[aprssig] Bandwidth IS THE FUTURE OF APRS

[wa7nwp at jnos.org]

> On Thu, 12 Oct 2006, wa7nwp wrote:
>
>>
>>>> I do agree that the above beacon is
>>> absolutely wasteful of bandwidth!
>>
>>
>> We have to change the way we look at things.


>>
>> It's 2006.  We're still running 1200 baud  (nope - didn't forget the K
>> at the
>> end of that -- hard to believe.)   We panic if somebody actually adds an
>> extra hop to their path.  Here we're counting fraking bytes in a status
>> packet.

>    Because on a 1200baud radio channel, those bytes matter.

Why 1200 baud?  Why one channel?   Why even uncompressed on that channel.

We can either look at "cutting back" or look instead at how to do more.


>    We DON't have the technology sufficiently developed.

We never will.  It's a moving target.  The issue is to keep moving and to
keep using reasonably modern technology.

  My meager
> experiments with 9600 baud told me it's extremely difficult to keep a
> single link up over a 20-mile path using directional antennas.

That's 15 year old amateur engineering with legacy packet gear.  It's
certainly not trivial but it's nothing new.

If there path exists, folks are doing circuits like that these days with
Wifi gear and getting megabyte transfer rates.

>> Lets work on moving on - not digging a deeper hole then what we already
>> have.
>>
>    Agreed, but from where we're at, the development needs to happen first
> on building a stable high-speed backbone.  Unstable mobile stations will
> come later.

A high-speed backbone is a different topic.  I'd suggest it's not longer a
major issue given the IP tunneling capability of the internet.

>> Quiet air is wasted air - make packets!

>    This sounds to me like the same kind of attitude that's got our roads
> clogged with inefficient, gas-guzzling SUV's, and our children killed
> trying to secure the oil to fuel them.

Totally opposite.  We have vast resources (trails and bike lanes)
available, we need to get out hiking and biking.  If we don't, there will
be SUV's there and no room left for the bikes.

In the Puget Sound region, even with the minimal resergence in activity
from Winlink2k, many packet channels are totally quiet.  We could have 5x
the activity and that would bring it up to the "being used" level.  That's
still a long ways from busy.

>    I plea for appropriate use of the technology at hand, and careful
> adoption of newer technologies that are actually better, not just bigger
> for the sake of our egos.

It's too late to be careful.   Careful has gotten us the dead channels we
have now.  We need bold new advances.

>
> --
> Rick Green,  N8BJX
>
> "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
> temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
>                                    -Benjamin Franklin

I bet Ben would have used a full W1,W2 path..

73
Bill - WA7NWP