Hello Nate
You are right about some things with NET/ROM.
The node links to other nodes are always done via the assigned callsign(s) of the node
and never by the
alias.
The bit about the alias being for users is true.
One advantage of the alias with a NET/ROM is that a user can have multiple connects
without problems,
and as you have shown it is done by changing the SSID. What you have done with your
ax25d.conf is
exactly right. I did have a proposal a few years ago to allow an option whereby a
wildcard could be
introduced in ax25d.conf to listen on all SSIDs with one entry. The original idea was
to modify the kernel
but it could be quite easily achieved within ax25d itself. Perhaps this should be
re-addressed sometime.
The problem with users connecting to the NET/ROM callsign is that the NET/ROM doesn't
know whether
the person connecting is a user or another node, this is the reason why real NET/ROMs,
BPQ, et al, don't
generate any connect text in that case. The code could be making a mistake and
upsetting the neighbouring
node, potentially swapping "unknown command" messages with each other for ever. There
is no such
ambiguity with either a level 4 connect, or with a connection to the alias(es),
A way around that would be when users connect to the node callsign on a frequency
where you know that no
NET/ROM links are going to take place, in that case it would be allowable to drop them
into the node also.
Sorry if this doesn't make too much sense, it was a bit of a liquid lunch today :-)
Jonathan HB9/G4KLX
