[aprssig] APRS-SCS

[Steve Dimse]

On 12/12/04 at 1:05 PM kb2scs at optonline.net sent:

>Most if not all APRS client Software that can IGATE has a switch that 
>turns on or off the IGATING of APRS Messages back to RF.
>
>The question is, Is this switch worth while? 
>
>Do most if not all IGATE operators turn this switch on?
>If the answer is that all IGATE owners turn this switch on then is 
>there a need for such a switch in the first place?
>
In my opinion, yes. There is no harm with adding additional read-only IGates to
a local area. The APRS IS is able to filter dups effectively. More IGate
increase the probably a packet will get received and forwarded to the APRS IS,
and provides a backup for times when the primary IGate goes down.

However, adding more bi-directional IGates will markedly increase the load on a
local RF network, as each IGate will transmit a message to a local user, there
is no filtering of this kind of dup in the RF network.

The only way I would say it would be OK to drop the switch would be if code were
included to hold of IGating a message to RF to see if it is heard on RF after
being transmitted by another IGate...

Steve K4HG