[aprssig] Re: increasing WideX-X

[Cap Pennell]

The weather above Yosemite Valley at Glacier Point is a bonus from the
K6IXA-2 WIDEn-N digi there now, which is usually being heard by an IGate
directly (no digi hops), sometimes over one digi hop.
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/raw.cgi?call=K6IXA-2
And there's a KF6HJO IGate in Selma, at the foot of Highway 41.  The problem
in those mountains is hitting the _first_ relaying station from behind a
hill or down in a canyon.  Once you get _anywhere_, you're close to an
IGate.  Some of these steep canyons are the few remaining places in the
Western US where a digipath of RELAY,WIDE is still better than only WIDE2-2.
Certainly, anything broader than _only_ WIDE2-2 or TRACE2-2 is still not
needed to be seen on the internet.  If you're out there staffing the station
and watching the packets scroll by and you think it's needed, you might try
RELAY,WIDE2-2 for as long as you're paying attention.  But please don't
leave such a broad digipath unattended.  The excessive bandwidth consumption
resulting, due to packet collisions at high altitudes between all our high
mountain-top WIDEn-N digis, reduces everybody's throughput and so is
continually detrimental to all the other users of the VHF frequency.  APRS
is no more a "set it and forget it" mode than is any other amateur radio
mode.  The biggest problem around California (and elsewhere) is stations
that are using a too broad digipath, and/or transmitting too often while not
moving, for weeks and months on end.  It's a form of disrespect toward the
other users of the VHF frequency, though often due only to ignorance or
egotism rather than a deliberate intent to harm other hams.
73, Cap KE6AFE

> -----Original Message-----
> From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org
> [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]On Behalf Of Chris Kantarjiev
> Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 13:35 PM
> To: aprssig at lists.tapr.org
> Subject: [aprssig] Re: increasing WideX-X
>
<snip>
> There appears to be a great interest in doing what I'll
> call long-distance tracking. My personal example is deploying
> trackers in the backcountry south of Yosemite National Park,
> where digis are very sparse and IGATEs are many hops (typically
> four, where I've been) away. The terrain relief is pretty high,
> and despite what it may look like from the east coast, the
> state is *not* well covered - highway 41, the main corridor
> into Yosemite from Fresno, is poorly served by digis once
> one leaves the Fresno area. It's possible to get a tracker
> signal into findu from Oakhurst, but the path needs to be
> at least WIDE3-3, sometimes more. If you go one ridge farther
> east, chances are good that your tracker's signal won't hit anything.
>
> It's abundantly clear that this isn't what APRS was designed
> for. But I think it's the reality of what it has become, or
> how people are trying to (ab)use it. In my part of the world,
> collisions aren't part of the immediate problem (though I'm
> sure they are at the end of the path!).
>
> 73 de chris KG6VYD
>
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