[aprssig] Re: California roadtrip

[Arno Verhoeven (PE1ICQ)]

Arno Verhoeven (PE1ICQ) wrote the following on 2007-05-14 23:03:
> Thanks to you all for the info and suggestions.
> Seems like I don't have to worry about coverage. So I only need to 
> resolve the antenna mount issue.

Turns out there is more plastic on the RV than I anticipated... Even the 
hood is not made from steel anymore these days.
Luckily the fenders still are from steel and the small horizontal part 
where it meets the hood is barely large enough to fit the magmount.
http://sharon.esrac.ele.tue.nl/~pe1icq/roadtrip/
This part is a bit narrow and slightly curved but the magnet is strong 
enough to keep the antenna in place. Even on bumpy roads, and the roads 
are bumpy here. The quality of the interstates south and east of 
Oakland/SFO is terrible. Lots of potholes and large cracks in the concrete.
Driving further east on HW120 was much more pleasant.

Anyway the APRS setup is working and coverage is pretty good. Even with 
the low mounted antenna.
The tracker does SmartBeaconing, so on the curvy mountain roads it might 
send out lots of beacons. But it also does proportional pathing, so I 
think that I don't load the network too much.
I had a quick look on findu.com and www.db0anf.de and it looks like that 
the number of beacons getting through is not excessive.

73, Arno PE1ICQ