[aprssig] Why RELAY,WIDE... is so bad....

[Robert Bruninga]

>>> "Curt, WE7U" <archer at eskimo.com> 3/31/05 4:31:46 PM >>>
>I'm ... still suggesting that in this area we keep RELAY
>for mobiles.  There are just too many shadow areas in my 
>county... [and] for the counties around me in all directions.
>[Here are some] possible solutions:
> -   Use RELAY only for home stations and [not] the hilltop digi's.

Wont work.  The digis will ignore them completely even if they
are in range.  The digi will only hear them if they hit a home
station first.  (This problem goes away if you have smart-
pre-emptive digis, but most digis cannot do that..)

> - Use smart digi's... that can do pre-emptive digipeating. 

But then you continue to have mobiles with RELAY in their
path and the rest of us dont want those mobiles straying
into our area and causing all the QRM.  

>> And if the dead zone is really dead, then put a WIDE2-2
>> digi there to replace the RELAY.  You still get the digipeat
>> but not the QRM all the rest of the time when the mobile
>> is not there....
>
>then perhaps WIDEn-N flooding protocol needs to get 
>added to each client so that this can be enabled when 
>needed?

You can almost do it now.  Rememebr months ago, I was
saying that ALL  fill-in digis should simply replace their
RELAY ALIAS with WIDE2-2 ALIAS.  This way those 
home stations WILL digipeat the WIDE2-2 mobile and
ONLY if the home station is the first to hear it.  The only
problem is that the packet goes no further.  But at least
its better than no digipeat at all...

So My recommendation remains.  Everyone swtich to
WIDE2-2 or WIDE3-3 depending on their area, and
repllace the RELAY ALIAS in all the "fill-in" digis with
the ALIAS of "WIDE2-2".  Its not a perfect solution
but it will cut mobile QRM by a factor of 2 to 5...
A huge benefit...

If that home digi that is now a "WIDE2-2" only digi 
also is on line, then the mobile still gets out to the
world too....

de Wb4APR, Bob