[aprssig] APRS in the North East

[William McKeehan]

I took a drive from East TN to Central Florida last week and saw similar things.

I ran a D700 with Voice Alert (and the volume up) and never heard anyone.

The display of the D700 was not mounted on the dash, so I had to take my eyes
off of the road to view it-as a result, I did not notice any voice-repeater
objects while mobile though I did notice a few when I checked the list at my
stops.

I did not notice any bulletins or objects about nets or meetings.

One thing that I would have really liked to know about was Skywarn
frequencies/nets. When I was traveling, the weather turned nasty and I just
had to scan around to find the Skywarn frequency. Given how I looked at the
display, I would much prefer to see this information (i.e., Skywarn net active
on 146.94) as a bulletin as opposed to an object.

As a side note, I did find coverage around the Savannah, GA area this time -
and coverage along the route were much improved over the last trip I made to
FL just a few months ago.

-- 
William McKeehan
KI4HDU

On Mon, June 18, 2007 2:00 pm, Robert Bruninga wrote:
> Driving though NJ, NYC, CT, VT and MA (on a college tour):
>
> Subject: Not what APRS was designed for
>
> Throughtout this entire 1000+ mile trip, I only heard two Voice
> Alert packets and raised no one.  I did see one mobile with '52
> in his packet and made a contact as he passed within a mile.  He
> had a D700, but had never heard about Voice Alert.
>
> I never made any contacts on 2 meters either over 4 days.  I saw
> not one single APRS Voice-Repeater Object the entire trip.  I
> saw a few repeaters in digi beacons, but they were coming in
> from over a hundred miles away, and not local.  I heard some
> voice repeaters, but could not get in because I could not figure
> out the PL. (PL scan didn't find them either)...  APRS is
> supposed to show this ON THE RADIO...
>
> I found two College radio clubs by following the coax from some
> obvious antennas, but both appeared "abandoned"...
>
> Bottom line, ham radio on this trip was useless.  Exactly the
> opposite of what ham radio with APRS assist is supposed to do.
> Here, I had APRS.  It should have showed me on my mobile APRS
> radio front panel:
> 1) the location of *local* voice repeaters
> 2) The recommended frequency, and PL
> 3) Their meeting nights or net times
> 4) possible link to their club page
> 5) I should have been alerted to every D700 in simplex range
> 6) I should have been able to voice QSO any of them mobile when
> in simplex range.
> 7) I should not have heard voice alert packets with no one
> monitoring for a reverse call.
>
> I was on a marathon college tour with my son to see some
> colleges in the Northeast.  Path was Baltimore, through NYC to
> Connecticut.  Up the middle to Vermont and NH, then down to New
> Haven, through RI up to Boston, then west to upstate NY then
> down to NYC and home.  Did hear a few voice alert packets in
> NNJ, but no one ever answered.
>
> THIS IS NOT WHAT APRS IS SUPPOSED TO DO!
>
> I'd like to sign up volunteers in each state or ARRL section, to
> take on the task of FIXING APRS in their area.  APRS is not just
> a bunch of moving vehicles with operators oblivious to their
> surroundings.  This means:
> 1) New-N Paradigm
> 2) Education campaign about Voice Alert
> 3) Getting all digis to transmit the local voice repeater
> object.
>
> This takes work.  It won't happen by just talking about it.
>
> Volunteers?
>
> Bob, Wb4APR