I hate to burst any bubbles here but the HF network ( Packet etc. ) is still quite active, and has been seeing some resurgence in recent years. ( New stations joining, advancement of the art. )
VHF/UHF Packet networks here and there around the US have also been seeing some growth and advancement. ( In addition to unrelated APRS and Telpac activity. ) In some areas, this growth has been quite impressive. Some see these two as unrelated factors, but this not the case. The basic network plan is for HF stations to bridge the gap and provide connectivity between large-scale VHF/UHF networks. The majority of the traffic then falls to the VHF/UHF nets, as most of it is local or regional in nature. Think about the way VHF/UHF frequencies can be independently utilized with little or no interference by thousands of stations around the globe as long as they are 100 miles or more apart from each other, compared to the global reach of HF signals which makes the HF frequencies much less recycleable or re-usable. One reality must be addressed here that nobody seems to openly recognize, and it is central in importance... - The fact that a national or global amateur radio digital network is completely different from the fidonet and internet networks it is modeled after, in that the hierarchy of data transfer speed is stood upon it's head, with the national and international "backbone" speed and throughput being significantly slower than the subnet backbone links and user access. Think about WIFI-speed access, subnet (VHF/UHF) backbone links operating at perhaps 1mb, and long-haul links operating at significantly slower speeds than that. - This is the reality that mother nature has handed us, to work with. As you go from user-access to subnet to long-haul, each step is an order of magnitude slower, not faster as fidonet/internet networkers naturally expect. Hardly anybody appears to understand this simple reality - and work with it. Way too many instead appear to think that they will gain traction by fighting mother nature, and so they do not get anywhere and often develop a "can't do" attitude or just quit. If it can't be forced to act and look exactly like fidonet or the internet, then they throw up their hands and fall into bitter negativity. We can do without the quitters and the "can't do" types, so who does this leave to advance the art? Not very many, until this simple reality is understood and taken as a starting point in all of our considerations. 73 DE Charles Brabham, N5PVL
