[aprssig] Preparing for a long roadtrip - VA

[Robert Bruninga]

>What about VoA as an abrevation for Voice Alert 
>instead of VA? VoA would be similar to VoIP.

Good idea!  Much better than "VA" (virginia).

I always enjoy the challenge of fitting any STATUS or position 
comment text into only what will display nicely on the 10x10 
display of the D7/D700's or HAMHUD's so that other mobiles 
see what I want them to see  about my station UP FRONT.

So   "FFF.FFFMHz & V-Alert" shows up on D7/ D700's as:
+------------------+
 |  >  W3XYZ       |
 |  FFF.FFFMHz   |
 |  &  V - Alert      |
+------------------+

Your "VoA" is an excellent suggestion, it gives room then for name.

"FFF.FFFMHz &VoA, Bob " shows as:
+------------------+
 |  >  W3XYZ       |
 |  FFF.FFFMHz   |
 |   &VoA, Bob      |
+------------------+

Looking at on-air packets and digi's, it is apparent that many 
APRS stations make no effort to consider how their stations 
text shows on the mobile's D7/D700s/HAMhud 20 byte display
and so they waste the first 20 bytes with useless fluff
and the good stuff at the end does not even show up.
(the D700 does show an additional 8 for a total of 28 chars).

APRSdos attempts to encourage users to consider the
formatting of not only their position comments but also
their messages for optimum display on these small
screens by displaying on the user's text-entry box, where 
the line wrap boundaries are.  THis way, it is easy for a sender 
to write one's text to best match the view of the receipent.  
I think  that WinAPRS also does this.

Users who consider how their text will be "received" in the
mobile environment are usually much more effective in real-time
communiations in the field than those who do not consider 
the predominant view screen in use by mobiles who receive
and display APRS.

Just a suggestion...

Bob, WB4APR