[OZAPRS] Interesting

[Terry Neumann]

G'day all,


Why do we need APRS?

I think both Ron and Brian have answered the question.

With considerable respect, it sounds very much to me as though it was a
"city question".    There are people who have some difficulty in
understanding that once you get more than say 200 km from the big smoke,
some things do change.  :-)    You might be surprised how hard it can be
convince some people that we don't have street name and a letter box type
residential address.   We are only 90 km away from the Adelaide lights.

I'm finding HF APRS very interesting partly because of the excellent
opportunity it offer for propagation study.  There have been new stations
coming up on the bands every day - so clearly it's capturing the interest
of others too.  

At home here 40 metres has been interesting but has unexpected side
effects.   When my 40 metre station goes into  TX mode, it floods most
radios and audio equipment  with a burst of  noise.   It also prompts my
BJC 2100 printer to go into its initialization routine.  All fun stuff.
I'll try a lower power setting and see if that  helps..... 

On Wednesday I propose to undertake an experiment I've been speculating
about for some years.  I'll be travelling east and will be using HF APRS
for most of the way.  I'll probably opt for 30 metres most of the time.
While I 'm interested in what has been happening on 40, I think the number
and distribution of 30 metre Igates will give me a better chance of being
seen/heard.   That's not to say that I mightn't try 40, and even 2 metres
at times but 30 metres is the go for the present. 

I don't expect to have phone facilities active for much of the trip other
than listening in on occasionally whatever frequency I'm using at the
time.   SMS is a possibility to alert me if I'm doing something wrong -
the number will be in the beacon.

Which raises again my only real reservation about APRS  in general - not
only HF.   Namely the lack of immediate feedback, if any at all about how
the station is working.   But then I have talked about that before;  I can
live with it (most of the time). 8-)

Great to see you back Darryl, and thanks to those who are running I-gates.
It's appreciated.   One in Alice' would be ideal, but we probably need to
foster some interest there before that can happen. 

Regards to all,
Terry
VK5ATN

Ron and Val Smith wrote:


Hi Brian,
Why do we need APRS? Interesting question.

Snip

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