[aprssig] "Emergency!" test convention?

[Andreras Junge, N6NU APRS]

Why not send a couple of Status beacons Indicating the intended test before
triggering it?

That way everybody can lookup your station info when the Emergency beacon
hits and can relax ...

Andreas, N6NU

> -----Original Message-----
> From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org
> [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]On Behalf Of KC2MMi
> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 7:07 AM
> To: Bob Bruninga
> Cc: aprssig at lists.tapr.org
> Subject: [aprssig] "Emergency!" test convention?
>
>
> Bob, either I've missed something when reading the APRS specs, or
> there's a
> glaring omission in them. It would seem that there is no test period
> specified for actually testing an APRS unit beaconing the "Emergency!"
> status.
>
> What I mean by this, is that many distress systems put aside five minutes
> every hour, and during that five minute period anyone that needs to test a
> system--test it under actual conditions--is free to do so. Stations
> receiving the emergency beacon will ignore it during that period. The
> purpose is simple, there's really no way to test emergency beacons without
> activating them and of course, one can't just do that at random without
> calling wolf.
>
> So may I suggest adding a small point to the APRS spec? From two and half
> minutes before the hour, to two and a half minutes after the hour, every
> hour, that five minute period be set aside for emergency beacon tests. Any
> signal received in that window will be treated as a test to be
> ignored. Any
> signal continuing after that period, or sent before it, would be
> treated as
> a real emergency signal of course. (If there is a different quiet period,
> i.e. from the hour to five past, that you'd prefer to synchronize with, I
> don't mind at all.)
>
> The alternative is bringing equipment into a faraday cage or
> sticking a can
> over the antenna, etc, and none of that quite allows everything
> to be tested
> as it really will deploy--including reception in the APRS system.
>
> Or, as I said, did I miss something and is this already addressed?
>
> Jared
>
>
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