[aprssig] MIC-Encoder repeaters

[Chris Kantarjiev]

> It seems to me that we are about to be passed by 
> again now that all cell phones will be equipped with GPS or some such thing 
> for location. I think if the phone companies do that right and give users 
> some access to a web page for seeing themselves on a map, the APRS incentive 
> will be less. 

Don't hold your breath for this.

Aside from the huge privacy implications, most of the systems being
deployed in cell handsets aren't going to support continued location
updates. Manufacturers are deploying the bare minimum required
to meet the E911 rule, which typically means "assisted GPS" or AGPS,
meaning that the handset doesn't have enough smarts internally to
do full GPS location - on demand, it gets help from the cellular
network to compute the location.

(See http://www.gpsworld.com/gpsworld/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=12287
for a good discussion.)

To my knowledge, Nextel is the only carrier that is deploying full
GPS in all their handsets.

Aside from the limited handset capability, the carriers won't want
to spend the bandwidth to allow users to track themselves continuously.

(Not to mention that cell phones don't work in the backcountry, which
is why *I* think autopatches aren't quite dead yet...)

73 de chris KG6VYD