[aprssig] Fundamental APRS capacity

[Robert Bruninga]

>>> "Curt, WE7U" <archer at eskimo.com> 10/4/04 10:47:03 AM >>>
>There's a way in Xastir to show the PHG circles...
>We don't color each one based on number of hops though.

One thing  you could consider is making the DIGI circles
in green and the user circles in some other color and 
also allow the user to select either, or, or both.  I once saw
another "Windows" PHG plot and since there was no color
distinction, the map was impossble to visually decode.

Also, remember that APRS1.1 spec cut the normal display
of all PHG circles in half as the default.  which drastically
cuts the map clutter and makes the circles more realistic
to mobile operation (allows for 6 dB or more of flutter).

Keep the ability to display the original size circles when
needed for displaying FIXED links.  In APRSdos, I call
this FIXED PHG to distinguish it from regular PHG.

Here are three APRSdos map displays of these features:

Simple PHG: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/mapPHGs.gif
Aloha Circle:  http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/alohamap.gif
Digi Hops:     http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/digihopsX.gif

Thanks for considering it.

de WB4APR, Bob