What People Build

The examples below show common patterns rather than official categories.

Personal stations and home infrastructure

Many participants begin by extending their personal station onto the network.

• Remote access to radios, repeaters, and shack computers
• Monitoring dashboards and control systems
• Personal web services, documentation, and logs
• Always‑reachable endpoints for learning networking and systems administration

These projects are sometimes small, but they can form the foundation for larger collaboration.

Shared radio and public‑service systems

44Net is frequently used as control or coordination infrastructure for radio systems.

• Networked repeaters and digital gateways
• Allstar, D-star, Echolink, and similar linked radio systems
• Linking control systems over RF or tunneled paths
• Emergency communications coordination networks
• Remote management of shared radio sites

Here the network acts as glue between geographically distributed equipment.

Club and community networks

Local groups use 44Net as internal infrastructure that they collectively operate.

• Amateur radio club networks and shared services
• Makerspaces, hackerspaces, and educational labs
• Community servers and collaboration platforms
• Training environments for new operators and students

These deployments often grow organically as participants contribute services.

RF transport and point‑to‑point links

Some projects focus primarily on moving IP traffic over radio itself.

• VHF, UHF, microwave, and optical links
• Hilltop‑to‑hilltop backbone experiments
• Regional RF backhaul networks
• Cross‑border and long‑distance amateur networking projects

In these cases, the radio path *is* the network infrastructure.

Experimental and overlay networks

44Net also serves as a place to try ideas that may not fit comfortably on the commercial Internet.

• Mesh routing experiments
• Tunnel overlays and hybrid RF/Internet designs
• Protocol testing and research environments
• Teaching labs and hands‑on networking courses

Because participation is decentralized, there is a wide degree of freedom in what people build and how they operate it.

A living ecosystem

No single list captures everything built on 44Net. New uses appear as operators combine radio, computing, and networking in ways that reflect their local needs and interests. The network evolves through participation rather than prescription.