No subject

covered roughly a 500km radius depending on local terrain.

The design we used for VK3 may not work in other locations as the local
terrain and conditions has a large part to play in the RF network design.

It takes a lot of hard work, good will, unselfish cooperation and a bit of
luck to develop a fantastic APRS network that provides are reliable service
to all its customers.

Cheers
Richard
VK3JFK


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au [mailto:ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au] On
> Behalf Of Jack Chomley
> Sent: Monday, 30 August 2010 8:47 AM
> To: Australian APRS Users
> Subject: Re: [OZAPRS] Igate to RF
> 
> FWIW
> There must be gating to RF for stations with D700, D710, D7, VX-8 and like
> radios for 2 way messaging etc, but sending beacons by Igates on RF from
> hundreds of kilometres away, over digis of which many are solar powered
> does not make sense. The operations of an Igate rests with its operator,
> he/she knows what the network load is and should tailor it's operation to
> cater for all users.  Given we are now seeing an increase in the use of
> APRS ready low power portable radios, maybe we need to think of the
> network load a little more carefully, when it comes to gating onto RF.
> A simple solution IF the traffic level on the national frequency is too
> high for what ever reason, is to simply set up a local digi on a secondary
> 2m frequency and Igate it to the Internet, the secondary freq local Igate
> can then have control over what they send out on RF etc.
> Traffic levels on the secondary freq will be far less and give local
> operators on it, a far better chance of access. It's something I am going
> to do here in my local area and experiment with.
> I don't see a published secondary 2m freq, so I guess I will just have to
> pick one!
> maybe 145.150 or close to it.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Jack. VK4JRC
> 
> Sent from my Apple iPad Tablet PC
> 
> 
> On Aug 30, 2010, at 7:54 AM, Ray Wells <vk2tv at exemail.com.au> wrote:
> 
> > Howard,
> >
> > aprs usage and traffic density varies greatly across this vast country
> > and, a one size fits all just doesn't fit.
> >
> > I'm in Kempsey and run both the hf/vhf igate and the local digi. Apart
> > from the digi beacons and my occasional igate beacon there is just one
> > other fixed station (vk2cvr) and my "seldom on" mobile signal. There is
> > the occasional traveller passing through but there is no constant local
> > mobile activity to maintain user interest in aprs.
> >
> > The nearest "next" digi to here is 115km away.
> >
> > To provide a bit more interest involving a wider geographic area I
> > permit a select few out-of-area stations to be broadcast on RF. This is
> > being constantly reviewed with regard to channel traffic, which is very
> > light, even at the busiest of times.
> >
> > It's safe to say that most traffic via the local digi is weather related
> > - warnings and current wx at 9 regional wx stations.
> >
> > If you live in a densely populated area the concept of wanting to know
> > about things hundreds of km away is probably foreign to you. For someone
> > in a lightly populated region those other towns are as local as someone
> > in the next suburb in Sydney or Brisbane.
> >
> > Armidale, for example, is 125km away from Kempsey, as the radio travels.
> > Kempsey has considerable interest in the wx (rainfall) at Armidale
> > because the Gara River, north of Armidale, flows into the Macleay River.
> > It was melting snow in the Gara River that was largely responsible for
> > the devastating 1949 Kempsey flood. We definitely consider Armidale to
> > be "local".
> >
> > It's all very well having guidelines but they don't provide for every
> > situation, nor can they ever. Having "guidelines" permits things to be
> > done a little differently, provided "different" doesn't impact the wider
> > network; the impact of different must be purely local.
> >
> > And having guidelines doesn't stop individuals completely misconfiguring
> > in an ad hoc way to cause havoc in densely populated areas.
> >
> > It should be more about common sense than strict adherence to rules. If
> > we bend the rules to suit the local environment we should also be
> > prepared to bend them back when circumstances change. One day I will
> > have another digi in range of vk2rmc-1. When that happens I will review
> > my settings. Until that time there is no need and, I suspect Warren
> > feels the same way.
> >
> > Ray vk2tv
> >
> >
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