[aprssig] RE: European Digipeating standards

[Jan T. Pharo]

"Cap Pennell" <cap at cruzio.com>, Thu, 8 Feb 2007 10:03:11 -0800:

>Luckily, it's a short step from RELAY,WIDEn-N to the improved over-the-air
>efficiency of more modern "traceable WIDEn-N" alone, and any fill-in digis
>can operate WIDE1-1 instead of RELAY.  The improvement can even be
>implemented one station at a time, so there's no need to wait for the better
>modern system.  UI-View32 can be used to do the digipeating job handling
>both systems at once.

You will of course be aware that the highly dense populated areas with
high terrain walls that your have especially in California, have a
_much_ larger APRS user density and a _very_ different topography than
most areas in Europe; mountain top digipeaters covering areas with
several million inhabitants aren't there. Also, Europe are several
independent nations with independent amateur radio associations and
different radio frequency legislations (we have - for all practical
purposes - one band plan, though).
I have said previously - and am still saying - that there should be an
agreement, preferrably through the IARU region 1, about the parameters
in this area, rather than groups of digipeater owners doing one
solution and other groups or individuals in the neighbouring areas
doing another solution, making up a mess for travelling APRSers inside
each country or crossing international borders. Unlike north America,
we europeans can cross almost any international border inside Europe
with car or walking/bicycling without even stopping for any customs or
passport control, so the need for _one_ system is there; the openness
to get to a mutual agreement, howeveer, isn't. Each party has a
religious belief in their own system; RELAY,TRACEn-N, RELAY,WIDEn-N
(traceable or not), the US WIDE1-1,WIDEn-N (these are for
mobiles/portables).

-- 
73 de Jan, LA2BBA
Hvaler, Norway