                Using the Wisconsin Network
                   by Andy Nemec, KB9ALN

     In past editions of Using the Wisconsin Network, we have
dealt with all sorts of networked packet radio node stations.
This time, we will deal with a station that is not strictly a
Network Node, but becomes part of a network in very many
areas. This type of station also is capable of doing some
nifty stuff, and you, or someone you know may even own one.
It is a KA-Node, and it is inside of a great many of the
Kantronics TNC's that are sold these days.

     A KA-Node is not a networked node in the strictest
sense, but you can make a long-distance connection through a
series of them to form a loose network of sorts. They do
not utilize the "Net/Rom" protocol, as Network Nodes do. They
are strictly AX.25 nodes. They are a sophisticated digipeater
that operates on the same principle as a node. They repeat
your packets, acknowlege the reciept of them, and acknowlege
the receipt of a packet intended for your station before the
packet is sent to you.

     In other words, they do not rely on "End-to-End"
acknowlegment the way that digipeating does. Therefore, it is
much more efficient when used as a node. The KA-Node can be
used as a node on your usual 2-meter LAN frequency, and some
can even act as a gateway to other frequencies or LANs.

     Most KA-Nodes have a Secondary Station I.D. of -7,
although this can be changed to a different SSID. They
can also have an alias, but this alias is not recognized by
network nodes (they don't speak the same "Net/Rom" language).
They are sometimes called "Wild Nodes", because they can be
set to respond to different SSID's. This allows them to
accomodate multiple users simultaneous users.

     There are two versions of the KA-Node. The single-port
version is found on TNC's like the KPC-3, while the dual-port
version can be seen in the KAM and 9612 TNC's.

     The single-port version is easy enough to get familiar
with, it resembles a simple network node in many ways. When
you connect to one, you will get a greeting and a prompt that
looks something like this:

    ###CONNECTED TO WILD NODE WX9APR-7
    Welcome to my node, feel free to use it. PBBS is WX9APR-1
    ENTER COMMAND: B,C,J,N, or Help ?

     The B command is just like any other node or BBS - use it
to do a polite disconnect.

     The C command tells the node to connect to another
station. C WZ9APR will tell the node to connect to station
WZ9APR. If it is unable to connect to this station, the node
will respond with:

    ###RETRIED OUT AT NODE WX9APR###
    ENTER COMMAND: B,C,J,N, or Help ?

     The J command is the Heard List, and can be seen in
three forms, J, JS, and JL. JS is a shorter form heard
list, without the extras. JL will give a longer heard list,
with the time and date the station was heard, along with
digipeaters and the type of station it has heard.
 
     The N command is also much the same as what one would
encounter on a network node. It will list nodes, and it
gathers a node list based upon the station ID that it
hears from another station. Other KA-Nodes are shown
on this node list, as well as any network nodes it can
directly monitor on the frequency. KA-Nodes don't show nodes
linked by backbone or wire link.

     The Help command will show all of the valid node
commands and their variations.

     The Dual-Port KA-Node offers one other important
feature that makes it all the more useful. There is one
addition to the command prompt, and it looks like this:

    ###CONNECTED TO WILD NODE WX9APR-7 (CHANNEL A)
    Welcome to my node, feel free to use. PBBS is WX9APR-1
    ENTER COMMAND: B,C,J,N,X, or Help ?

     The X command is added, and the J Heard list is expanded
a bit. And notice that it now tells you that you are
connected on "Channel A". This node has two ports, or
channels that connections can be made on. They can be
configured to be "Channel A" and "Channel B", or "VHF" and
"HF", to name a couple. When they are configured in this
manner, the node becomes a "Gateway" to another frequency,
and sometimes another mode.

    Using one of these nodes configured as a gateway is
fairly easy. If the operator has the gateway enabled, you
simply connect to the node and issue the J (heard) command.
The heard list will indicate whether a given call-sign was
heard on channel A, B, VHF or HF with a forward slash and an
abbreviation after the call-sign. For example, this heard
list shows:

   WZ9APR/V   07/04/96  07:04
   WY9APR/H   07/04/96  07:03

WZ9APR was heard at 7:04 on July 4th, on VHF. WY9APR was
heard on the same date, one minute earlier, on the HF port.

     This is where the X command comes in. If you wished to
connect to WZ9APR, you would use the C command. If you wished
to connect to WY9APR, you would use the X command
(Cross-Channel Connect) to make the connection. This tells
the TNC to look for the station on the other port (channel).

     This presents some interesting possibilities. The other
port can be HF or VHF, or can be a different mode - like
AMTOR, GTOR, or RTTY. If one of the ports is HF packet on
say, 20 Meters, one could carry on a conversation with
someone on the other side of the world, DX permitting.

     This node can also provide a VHF gateway to another VHF
LAN. Usually the short greeting you receive when you connect
to the node will tell you what port does what job.

     Though KA-Nodes are not really part of the Wisconsin
Network, there certainly are enough of them. Besides the
gateway service they can provide, they are far superior to
the practice of digipeating to a network node, should you
have difficulty making a direct connection to a node on your
LAN frequency. In this manner, they help you to better
navigate through the Wisconsin Network.

  ***End of Part 18***
