[aprssig] pointless text in the status (was: Preparing for a longroadtrip - VA)

[Stan - N0YXV]

>
> That hits one of my pet peeves - pointless nonsense in the status field.
>
> A personal message is fine, a town name or email address is great, but
> why in the world would station AB1CDE use "AB1CDE" as the status text?
>

That brings up a question I've always had. How much more does each character
add to the overall loading of APRS. In other words if I use 10 characters in
my status text instead of 20 have I cut my packet in half? Put another
way...if 10 characters plus all header and tail bits in a packet is half a
second long will 20 characters be one second long? My question revolves only
around network and network loading. I completely understand the pointless
nonsense in the status field but you do have to admit that one mans junk
_is_ another mans treasure.

> Probably the worst is WinAPRS, which has program name, version number,
> and some abbreviated form of location that turns out to be just
> garbage.  Here's an example:
>
> WinAPRS 2.5.1 -ALDALOZARK   -251-<520>
>
> OK, we're apparently told 3 times what version of WinAPRS is running:
> once in the destination call and twice in the status.  Maybe <520> is a
> build number?  Who knows.  what is ALDAOZARK?  some reverse engineering
> and map browsing will eventually tell you that this cryptic string
> means the station is in Ozark, AL, Dale County.  The coordinates in the
> packet already gave me that information.
>
> I'd like to be clear I do not blame users for the defaults that the
> _developer_ includes.  I'm certainly not picking on the station whose
> status text I copied (note I didn't include the call).
>
>
> Rant mode off.  Sorry, just couldn't hold that one in any longer. (:
>
> -Jason
> kg4wsv
>
>
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