[aprssig] APRS path in Western PA....

[Robert Bruninga]

>>> dave at emv.co.uk 05/08/06 4:42 AM >>>
>Personally, when travelling, if I find a digi or IGate 
>that does what I need, I couldn't care less about 
>any other facilities it may describe or have.

The New-N Paradigm info does not describe anything
except what you need to optimally use that digi in that 
area.  That is, a recommendation by the digi as the 
optimum WIDEn-N hops to use and its state or regional 
SSn-N support.

>There is only so much you can see with just a D7 
>screen (or even D700) "mini web pages" or whatever.  

What you need shows up as "W#,SSn" in only a few 
bytes on the 10 byte screen where # is the recomended 
number of hops for that area.  This also alerts you that
the digi is a New-N digi and that its WIDEn-N packets
are traceable.

>Plus the blessed thing wont "Freeze" a "page" so you 
>can read it...

Yes it will.  Just hit the LIST button and the position
report you just received is right there at the top of
the list.  One press of the right arrow will display the
beacon text.

>Plus, even when using "An APRS compatible program" 
>on the attached laptop, and looking at some of the 
>station details, there seems to be so much variation 
>in the way people describe things as to make it all a bit
>of a joke to a non local passing through.

Which is exactly why the New-N paradigm has a single
standard recommendation for that info so that it all fits
in the first 10 bytes for consistent display.  That way 
it clearly shows on the D7, the D700 and all other
APRS displays.  ELiminating all the confusion and
forming a consistent network display to the end user is
one of the main incentives of the New-N paradigm.

>Try doing all that when driving too...  Best to forget it, 
>turn the stereo up, and revert to "clueless position 
>reporting" for the peep's back home.

Having informed APRS users is better for everyone who
has to share the network with everyone else.

de Wb4APR, Bob