[aprssig] APRS Calling

[John Gorkos]

On 10/21/12 4:29 PM, "Robert Bruninga" <bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:

>
>The FREQ-QSY Format is already there.  The radios will do the
>one-button QSY, and it will all work, just as you have suggested.

Actually, this is where things fall apart.  The radios will not recognize
a FREQ object to QSY to in a message, which is critical to the whole "One
button tune" concept.  This is where AVRS currently falls down. The
process should be:   N1ABC sends an APRS message to AVRS with the callsign
of the person he wants to have a voice contact with (W1XYZ).  AVRS finds
that person (who has to be running an APRS system) and finds the closest
echolink/allstar/irlp nodes to both N1ABC and W1XYZ.  AVRS then sends a
message to W1XYZ with the QSY information, and a note saying N1ABC is
looking to talk to you.  W1XYZs radio ACKs that message bck to AVRS, and
then AVRS sends a message back to N1ABC with QSY information and the node
number of the node that W1XYZ is now listening to.  In the perfect world,
the two users would hit the "TUNE" button, and the radio would auto-QSY to
that frequency.  Unfortunately, no radio on the market parses QSY data
from MESSAGES, so the system falls down right there.  The users need to
manually change frequencies, offsets, and set up the tone squelch for the
internet link frequency.  Hence, AVRS is about as useful as a screen door
on a submarine.  The system is still up and running, and get occasional
hits, but there's too much manual diddling to make it as effective as
D-STAR or DMR.

John Gorkos
AB0OO