[aprssig] TH-D7 not making it to any IGATES

[Keith VE7GDH]

Richard KC0RNP wrote...

> On my TH-D7 (HT) I am using WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 because my station will
> not get to an IGATE using just WIDE1-1 or just WIDE2-1

The recommended path in North America for mobiles is WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1. 
Some of your nearest stations are using longer paths, but many are using 
the recommended two hop path with success.

> KC9AYB-2 says it is a WIDE1-1 but I do not know anything else about
> his station setup. In fact when I look at FindU for "Raw Data" FindU
> does not list any data.

KC9AYB-2>APU25N,N9AZZ-2,KC4FIE-8*,WIDE2,qAo,KB9QJM-10:=3749.91N/08905.74W#WIDE1-1 
{UIV32N}

I see you CCd your reply to the list to KC9AYB, so hopefully you will 
get a response. It appears to be a UI-View based digi, claiming to 
support WIDE1-1. It was last heard from on RF apparently using a two hop 
path for its own beacons, but it hasn't been heard (hasn't made it to an 
IGate) for hearly 45 hours. That is why you can see KC9AYB at findu.com, 
but can't get to the raw data.

However, at times KC9AYB is also an IGate... but that was back in 
August. www.db0anf.de/app/aprs/stations/basic?call=KC9AYB
More recently, it has been a digi...
www.db0anf.de/app/aprs/stations/digiusers-KC9AYB?sort=lastheard-d
www.db0anf.de/app/aprs/stations/digiusermap-KC9AYB

Ooops... that was KC9AYB. I should have been looking at KC9AYB-2. OK... 
that one was an IGate as recently as Oct 13 2007. 
www.db0anf.de/app/aprs/stations/basic?call=KC9AYB-2

Strangely, it doesn't appeared to have digi'd anyone since Oct 13 2007. 
Something isn't adding up. That's the last date it ran as an IGate.
www.db0anf.de/app/aprs/stations/digiusers-KC9AYB-2

Looking at what has worked for you recently...
www.db0anf.de/app/aprs/stations/basic?call=KC0RNP-7
www.db0anf.de/app/aprs/stations/digiusage-KC0RNP-7

I can understand you being digi'd by your own KC0RN-9 right beside it, 
but the surprising one is bein digi'd by W0BOB-3 which is 197 km from 
you. Perhaps it was just a fluke with some unusual propagation. It only 
digi'd one frame from you, andd it was back on Nov 28 2007. According to 
db0anf.de, you were only digi'd recently by two stations. Your own D700 
and the digi 197 km from you. However, according to findu.com, you were 
most recently digi'd by N9AZZ-2. That doesn't seem to show up at 
db0anf.de.

www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?KC0RNP-7
www.findu.com/cgi-bin/raw.cgi?call=KC0RNP-7&time=1

> On my TM-D7 [sic? presume you mean D700] (Car) I am using
> WIDE2-1 and it seems to be working at this time.

If you can always hit a digi with WIDE2-1, it will help keep traffic 
down, but no matter what, with a D700 (same goes for a D7), it just 
isn't capable of SmartBeaconing. It beacons at a fixed rate. The best 
you can do (without adding hardware) is to manually vary the beacon rate 
dependiing on where you are and what you are doing.

> I think that Cap is correct that some "Units" here in Southern IL do
> have incorrect settings for VHF APRS.
>
> I am trying to get my station set up as "best" as I can so that I
> don't flood the network. However, I also don't want to make anyone
> mad at me.

You are doing the right thing in trying to undertand how it all works. 
As Cap pointed out, some digis in your vicinity may need to be updated. 
The more you know about the recommended settings and why they are 
recommended, the better off you will be if you end up trying to 
recommend changes to the digi operators... or to other mobile users.

Perhaps we will never know what was wrong before you did the reset on 
the D7, but it got you going. If it "quits" working again, try and 
analyze the situation. Did it stop working because of some recent change 
or because of something else. With the D7 and the D700, you can at least 
do tests between them and see if the D700 is able to decode the D7. You 
can also try different digi paths like via a certain digi instead of a 
generic WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 to see if you can hit a particular digi. Just 
remember to change it back to other generic setting afterwards.

You have an advantage of having both the D7 and D700 for troubleshooting 
and experimenting. Someone with a one-way tracker and with no TNC or 
software based decoding solution can only rely and what others report to 
them or by going online to places like findu.com. You can at least 
experiment between the two radios. If you add an APRS client in the 
house (even with only a TCPIP connection) you will be able to tell a lot 
more about what is around you and more easily than by using the D700 
only. If you are running Windows, you might want to take a look at 
UI-View... www.ui-view.org.

Things you can control... the power output, the antenna you are using, 
the path, and the beacon rate. Things you can't control (well, not 
directly)... whether digis around you are correctly configured or even 
up and running and so on. You can observe, and you can pass along 
suggestions if something around you isn't configured properly or if it 
doesn't seem to be working properly.

73 es cul - Keith VE7GDH
--
"I may be lost, but I know exactly where I am!"