[aprssig] Tactical call signs

[Herb Gerhardt]

The legal aspect has been covered by several replies but the Acceptable
Practice has not.

Here on our NW APRS Network we recommend people use just their plain call
sign (no SSID) with their home station.  So in my case, I use KB7UVC and
just a House as my icon even though I am also an I-Gate.  I see no reason to
designate with a tactical call that I am an I-Gate.  The client APRS
software people are running, generally have that info available if you
desire to know.  In WinAPRS you type an "i" and the program will draw a
circle around the I-Gate stations.  For home "relay" stations that digi the
trackers heard once to a mountain top digi, we generally do not use any
designator either, since the number 1 does not lend itself for use with most
normal Icons.  Again, we recommend that most home station are set up to
respond only to the WIDE1-1 path so there is no reason to indicate that with
a special Icon like the digi star.  So no, I would not recommend using a
Tactical Call for your home station and I prefer seeing a house Icon for a
home station.

For trackers, we again use our call sign with an appropriate SSID.  For
Kenwoods we use -7 to indicate it is a TH-D7 or D700.  If you have more than
one Kenwood like I do, I use -8 for one mobile and -9 for my other mobile.
A -9 is generally the acceptable SSID for your first/primary tracker but you
can use whatever takes your fancy.  Again, I would not recommend using a
Tactical Call for your mobile for normal operations.

We use a tactical call for mountain top digipeaters that designate the name
of the peak that the digi is located on.  For example for my local digi
which is located on South Mountain, I use SOMTN.  Keep it simple and short
and it at least gives the locals an indication of the location of the digi
just by knowing the digi name.

Other than for Mountain top digis, we generally limit the use of Tactical
Calls to special events which are of a short duration like SAR team
designation or a bicycle race, etc.  Then you establish a Tactical Call that
suits the application.

So, the bottom line is that I would not promote people using tactical calls
for home station or normal tracker use.  Nothing prevents you from doing
that but I think it just makes things more confusing.  I believe in the KISS
principle.
Herb, KB7UVC
NW APRS Group, West Sound Coordinator
Our WEB Site:  http://www.nwaprs.info

Mason County ComVan:  http://map.findu.com/KB7UVC-1
Mason County Relay Truck:  http://map.findu.com/KB7UVC-2
Mason County EOC:  http://map.findu.com/KB7UVC-3
Mason County Foot Tracker:  http://map.findu.com/KB7UVC-6

Where I live:  http://map.findu.com/KB7UVC
Where I am walking:  http://map.findu.com/KB7UVC-7
Where I am driving:  http://map.findu.com/KB7UVC-8
My other vehicle:  http://map.findu.com/KB7UVC-9




  -----Original Message-----
  From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org
[mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]On Behalf Of Stephen Brown Jr
  Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 10:55 AM
  To: TAPR APRS Mailing List
  Subject: [aprssig] Tactical call signs


  Are these legal on the APRS-RF network? For example, let's say I wanted my
igate to beacon on the RF network as "LNXIGT" or "ETNIGT", as long as I
inserted my callsign in the comments field would that satisfy ID
requirements? Would this be an acceptable practice? I've toyed with the idea
of changing it on my D7 as well to something like "LNXMOBL" or "LNXPRTBL"

  tnx
  Stephen
  K1LNX

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