On Friday morning (11/18), the metro's W0YC-5 big gateway/digi went down. It stopped transmitting and receiving, and lost its connection to the APRS-IS network.
Many of you probably didn't notice. In fact, as of today (11/20) W0YC-5 is still down. I've notified N0YNT (Matt), who has access to the station at the U of M. I wouldn't be surprised if it came back into operation soon.
EDIT: W0YC-5 started gating packets again on 11/21, and was fully restored on 11/23.
At one time, losing W0YC-5 for even a day or two would have been a "big deal". It remains one of the elements of the core infrastructure for Minnesota's APRS network. For many years, the metro has been the hub of MN APRS traffic due to its large gating capacity and digipeaters funneling outstate (and Wisconsin) packets into the metro gateways. Before W0PZT-1 (formerly N0AGI-1) came into existence, W0YC-5 was where the vast majority of metro traffic ended up. Even after the big Medina gateway (W0PZT-1) stepped in, W0YC-5 still provided most of the direct coverage in the urban core and handled digipeated packets for roughly 1/4 of the state -- not to mention about 1/3 of Wisconsin. And it has been the major element for RF-based messaging.
So, what changed? Why didn't the metro APRS network collapse in the absence of its major gateway?
The answer is "redundancy".
We now have several decent gateways that provide coverage to portions of the metro. And, while W0PZT-1 in Medina can provide baseline coverage for the metro, the Robbinsdale digipeater (K0YTH-13) can move packets in the urban core to the gateways on the metro's edge.
Further, new infrastructure has sprung up outside the metro to handle local traffic and messaging without any reliance on the metro. St. Cloud has become a hub for central Minnesota traffic, bolstered by the new gateway/digi in Paynesville (NY0I-1). In southwestern MN, the TX gateway in Mountain Lake (MTLAKE) gates much of the traffic that once had to be relayed to the metro -- and also provides RF-based messaging independent of the metro's network. The big gateway/digi in Knife River now covers Duluth and the North Shore quite well. Several more examples exist on a smaller scale that add up to rural Minnesota gating the majority of its own traffic. In Wisconsin as well, a handful of gateways have been added that reduce the amount of digipeater traffic ending up in metro gateways.
In the Big Picture, when W0YC-5 went down, other gateways stepped up. In the east metro, K9MLS and N0ALE-10 saw their coverage move westward somewhat. At the same time, the north metro infrastructure took over areas that were normally covered by W0YC-5 -- most notably W3JF and N0KFB-1. In the west metro, K0GV-10 got a larger share of traffic in Minneapolis proper than it usually does. Even KC0FXY-2 south of Hastings provided some fill-in coverage.
The big metro digipeaters also played their part, shifting traffic outside the metro to places like Faribault. My own small gateway, KD0TLS-1, has seen a small uptick in messages being gated. These were probably normally handled by W0YC-5.
The only area that probably saw any impact from W0YC-5's absence would be the south metro. We could really use a small gateway somewhere between Powderhorn and Bloomington to bolster coverage of I-35W and snag some of the local digipeater traffic.
Does this mean that W0YC-5 is now irrelevant or unnecessary? NO.
Consider that the metro has lost the Woodbury TX gateway K0JDD-1 for well over a week now. And the K1LEO-10 TX gateway in Rockford has been down for a similar length of time. In Apple Valley, the N9MEC gateway's coverage shrinks monthly, and often goes completely deaf for a day or more.
While it's always sad to see any element of the metro infrastructure fade away, these losses could be compensated for if W0YC-5 was in action.
Although I'm sure W0YC-5 will return to the air, I'm equally sure that some other gateway or digipeater will go down in the future. Having a mega-station like W0YC-5 is the best way to cover those inevitable local losses. We need a mix of big and small solutions to make the network redundant.
Mega-stations like W0PZT-1, N0HOY-10, and W0YC-5 aside, much of the metro's gating capacity is provided by home gateway/digis. You don't need a 100-foot tower to make an impact on metro coverage. A unity-gain antenna on a rooftop is sufficient to cover up to a ten-mile radius. You don't need to cover the entire metro -- though some home stations come close. You don't even need an expensive and powerful rig. A simple RTL-SDR dongle or old analog scanner can be the "ears" for an RX-only gateway. Any old Chromebook or Win98 laptop can be the "TNC". You don't need to be an experienced General or Extra-Class operator to make a contribution to the amateur community. Consider KF0KFL (John), a new Tech who recently set up an RX-only gateway near White Bear Lake. That gateway now covers the intersection of I-694 and I-35E. It also gates digipeated packets across the metro. You don't need to do everything, but you can do something. That's the nature of a network.
And, if your own small contribution to the network ever fails, you will know that other operators will fill that gap until you can restore your station to full capacity.
Running an APRS gateway isn't nearly as glamorous as running an FM repeater, but it is a way to be a positive part of the local amateur community.
No comments:
Post a Comment