[OZAPRS] Internet Servers in Oceania observations and sugestions

[Tony Hunt]

Heres something for the Internet server operators to think about. I notice some inconsistencies in the Port functions. Also Ive got some sugestions for the Port settings in line with this.

Looking at Port 14577 . On First and Second aprs.net.au  this is a 100km radius filter. On Third aprs.net.au its a 200km filter. So if I use rotate.aprs.net.au:14577 then 2/3 of the time I get a 100km radius and 1/3 of the time I get a 200km filter.

I actually like the 200km idea. In VK5 particularly in country areas 100km isnt a very long way and often does not get you to anywhere significant or prove overly useful. 200km is more useful. We are looking at the possibility of putting a remote Igate in the country area using something simple managable and stable. 

I realise we can use a custom filter on Port 14580 provided the software we use lets us set up a filter. Which takes me to aprsd. I see some folks are still using aprsd which is still being supported in a few operating systems via software repositries. Its a simple no fuss Igate solution. Not the greatest but its stable and tested. It wont do custom filtered logins though.
You can doctor the source code and make it do a custom filtered login if you want to recompile it. Not overly easy for some and messy.

So with all that heres my suggestion. Why not have a standard 100km radius filtered port  and also a standard 200km filtered port on each of these servers ? If you want the rotate system to work sensibly then some co-ordination between them would be good. Each of the sysops must talk to each other in some way you would hope. 
It seems perhaps that there are different needs in different areas as demonstrated by the 200km port on third.aprs.net.au.
So lets cover some of these possibilities I say.

Tony Hunt VK5AH  wavetel at internode.on.net
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