[aprssig] Broadcasting?

[VE7GDH]

Steve K4HG wrote on 03/08/2005

> I would point out the bulletin said "feared dead", which was factual.

The first bulletin to ALL said...
"Lufthansa plane crashes in Tonto 200 feared dead"

It wasn't Lufthansa. It wasn't in Tonto. No-one died in the crash.
Fortunately, no Lufthansa planes crashed in Tonto National Forest in
California yesterday. I'm glad that I wasn't waiting with a D7 in my hands 
at LAX for relatives on a Lufthansa flight.

The second bulletin to BLNA said...
"Lufthans plane crashes in Toronto 200 feared dead"

Not Lufthans either. It was Air-France. Although the sender feared that 200
were dead, none were. The only thing that was really factual was that a
plane had crashed and the sender eventually got the location correct except
if left still left some ambiguity by not saying Which Toronto it was. The
actual crash was at Pearson Intnl Airport at Toronto Ontario. Not Toronto
IA, IL, IN, KS, MO, OH, SD,  or TX.

In defence of the sender of the bulletin, I happened to watch something that
I recorded yesterday and it had a US broadcaster mis-identifying it as
Lufthansa. In attacking the sender, isn't APRS supposed to be for local
tactical communications? The originator lives something like 535 km away
from where the plane skidded off the runway. I spend more time than I should
reading news from around the world most days. How would be if I sent out
bulletins (accurate or not) for every "bad news" story that I happened to
glance at?

By the way, did you have any relatives on that plane? If so, you must have
been very relieved that they didn't die along with 200 others. If I was
waiting for relatives at the airport with a D7 in my hand, the last thing I
would want to see flash up on the screen would be an inaccurate report of a
plane crash with "200 feared dead" in it.

73 es cul - Keith VE7GDH
--
"I may be lost, but I know exactly where I am!"