[aprssig] Need help testing 30m HF APRS in the Northwest

[Robert Bruninga]

>  Is ECHO supposed to be used for normal operation? 

> > Echo is valid, it will get your signal digi'ed hopefully by 
> > a much stronger station.  Use echo,gate,wide or 
> > echo,gate,wide1-1.

Please, please... no.  You can douse a theatre full of people
with gasoline and toss a match inside to light your cigarette too, 
but its not fair to everyone else.

ECHO on HF has never been receommeded for digipeating except
 in the case of bonifide emergenceis!

Using ECHO:
1) Reduces the channel capacity by a factor of 2 to N making
it practically useless.  It is already 1/4th the VHF rate and
digipeating on HF is just crazy.

2) It causes multiple stations to either key up at the same time
(QRM and nothing is heard) or they hold off until each one
finishes and they in turn, each QRM the channel for 10s of 
seconds.

3) HF works because of multiple distributed GATE receivers.  If a GATE
hears a packet, then it either injects it dierectly in to the Internet
or gates it ONCE to VHF, where an IGat e will hear it...
There is no need for it to QRM the HF channel and digipeat it on HF!

4) "ECHO" was made a digipeating alias back in 1993 for only 1 reason!
     - To put something in there BESIDES RELAY!

Since back at the beginnning everyone was a RELAY and
all software started by using RELAY, and since digipeating
on HF is just plain self-defeating to the network and in no-way
desired,, we had all software force ECHO as the digipeating
ALIAS instead of RELAY on HF.  This way, all those newbee's 
who simply hooked up to HF without setting the proper GATE,WIDE
path did NOT get digipeated via their RELAY default path and 
ruin the network.

Yet it was there if someone had a bonifide emeregency
and really needed to get a packet out at the expense of
trashing the network for just this one time emergency.
(We should have used "NONE" as this forced repalcement
for RELAY... then there would be no confusion here...)

I say again, it makes NO SENSE to your fellow radio amateurs
trying to share a single 300 baud HF channel to be digipeating
VIA ECHO.  It was NEVER intended as a digipeating alias!

But the point is, It makes no sense to DIGIPEAT on HF.
Please dont do it.  The recommended path was always
VIA GATE,WIDE and now that should be VIA GATE,WIDE1-1.

That gets it into IGates all over the world, and gives everyone
a chance to hear it direct on HF, and in their local area on VHF.

de Wb4APR, Bob