[aprssig] Good 30m Reference?

[Joel Maslak]

On Feb 4, 2007, at 11:14 AM, Bob Bruninga wrote:

> You are correct that many HF recommendations are wrong and do not  
> help the network while helping the user.  But the answer is simple  
> and was always the same, going back to the original APRS HF  
> operation in 1993. (except for updating to GATE,WIDE1-1 instead of  
> GATE,WIDE.


Wouldn't GATE,WIDE2-1 be preferable?  I'm assuming the vast majority  
of people who can put up decent fixed 30m antennas and gear should  
have no problem putting up a 2m antenna that can hit a decent digi.


> Anyway, it is great to hear of interest in HF.  APRS has been on HF  
> since 1992 and works very well.  The 10 minute recommendation was  
> for boats that were underway 24 hours a day.  We found that we had  
> good data most of the time that the sun was up.  Very poor data  
> from midnight to sunrise.


I'll be on the road mostly during the day, so this is perfect.

I'm still relatively new to HF, and am learning what works and what  
doesn't, hence the reason I thought I'd ask before just implementing  
things.  :)

Speaking of implementing things, I'm thinking of adding a "mute"  
switch to the IC-706 stock microphone - has anyone already done  
that?  I imagine all I have to do is add a super small toggle switch  
in line with the microphone element.  (my stock mic plugs into the  
706 head in my installation, but the tracker will plug into the 706  
main unit, so I need a way of muting things to stay legal - and I  
don't like the idea of unplugging the mic every time I want to use  
APRS.)


> If you are mobile on short trips, then maybe 5 minutes would be  
> appropriate for shorter trips, but for truckers and 8 hour drivers,  
> 10 minutes would seem the best.  HF is for long haul RF and for  
> long haul travelers where exact precise position is not important,  
> but general position periodically is the goal.  Since back then,  
> everyone was running APRSdos which dead-reckons positions on  
> display anyway, the boats or truckers progress was well estimated  
> between infrequent reports.


Within 10 miles or so is plenty accurate for me, to be honest I don't  
care about it being super accurate with or without dead reckoning -  
the main thing I plan on using this for is to let friends and family  
know where I am on the various trips I take.  Typically answers like  
"Somewhere within an hour of Chicago" is plenty accurate for that.   
(I also have successfully used it to get a few non-hams interested in  
becoming hams - including one that's studying for his technician exam  
right now)  I also know that some people involved with emergency  
response in my state are frequent watchers of where my car is on  
Findu - nearly everyone that watches my car can see some obvious  
emergency uses of the technology, especially when they learn it  
doesn't depend on Wyoming's very limited telecommunications  
infrastructure (most of the state - probably about 70,000 or so  
square miles of it anyhow - were cut off from 911, long distance,  
internet, and cellular service recently because a fiber loop got cut  
in two places near the southeast corner of the state; people begin to  
understand how vulnerable cell phones are when a fiber cut 250 miles  
away keeps you from calling your wife who is 2 miles away).