(November 1997)
Please note that QQserv is a dead project, and has been so for some time. It is no longer being supported in any way. It will remain available in case anyone is able to get any use out of it.

QQserv

In addition to being a packet server, QQserv is now a client. This means that you can feed packets from your area to Steve Dimse's APRServe via the Internet without having to request that he add you to his connect list, and without needing a static IP address. Any standard type of connection to the Internet, including a dynamic IP dialup account, should work fine. You can still use QQserv as a server to send queued and live packets to clients connected from the Internet via telnet, javAPRS, etc.

When you install or update QQserv, the current APRServe address and port are already filled in for you in the Network Settings. When you startup, you will see the status of the connection to APRServe at the bottom right of the screen. If you see the words "Client: Connected", you know that you are now sending packets to APRServe as they come in. If the connection is closed, or it detects that APRServe is no longer there, it will try to reconnect again several minutes later.

As for the server, unless you are running from a machine configured with multiple addresses, you shouldn't have to specify an IP number. Although you do have to know your IP number or domain name for anyone to connect the server.

This program is what I would call very experimental, but anyone who has worked with both APRS software and Internet client/server software should find everything fairly obvious. Most of the defaults should be acceptable for a typical win95 machine running a standard dialup PPP connection. As of yet, there is no documentation other than this and the program has very limited features. There are some things that still feel very clumsy to use and may work in an awkward manner. Since WinAPRS with Internet capability is scheduled to come out soon, there probably won't be much more done in the way of upgrading.

Caveat

Ken K4EVH was patient enough to give it a thorough test on two different Windows NT 4.0 machines, and it did not fare well. I'm not able to test on any NT version right now, so I can only say that it might work on NT to a degree, but there may be many hiccups along the way. (Thanks Ken)

The system with which this has been developed is a Pentium 133 with 32MB RAM (no server load to speak of) and the TNC is an MFJ-1278.

It is written in Visual Basic so the size of the installation distribution is ridiculous compared to what little it does, but I needed to do this in a rapid development environment so as not to take much time away from work and other activities.

Installation

If you already have an older version installed on your system, download qqserv-update.zip (only 27K). It will unzip into one file, qqserv.exe. Replace the current qqserv.exe with this file.

Otherwise, download qqserv.zip from below and unzip it into an empty directory on your hard drive. Then run setup.exe. It will create an icon in your Start menu under Programs. You can uninstall it by going to the Windows Control Panel and choosing "Add/Remove Programs". QQserv should be listed there.

qqserv.zip - 1.84 MB

Please send any questions, comments and experiences to brad@n8qq.com and I'll respond as best and as quickly as I can.

Brad N8QQ