[aprssig] Preparing for a long roadtrip

[Robert Bruninga]

>>> jmaslak-aprs at antelope.net 05/28/06 3:10 PM >>>
>I'll be driving 6 or 7 thousand miles... [with my D700] 
>using 50 W of power, with a path of WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1. 

Yes, W1-1,W2-1 is a good path.  
But also program in W1-1,W2-2 for wilderness areas since
you are on a special  trip and a real human is at the station!   
It is nice to find a real human on APRS these days. 

I am so frustrated that APRS has become a "lights-on-nobody-
home" kind of operation, that I would prefer to see REAL 
HUMANS interesting in a QSO from a farther distance than 
a dozen stupid trackers that do not facilitate ham radio 
communications in any way.

This will probably trigger the APRS thought police, but
if you are doing ANYTHING of interest and there is a
human at the station and you are responsive to 
APRS or voice communications, then, that person 
diserves more bandwidth in my mind.  Just be sure to
set your rate back to once every 30 minutes when you
park or camp.

This also means that you SHOULD set APRS-VOICE-ALERT
so that anyone nearby can raise you for a QSO at any
time no matter what other frequency you are monitoring.

Set your STATUS text to be"

FFF.FFFMHz & V-Alert

This will show on everyone's D7 and D700 screens
in a pleasant manner:

+------------------+
 |  >  W3XYZ       |
 |  FFF.FFFMHz   |
 |  &  V - Alert      |
+------------------+

And if you can remener each time you QSY to a new
repeater, or 146.52, you can easily edit the status
with only a few clicks of the knob.  But that is also
the advantage of running Voice Alert, so that no
matter what freq you are on, anyone can always
raise you simplex on 144.39 with CTCSS 100.

de Wb4APR