[aprssig] Another Source of Network Overload ?? -- Too Many WX Stations Close Together.

[Stephen H. Smith]

I am currently in a Denver motel room (waiting for a car repair after 
skidding off I-76 during Tuesday's storm) monitoring APRS via the 
Internet stream.

Looking at the area around me here in the Denver area, I was struck by 
the huge number of weather stations located very close together.

Here's a map captured from UI-View after listening to the APRS internet 
stream for less than 3 minutes!

     http://members.aol.com/wa8lmf/aprs/DenverAPRS_WX.gif

[ I have filtered out over 30 non-RF Citizens Weather stations that were 
also on the map. ]


Allowing for the fact that some are up in the Front Range thousands of 
feet above the plains but only a few miles farther west, there still 
seem to be an excessive number located in the flatlands along I-25.


1)  Note the cluster of 4 in the area between Longmont and Fort Collins 
at the north end of I-25 on this map.

2)  Note 4 of them within about 10 miles of each other just north of 
Colorado Springs.   Surely the weather can't be that different in 
locations 5 or 10 miles apart on the plains.

I've noticed this proliferation of close-spaced WX stations in other 
urban areas as well as I drive cross country.



Do we really need this many this close together?




Stephen H. Smith                wa8lmf (at) aol.com

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