[aprssig] Ambiguity due to GPS

[Scott Miller]

> I am talking about excessive packets generated by OpenTrac 
> units on 144.39
> in a heavily congested area.

Bill, maybe you can explain why you think this is only an issue for
OpenTracker users.  You think TinyTrak users don't do the same things?
TinyTrak has the same option to transmit separate status text.  The
OpenTracker has an additional telemetry option, but it must be specifically
enabled.  Same with HDOP/SATS output.

If anything, I like to think that OpenTracker users are, as a group, a
little more technical.  That may be changing now that it's gained so much
popularity, but historically those who have chosen my product have done so
because they valued its technical merits above the popularity of the
TinyTrak.

I just fired up the TT3 config program and entered a setting of 900 msec
TXD, 2 second transmit rate, with separate status text each packet.  You
know what?  It didn't stop me from doing it either.  Both the TinyTrak and
the OpenTracker come with reasonable defaults pre-programmed.  I don't know
about the TT3, but the OpenTracker even comes with a fairly conservative new
paradigm path.

Hunting down APOT02 users with inappropriate settings is not my job.  If
you've got users abusing the local network, through ignorance or malice,
regardless of their hardware, it's time to break out the 'ol Wouff Hong and
educate them a bit.

I've got users in over 30 countries and on all 7 continents, and I'm not
about to play global APRS cop and try to second guess what they're doing
with their own hardware.  If someone wants to provide some regional
guidelines that I can include in the manual, fine.  But the network
conditions in Zagreb or Bialystok aren't quite the same as those in Los
Angeles.

I think the current OpenTracker manual is quite reasonable in its advice:

"One transmission every two minutes is acceptable for most mobile stations.
A fixed station (e.g., a solar powered site reporting battery voltage and
temperature) might choose an interval in the range of 5 to 30 minutes. If
you require transmissions more often than every two minutes or so, consider
using the SmartBeaconingT options detailed below."

If that's not suitable, let me know and I'll change it.

Scott
N1VG