	       
	       Using the Wisconsin Network - Part 6
		       by Andy Nemec, KB9ALN

      In Part 5 of our series, we started a journey from Green Bay
 to Milwaukee, and stopped our travels in Manitowoc. We saw the
 "Routes",  "Nodes" and "Info" commands in action, and started to
 decipher the seemingly mysterious and cryptic node aliases. We
 found that the "Routes" is often a much better indicator of where
 a node goes than the "Nodes" command, and we also found it useful
 in avoiding unintended journeys onto LANs. Last month we stopped
 our journey in Manitowoc. Some folks felt they were "stuck" there.
 Now really, if you looked around a little, Manitowoc is not such a
 bad place to be, is it?

      This part will find us moving on to Sheboygan. In addition to
 being a nice town, it also has an interesting (and rather large!)
 nodestack. And when we were in Manitowoc, our use of the "Routes"
 and "Info" commands told us that the 9600 baud backbone node in
 Sheboygan is #446SH:NF9R-9.

      So now we will connect to that node. Once connected to this
 node, which we know as a backbone node, we send the "R", or
 "Routes" command. Here is what we see (in abbreviated form):

 #446SH:NF9R-9} Routes

	 1 WISHEL:NF9R-8
	 1 #SHEX:NF9R-6
	 1 SHEBBS:NF9R
	 1 #SHE2:NF9R-2
	 1 #SHEB:NF9R-3
       > 0 #446MT:N9GHE-9

      Now let's look at the possibilities for continuing our
 journey via the "Backbone" nodes. Remember that backbone nodes
 generally have aliases starting with the # symbol. The SHEBBS is
 just what you'd think - The Sheboygan County Amateur Radio Club
 BBS. #SHEX does not seem to indicate much to us (but really does -
 it is a "Cross-Stack" Node).  There appear to be 2 possibilities
 here. Let's try connecting to them in order - first, #SHE2.

      Once connected, sending the "I" (Info) command tells us that
 this is a backbone node intended to connect us to the KR9S DX
 Cluster. DX'ers may want to stop right there, but we are headed to
 Milwaukee and this is clearly not the right route. So, we send the
 "B" (Bye) command and are returned to #446SH with the "Welcome
 Back" greeting.

      Now we try the other possibility, #SHEB and connect to it.
 The "I" command will tell us that it is a 4800 baud link between
 Plymouth (near Sheboygan), and a node located in Slinger (near
 Milwaukee), #SLGB. If you have been looking at a state map, you
 have a good idea of the locations.

      So now we connect to #SLGB. The "R" Command will show (again,
 in abbreviated form):

  #SLGB:WB9TYT-8} Routes

     1 WIMKE:WB9TYT-9
     1 WICONV:WB9TYT-6
     1 WISLG:WB9TYT-7
     1 WINOT:WB9TYT-3
     1 #SLGH:WB9TYT-5
     1 WB9TYT:WB9TYT

      It appears that we have neared the end of our journey. If you
 connect up to each node and send the "Info" command, you will find
 out which ones are LAN nodes, and what frequency and area they
 serve. You will also find that these nodes are really not located
 in Slinger, they are now located in Milwaukee! The node alias are
 a carryover from a few years ago when they were, indeed, located
 in Slinger.

      If you have been keeping track of the journey, you will have
 a record of what nodes have been used. The correct sequence of
 nodes thus far is:

      WIGRB, #446GB, #446AG, #446MT, #446SH, #SHEB, #SLGB, and then
 the LAN Node (Either WISLG or WIMKE).

      We have finally made the journey, and have used Backbone
 nodes between the LAN nodes. In our next installment, we will
 discover a few techniques that will insure a good connection
 without as much typing. We will also see how to deal with
 "Marginal" paths.
 
  *End of Part 6*
