Just curious how many out there still have active 2m packet radio in
their area? Aside from APRS, I don't think anyone is listening... and
even that seems to be fading here.

I've been rather inactive for the past 7-10 years and it seems packet
has dissapeared in that time! Anyone have any creative ideas?



About three years ago I retired and moved from California. Packet
activity there seemed "sparse" at best. I had been deeply involved in
packet radio in the beginning, but my interest faded, as did packet
radio, with the growth of Internet activity.

When I moved to Oregon, I was surprised at the extent of Packet
activity in the Pacific Northwest. Oh, it isn't like it used to be in
the early 90's, but it exists, and the networks are pretty good.

The domimnent reason it still survives is probably emergency services.
ARES and RACES groups are pretty strong up here, and apparently Packet
radio is one of the key portions of ARES communications.

In fact, I'd say that the newer TelPac nodes are the primary reason
Packet remains a viable communications use for emergency services. The
mere fact that now we can easily send, and receive packet radio messages
from areas without any other communications services, and route them to
the Internet, and receive them from the Internet, makes it a pretty neat
resource.


Ed K7AAT