Carl:

Exactly, why would arrl back such a system?

Amateur radio should not allow any PROPRIETARY hardware/software to become
a standard. We are not about supporting monopolies, we are about the free
experimentation, development, testing, construction, use, etc. of equip.
and methods/protocols, even that equipment encompassed by the homebrewer.

We need some more linux people in amateur radio for the software and more
computer hardware people for the hardware... it would be a mistake to
support companies holding a monopoly, there are already commercial
stations for that... besides, windows software just ends up enriching
bill g.

John

On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 19:59:53 +0000, Carl R. Stevenson wrote:


"an_old_friend" wrote in message
oups.com...
Being of course the only regular ham poster who is memebr of the Tech
Class. I frankly don't undersatdn the "Problem" being discussed with
Pactor.

Are Pactor stations not obeying the rules?

Or is it that the rules are so loose as to permit very bad usages of
the Mode?

please forgo the flaming after all as Far as I know Pactor is little
used (if at all) at VHF, and of course VHF with its wider bands
(generalyly shorter ranges) and fewer users at any given momnet doesn't
have these "problems"


The concern/fear/issues being raised by many are that the ARRL "regulation
by bandwidth" proposal will result in practically all of the HF CW/data
bands being "over-run by Winlink/PactorIII robots," that those stations
don't "play nice" with real-time human to human modes, that PactorIII takes
a lot of bandwidth for a non-proportional gain in throughput, and that
Winlink and PactorIII are closed, proprietary modes that are only available
through the purchase of some rather expensive, sole-source hardware and
software.

There seem to be rather widely held views that "robot" stations that "don't
play nice" with conventional human-human modes should be restricted to
limited sub-bands because otherwise they will cause considerable
interference problems, that they don't need to be able to take over huge
swaths of the bands, and that closed, proprietary systems should not be
"pushed" in the ham bands. (conversely, the feeling seems to be widespread
that modes used in the ham bands should be "open source" - both h/w and s/w)

I hope that answers your question about what's the (at least perceived)
"problem with Pactor."

73,
Carl - wk3c