[aprssig] Re: Why use this path?

[Stephen H. Smith]

kb4ytm at gmail.com wrote:

> I'm not sure I understand this path. It comes from a ham in Maine (yes 
> Maine) and I see it lots down here in Tennessee. Now I'm sure its 
> being gated from an Igate closer to me, but still, I dont really WANT 
> to see these packets. I have sent messages but no answer. I have seen 
> him 22 times today at my home QTH using this path. In looking at 
> findu.com for stations near this ham, it seems a lot of users have his 
> callsign in their paths also.
>
> Maybe someone can explain why this path is being used.
>
> Thanks
> Richard
>
> K1PIG>ECHO,GATE,WIDE3-3,ECHO,GATE,WIDE3-3,K1PIG,qAC,K1PIG:
>

It's a clueless user on HF.  He's probably beaconing on 10.149 .    ECHO 
is the HF equivalent of "RELAY" .  "GATE" tells a receiving station with 
a dual-port HF/VHF TNC to retransmit the packet on VHF.   WIDE3-3 is the 
usual VHF path.  

The upshot of this is that IF the HF ECHO succeeds (and that is very hit 
and miss given the variable propagation on HF), he is then 
simultaneously entering numerous local VHF nets over a radius of 
1000-1500 miles (depending on HF propagation).  He is then creating 
needless QRM and clutter for a radius of three hops around each of these 
VHF entry points.  

The ultimate irony is that probably no one is even seeing him since most 
of the "victims" probably have their maps zoomed to show a city or 
county level area.  Thus a station from 500-1500 miles away would be way 
outside their map's view anyway.

Normally, if your goal is to be seen on findu,  you DONT NEED ANY PATH 
AT ALL on HF !!      There are numerous igate stations monitoring HF 
directly that will insert you straight  into the Internet system without 
cluttering dozens of VHF nets simultaneously.   And you will get there 
much more consistently than you do using long paths that just lengthen 
the packet and reduce the likelyhood of a successful decode.

30M HF APRS as heard live from Pasadena, CA :
   http://wa8lmf.dyndns.org:14439   




Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
EchoLink Node:      14400    [Think bottom of the 2M band]
Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.com

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