[aprssig] APRS I-gate in the Katrina effected areas

[Robert Bruninga]

>>> Patrick Green <pagreen at gmail.com> 09/12/05 3:28 PM >>>
>I'm going to go to Louisiana..... if I should setup 
>an I-gate in the area.

Absolutely.  That is what is missing!

> I don't see a whole lot of activity on the map. 

Yes, that is because there is no IGate that can
hear the main W5UK-9 digi DIRECT.   The main digi
 in New Orleans at a whopping 600 feet is a 
PacComm ONE-HOP only digi.  THus, although you 
can see it's 2 hop Beacons all the time, none of its 
USER packets are getting out because it is a 
ONE-HOP digi. 

That is, it takes WIDE2-2, or WIDE3-3 packets, 
and digipeats them only once and then substitutes 
its callsign and so the packets go no farther.  And 
the nearest IGates are 2 hops away...  So you
dont see the mobiles, but they are there if you 
could just hear W5UK-9 direct.

Here are my thoughts on making everything work 
and be compatible with the rest of the WIDEn-N
system:

1) Yes, the #1 goal must still be to get an
IGate so that it can hear W5UK-9 directly.
That is the only way to get packets from 
that area into the APRS-IS.  There is nothing
that can be done at the W5UK-9 digi itself
to help that situation.

2) Next, the W5UK-9 digi needs to add WIDE1-1
to its list of aliases.  This will let it support the 
general APRS mobile path of WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 
(3 hops) or WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 (2 hops) that most 
mobiles should be using if they want to use
temporary, portable, or fill-in digis in an area.
I would say to change the four aliases at the 
W5UK-9 digi to these four:

   WIDE1-1, WIDE2-2, WIDE2-1, WIDE3-3

Doing that will allow W5UK-9 to support the
first hop of ANY mobile that enters its area
and all users of WIDEn-N... (N = 3 or less),
and be compatible with surrounding WIDEn-N
systems.

3) Now having done the above, it allows
anyone to put up a temporary APRS digi
anywhere in the affected Gulf Coast
area (or anywhere else) using ANY TNC
by simply giving it the alias of "WIDE1-1".

4) Encourage all mobiles in the area to use
the WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 (2 hop) 
or WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 (3 hop) paths.

These actions above will make the Entire
area compatible with the rest of the APRS
network and all KPC-3 type digis and all
of the efficient N-N process.  Done...

Bob

>>> "Matthew Anderson" <m_anderson at cox.net> 
>>>09/09/05 12:15 AM >>>
>Here is what we have for New Orleans
>
>1) W5UK-9 is managed by K5IQ, now in Baton Rouge.  
>He needs specific instructions on how to  program the digi
> without using the N-N path. We can not use N-N since the 
>rest of our Network is Kantronics (KPC3+ ver 8 and 9)

But you can, and it does support it easily with the
changes above...

>2) We plan to add an I-Gate in Jefferson Parish 
>at one of the local hospitals. This should solve 
>most of the problem.

Yes, that will give the needed connectivity to
the APRS-IS and let anything in New Orleans 
get out...

Notice that RELAY and WIDE will not work 
anywhere anymore.  So tell all mobiles inthe
area to use the WIDE1-1,WIDEn-N path instead.

Thanks
Bob