[aprssig] APRS as a Situational Awareness tool

[Steve Dimse]

On Jan 11, 2008, at 7:00 AM, Ev Tupis wrote:

> So...why is APRS designed for situational awareness, yet is so under  
> utilized?  A question that I will ponder over the next couple of  
> days as the situation in Rochester abates.
>
Are people moving in from the edges to help?

I have first-hand knowledge of several hurricanes, and when you have  
been hit your last concern is getting APRS up and running. There is  
nothing on APRS that would benefit a victim directly, and there is  
more than enough to deal with. The people that actually benefit and  
need to restore the network are those moving in from the edges to  
help, especially with logistics. Even then they will only do that if  
there is enough benefit and enough people and hardware to provide a  
useful quantity of data. In most disasters, none of these conditions  
are met.

And of course, ham radio in general is declining in importance for  
most kinds of disasters as cell phone sites become beter hardened, and  
alternative services that can be operated by anyone, like satellite  
phone and internet, become more readily available.

Steve K4HG