On 7/6/2016 4:03 PM, Steve Wright wrote:
On 07/07/16 01:10, app_rpt-users-request@ohnosec.org wrote:
There are a lot of us out here that prefer to run hardened server-grade hardware at remote tower sites rather than Pi's or other small SBC's. --- Jeff
That's a generalisation - that the RPI3 are unreliable. It'd be nice to throw high-end hardware at everything, but if you had a very large system to build - I don't think you would be doing that. And we do have a very large system to build...
Jeff, Scott and I are involved in a very large system called the WAN System - Google it. We have spent thousands of dollars on equipment - a lot of it very high end for reliability. Take the Dell servers for Node 2135 and other major hubs for instance. These were built prior to the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3.
Lists aren't about one person building one machine, lists are about system-builders assembling a nation - and that process being doable with quality dividends, so it is easy for one person to announce costs being minimal for one system, but if that single device were implemented globally, that would be six or seven figures. That'd be nice for those who supplied that device, but I don't think they'll get it.
Here's what you don't get. This used to cost thousands of dollars per location, now it's hundreds. I have several ACC controllers and link stacks now excess to my needs, so believe me, I know.
I mean to say, app_rpt can, and should, be on every transmit and receive interface on every mountaintop. Be honest - conversion of all systems is our goal, not because we might, but because of the immense flexibility it would forward, without really any effort at all. So how to actually get that? Using a $300 box for every TX and RX? No, it's not going to happen. Using a <$100 box with four TX and four RX interfaces? Just maybe..
You are a cheap ham. I've personally deployed dozens of $200 - 300 computers and $75 radio adapters. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than the alternatives, and what it used to cost. I'm not a millionaire - not even close. Building repeaters and maintaining them is a responsibility that costs money. app_rpt has cut those costs drastically. Get over spending money on deploying a system - it's not going to be cheap if you want reliability. I speak from experience - this isn't just some wild guess. Voting can be done in XIPAR (zipper) at greatly reduced costs over a few years ago. Kevin Custer - W3KKC INAD - WAN - LRS