[OZAPRS] APRS Idea?

[Liz]

On Sat, 2 Feb 2013 11:09:12 +1030
"Paul Mullins" <pmullins at adam.com.au> wrote:

> Hi there all,
> Its been a while from my last post, I have an idea. I have no idea if
> this has been implemented anywhere in the world but this idea could
> be done.
> 
> I have been thinking about the way that the APRS network works, now I
> might be wrong with fully understanding the network but this is my
> idea.

snip....

I've also read the other relies so far.
I live on the edge of the APRS universe, and travel around, so I see
two sides to this.

I have a digipeater and IGate, and also put packets from APRS-IS to RF
from within a specific geographical area (which is further away from
the APRS universe again.
Unlike the Kempsey example, I don't pull much from APRS-IS to transmit.
The stations I am picking up are actually on HF or directly using
APRS-IS through the telephone system. 

My transmitter isn't that busy, you can check the stats on aprs.fi if
interested. I am still receiving signals from at least 300km away, and
I choose not to digipeat those distant signals.

However, down on the coast, the radio in the car is constantly going
'bip' for another incoming packet. The frequency was crowded to my
rural ears, and I was receiving packets from as far away as 140km, and
thinking "I'm in Wollongong, why am I getting aprs packets from
Wyong?" (140km)
Or in Canberra, "why am I getting weather from Parkes
(NSW), Orange and Yarramundi?" all of which are about 250km distant.

Paul, I'd like to thank you for bringing up the topic. I see options
with more thoughtful filtering on digipeaters, so that packets which
are from a long distance, which is differently defined according to
population density. Of course for those wishing to get their packets to
APRS-IS we would need a larger number of IGates for redundancy - no one
has 100% uptime on their internet connection.

Liz VK2XSE