Don't use the DM for this. Put the DM away in a safe location and
use a different replica as your hub for synchronization.

The way to do the scheduled synch is to get the Jet Synchronizer,
either with Replication Manger, or via the Jet Security Update
download, and use the TSI Synchronizer to set it up (JRO does not
give any control of schedules, which is one of the reasons I simply
don't bother to use it).

I just yesterday posted detailed instructions on how to set up
Indirect replication without Replication Manager. You'll find it
here (all on one line):

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.access.externaldata/m
sg/3b7167c1462b2d2f

It's a long post, but it details everything that needs to be done to
set up Indirect replication. The steps there will also allow you to
set up a schedule.

It seems to me that you definitely need to use Indirect replication
for all your synchs, as you say all the locations are "remote." Any
WAN connections are going to be too slow or unreliable for a direct
synch, so you'll need to use indirect replication. And that means
installing the Jet Synchronizer on every one of the remote machines,
not just on the hub server.

In a WAN situation, I don't use replication any more. Instead, I
host the app on a Windows Terminal Server and remote users run the
app in Remote Desktop sessions. This means everyone is editing the
same back end, so there's no need for replication. It also
simplifies rolling out the app to a new user, as nothing has to be
installed on their workstation that isn't already there (all that's
needed is the Remote Desktop client), or easily downloadable (for
Win2K or Mac).

It does require the provisioning of a Terminal Server robust enough
to handle the user load, but in the long run, that costs less than
the maintenance and administrative cost of keeping Indirect
replication running smoothly.