[aprssig] Repeater coverage in midwest

[Keith - VE7GDH]

Vic KC2GUI wrote on 19/08/2005

> I will be chasing a manned gas balloon out of ABQ, NM starting around Oct
> 1. The balloon is participating in a long distance competition. These races
> typically fly over most of the midwest states - CO, TX, NE, KS, IA, SD, ND,
> MN and occasionally range as far as MA. Each balloon will carry a APRS
> tracker. I am wondering about repeater coverage in the midwest. Can anyone
> speak to this? Are repeater locations documented somewhere?

I hope someone can help you out with specific coverage, but was it coverage for the balloon or for people chasing the balloon on the ground that you were thinking of? I'm sure the balloons will have a pretty big footprint. Will they be using perhaps no path at all, or maybe just WIDE1-1?

If the chasers were in "RF black holes" with no coverage, maybe a digipeater on the balloon would help them out. Of course, they would need to use a unique alias (not RELAY, WIDE, WIDEn-n, TRACE or TRACEn-n) so there weren't a zillion ground stations bouncing off them. I'm just thinking of something that would help the chasers themselves out. The chasers could alternate between WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 and something like (e.g.) GAS,WIDE1-1. 

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