On 2/13/2015 4:15 PM, Doug Crompton wrote:

But Allstar's ability to allow infinite connections can also lead to problems. There seems to be a mentality among a few that the more nodes we can connect together the better.

What's wrong with connecting lots of nodes together?

Some people like pileups, the WAN system is an example. For day to day use I am not sure what "wide area" buys you.

The ability to constantly test and stress your system and make sure its ready (really ready) for an emergency that may consume the system for hours or days on end. Before I got involved in AllStar linking, many of the repeaters I own (about 25) went unused. I lost interest and if there were a emergency I couldn't have told you what worked and what didn't. Sure, systems like WIN and WAN are busy and take out a lot of PA's, but we know all the time what works and what doesn't. At least I could tell the local 911 director what their immediate possibilities are.

It also buys you the ability to have diverse user base and attracts foreign connections that many people, especially new hams can talk DX without an HF radio.

Educate you users to NOT connect the local hub to the WAN system or any other large network.

Say what? WAN is an open system - why would you tell people that?

We had a problem with that for awhile...

What exactly was the "problem"?

73 Doug
WA3DSP

Kevin Custer - W3KKC