
Hi there
In this example, NØKN is talking to KBØNYK, using the digipeaters IAH, LAG
and AUS. The asterisk beside IAH tells you that you are hearing that digipeater.
You will notice that IAH, LAG and AUS are not real callsigns. The TNC pro
-
vides a parameter (MYALIAS) to set up an alias, which is often easier to remem-
ber than a callsign. To make this connection NØKN would have typed the
following command to his TNC:
C KBØNYK V IAH,LAG,AUS
V is short for via and up to 8 digis may be used. You must specify digis in the or-
der they will be encountered along the path from your station to the station you
wish to connect to. A space must be typed after the “C” and on both sides of the
“v”, but digis are separated by commas. A path can also be used with the Unproto
command:
U CQ V NOM,LCH,SLI,BIX
Unproto sets up the path for anything that is subsequently typed in the Convers
Mode where no connection exists. CONNECT issues a connect request to the
specified station, via the specified path. Then a virtually error-free conversation
can take place between them.
When digipeating, the packet goes all the way from the first station, through all
relay stations, to the destination station. Then the response also has to take this
same path in reverse. Chances for collisions and, therefore, for retries are multi
-
plied with every digi used. This is often called end-to-end acknowledgment. An
-
other way to get from one place to another is to connect to a “node”. A node will
take care of the acknowledgment between it and the next node or end user. See
the KA-Node section for more information. Ask your local packeteers about
other types of nodes which may be operational in your area, such as K-Net,
TheNet, NET/ROM, G8BPQ, and ROSE.
Packet Modes of Operation Overview of Packet Communication
User’s Guide 148 KAM’98 v 8.3
To Next Page
Loading...