[aprssig] Need Digi in Kentucky at Mamouth Cave Park

[Robert Bruninga]

We need an APRS digi at the Mammoth Cave National Park.

I was there this weekend and was unable to see anyone.  There are no hills
in the area, just valleys in the Karst, so I could not even go park high up
to get in(or out).  Finally, with a 20' fiberglass push-up mast and
twin-lead J pole I was able to copy some traffic, so it would not take much
to install a digi on a roof somewhere in the park.

Left my rig beaconing even while parked and eventually met up with another
APRS mobile visiting the  park.  But you cannot see us on APRS.FI because
there is no network.

As one of the major national parks, with millions of visitors and with its
location near to I-65, we should try to get a digi there.  I'll contribute a
TNC if someone can do the local legwork.

Here is the list of National Parks and APRS coverage:
http://aprs.org/aprs-parks.html

SEPARATE TOPIC:  I sure would have liked to have another APRS person with an
APRS HT see how far we could communicate  underground.  Sure the GPS does
not work, but with the very long and big tunnels in Mamouth, I'd like to
explore propagation.  My guess is for the major tour routes, and with up to
7 hops, we could cover quite a distance.  Certainly not the 400+ total
miles, of course, but the main routes..

With the new Kenwood TH-D72 which can digipeat, it would be fun to have a
few underground at the same time.

Shucks!  Maybe we should set up a date and see how many APRS D72's we can
get to visit the cave some weekend.  Call it a Minifest?

Bob, WB4APR