[aprssig] Part 3/3: Updating APRS Clients (Consumer Needs)

[Ev Tupis]

----- Original Message ----

From: Jason KG4WSV <kg4wsv at gmail.com>


OK, so what are their needs, and how is APRS (and ham radio in general) falling short?

If this is meant to get some discussion going, and for the benefit of
those of us who didn't go to DCC, how about summarizing here?
---------------------------

The three part message to the list is a pretty good strategic summary.  The DCC article itself addresses one need tactically and was offered to be sent to anyone who had an interest (offer still good).

Here's food for thought/discussion, though please understand that it is not my intent to insult anyone.

APRS's  symbol set is not well designed for use by today's Emergency First Responders, though it is really good for use as pseudo-Avatars for general Amateur Radio use.  Generally, EFR's don't care about IOTA, Trains, Eyeballs, WX map symbols (!), DX Spots, Satellite locations, etc.

They care about emergency ration locations (fuel, food, shelter), location of ambulances and fire trucks, environmental conditions (WX, Atmospheric Opacity, Floodwater Levels, etc.), traffic speed within incident areas (tied to fixed location radar guns), electrical service delivery status, etc.

This is simply one of several challenges facing APRS (Bob has actually mentioned others), restricting it's value to the sworn EFR community.

Ev, W2EV







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