> And yes, Packet radio died because it worked. As packet became popular and
> people used it, the traffic went up and eventually people left because now
> the network was too congested to do anything.
AX25 reminds me quite a bit of D-Star. AX25 has two modes: connected
("linked") and unconnected (UI or broadcast). D-Star has two similar modes:
directed (UR set to a registered callsign) and CQ (UR set to CQCQCQ). When
AX25 began there was some experimentation and evolution about when each mode
should be used. Unconnected was useful for calling CQ but connected was useful
for linking to bulletin boards and for QSO's although you could QSO in
unconnected mode too. Similar experimentation and evolution seems ongoing
within D-Star, especially with the dplus extension (not a part of the D-Star
specification at all).
I think people left packet before the network congestion began. Bulletin
boards became internet rather than RF connected, and there were competing
digital modes that worked more reliably, especially on HF. Although of
experimental interest, attended data modes on VHF have just never been hugely
popular. APRS caused the inherent inadequacies of the original AX25
specification for congested channels to become a real problem, but that didn't
kill packet, rather, packet evolved with UI flood/trace and NSR (no source)
routing and with more intelligent digipeaters (read "gateways"). One can only
wonder how D-Star will next adapt and evolve.
73 -- John
