[aprssig] NEW! IC-V82 - VHF/APRS Transceiver

[Rich Garcia]

Please be careful in the assumptions, it can get quite complicated
considering we have many modes and things can be quite different from
country to country.
Here are a few facts...

1) Yes some phones do have a REAL GPS in them
2) Yes some systems do use timing and triangulation (as in some GSM systems)
3) Nextel is the carrier but Motorola Iden are the radios, some Iden models
have GPS units.
4) Various other companies do have GPS units in their phones while others
have quasi-qps and still even others do not and use timing as Andrew states.
	The Motorola V60P and the LG 4400 do have a GPS while a Audiovox 9000 is a
quasi-qps

Bottom line is that even though we have phones that can do positioning, and
the carriers have the structure in place (not sure of the deadline) many
PSAP's do not have the structure to read it. I am in the industry and I do
yearly 911 tests at over 30 cell sites in each sector which means 90+ 911
tests a year. I am NOT a well liked person in the area when my tests are
due! That does not count 911 complaints during the year where we need to
confirm the proper call routing in the field.

Even though Cell Carriers had FCC mandates the FCC never forced the Public
Safety Agencies to meet the same requirements, it was a "feel good thing"
for PR and Politics in my PERSONAL opinion. I just hope that local
governments will see the light and upgrade their systems so that more lives
can be saved considering we (all cellular carriers) are providing them with
critical information for them to do their job better. One county in my area
JUST GOT 911!! Another one has a caller ID box on their phone, that is the
"911 Center" (oh boy!), while another one just got enhanced 911 which means
a ANI screen that has your callback number (Phase 2). If you are lucky one
Municipality in the county has Phase 3 which is mapping for your 911 call
based on your phone's GPS or the timing on GSM and the County Dispatch also
has it but all other municipal agencies that handle their own calls just
have a ANI screen. It's hit and miss depending on where you make the call
from if they can use the location feature or not.

Back to the original message where phones will phase out the need for APRS ?
Based on the above information APRS will still be needed for a LONG time by
those really in need (Travelers,SAR,Skywarn,CERT etc.), APRS will still be
needed by those who do not wish to pay in the future (no one yet is offering
it)for their friends or family to watch them on the web, APRS will still be
needed by those who are real hams and do amateur radio for the pure
enjoyment of being able to say...we do it all ourselves! Anyone can buy this
and that and for sometimes a large sum of money do anything but only we as
hams can do it on our own on the airwaves and for a minimum cost. If we can
do APRS by phone or RF and chose the phone instead of RF then we are not
hams, we are appliance operators and hence the circle ends since we are not
one and the same.

Rich

-----Original Message-----
From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org
[mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]On Behalf Of Andrew Rich (VK4TEC)
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 8:54 AM
To: TAPR APRS Mailing List
Subject: RE: [aprssig] NEW! IC-V82 - VHF/APRS Transceiver


Actually signal strength has nothing to do with it.

It works off the timing advance in GSM.

As you get further away from a base the TALIM changes

Get 3 and you can work out where you are



On Thu, 2005-03-03 at 22:39 -0500, A.J. Farmer (AJ3U) wrote:
> You mentioned in a previous e-mail that many newer cell phones are GPS
> enabled.  However, they do not actually have GPS recievers in them.  The
> location of the phone is determined based on signal strength and direction
> from cell towers and triangulation...  There is no direct reception of
> satellite GPS signals by the phone itself.  Just FYI.
>
> 73!
>
> A.J. Farmer, AJ3U
> http://www.aj3u.com
>


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