[aprssig] RE: APRS-HF Frequency Stability Question

[WB4GQK at aol.com]

Hi Jon et all,

I too have been running HF APRS for well over 10 years 24/7.  Very 
unfortunately my station was hit by lightning about 4 weeks ago. My transceiver and my 
Kam 98 both are back at the mfgrs for repair. Very hopefully they will be back 
here in the next couple of weeks and I wilI be back on the air. 

I too have heard stations both high and low on frequency BUT that's only half 
the problem. From my location on the west central coast of FL,  I hear many 
stations in  the Caribbean that apparently most of the stations in the USA 
cannot hear because they transmit right over the top of their transmissions and as 
a consequence I don't copy either one. But there is NO mistaking the signal 
strength of the stronger stations.

Now your point about one particular station being the National control 
station is a good one and we have tried that several times in the past but there is 
a minor problem with that setup also. These stations drift 25 -35 cycles 
either way and suddenly it is difficult to decode the master station. 

The true solution is for the master station to have an  NTIA compliant 
transceiver! I know that's asking a lot but stations that utilize those types of 
transceivers are a lot more rock solid in frequency stability than older ham 
rigs. For myself I used an old SGC 2000 rig that is NTIA compliant and hopefully 
when it gets back here it will be as rock solid on frequency as it has been for 
the last 10 years.

Good luck 
DE JIM/WB4GQK/AAV4XR