[aprssig] APRS Local Repeater Initiative

[Robert Bruninga]

Traveling from Maryland, Through Virginia, to Alabama and back,
it was beautiful when I crossed the Alabama line.  Everywhere I
went, I was able to look on the front panel of the D700 and see
in the station list, the frequency of the locally recommended
voice repeater.  It made it easy to tell which of the hundred
repeaters were best for a QSO.

But, I saw not one single repeater object for 300+ miles in
Virginia along I-81, and only saw two in Tennessee over it's
300+ miles on I-40.  Conversly, I did see the 444.xxx Maryland
repeater (incorrectly transmitted as a Uiview object) over most
of Virginia, though it could only be used within 20 miles of its
location over 200 miles away...

Please if you are going to put a repeater object on the map, do
it the right way.  The wrong way is just QRM.  The right way is
a new facet of APRS that will blossom over the next year.
Imagine a radio that can tune to such an object with the press
of a button.  See the right way on:

http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/localinfo.html

This is NOT just adding a freq to the DIGI's beacon.  It is
using the digi's Btext to generate a LOCAL OBJECT for that voice
repeater that shows its frequency (instead of callsign) and
location on the front panel display of the D700, D7 and HamHud.

> Bob Bruninga wrote:
>> There are 44 repeaters in 146 MHZ showing on APRS
>> There are 50 repeaters in 147 MHz showing on APRS
>> There are 36 repeaters in 145 MHz showing on APRS
>> There are 20 repeaters in the 444/449 range showing
>>
>> There are over 1100 APRS digipeaters.  So there are 
>> still hundreds of APRS digis that need updating to 
>> add their local Voice Repeater BText.  You can see 
>> progress on FINDU:
>> 
>> http://map.findu.com/146*
>> 
>> for example will show you all the repeaters in the 146 
>> range.  As you prepare to add your local repeater to your 
>> local DIGI's BText,  you should check the frequency first 
>> with FINDU and make sure that your chosen X character or XY 
>> has not already been taken.
>> 
>> http://map.findu.com/146.94*
>> 
>> Then choose a -XY or +XY to make your object unique.  
>> Or for 5 KHz repeaters. chose the single +X or -X.
>> 
>> Of the 10,000 repeaters in the ARRL repeater directory, 
>> the only ones we want to see on APRS are the ones that 
>> are recommended for travelers and visitors and where 
>> you have a reasonable chance of finding someone.
>> 
>> Lets get going on this...  It's travel time!
>> 
>> Bob, Wb4APR