[aprssig] New Orleans, Operating Freqs and spam

[Bill Vodall WA7NWP]

> > The sad reality is... This is why not a single solitary
> > APRS message was sent from Downtown New Orleans over
> > the sole surviving Digi during the Aftermath of


We in the Western Washington region had a small adventure last fall.
Nothing like Katrina but 4 nights of huddling around the fireplace
with no commercial electricity does give a person time to reflect on
the state of the network and their personal backup communications
capabilities.

It was a bit of an eye opener.

My conclusion was that I wanted a full time, full function "tactical"
APRS station and fill in digipeater with indefinite backup power.
Sure all the legacy packet, TCP/Ip and Winlink2k gizmos will be handy
but for the core basic communications -- APRS will work the best.

Real soon now - a custom APRSDOS will be running full time on the old
486 laptop which will be powered off a 12V system with backup from a
deep cycle battery.  The battery will be charged with a RigMountain
PG40S charger from the mains in addition to either solar and an
extension cord to a soon to be purchased Honda EU2000i generator.

charger - http://www.westmountainradio.com/rigrunner/pg40s.htm

73
Bill - WA7NWP