[CQ-Contest] How big is the DX cluster?

[N7MAL]

To those who are new to DXing with packetcluster, within the last 15 years 
or so, Jim used the word fragile to describe connections in the early days. 
In the early days members of the DX clubs in both Phoenix and San Diego 
wanted no external connections. They thought the cluster was for their own 
private use and wanted no outside connections. We had to overcome them and 
it wasn't easy, in fact some of them are just now 20 years later just coming 
around. The path between Jim's house and my house was fraught with all sorts 
of problems. First we were stretching the rubber band, between netroms, 
beyond their  limits. Some of the netrom owners thought we were using to 
much of 'their' bandwidth and would arbitrarily disconnect us. Then there 
were the contesters who said the cluster users had an unfair advantage, 
which eventually led to the assisted contest class. Contesting to this day 
has suffered the most from packetclusters(my own personal opinion).
Overall the cluster system has been a great success and I'm glad Jim & I(and 
others) had a  part to play in it.
73

MAL
N7MAL
BULLHEAD CITY, AZ
http://www.n7mal.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jim McDonald
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How big is the DX cluster?


The link to AZ was to the Phoenix area.  It used mountaintop digipeaters and
then NetROMS.  As I remember, N6ND in San Diego, N6CDA/N7MAL, and I were
doing it, along with others.  The link was pretty fragile.

It all started with AK1A.

Jim N7US