I guess from your username that you're an extra. I memorized enough to pass the technician test by taking the practice exams on QRZ. I don't have an elmer; I'm not in a club; I'm a 1968 liberal arts grad; Ive done non-technical work all my life. I know I do not know anything about amateur radio.

So what do the remote users use to connect? Did they have the same souped up linear amp? I understand your gateway has/can have a lot of power and remote users can hear it, but they need enough so it can hear their signal so I was wondering how it was done.

If I understand correctly you found you did not need a linear amp, but rather just a high power PCMCIA card plus the 24 db antenna.