[aprssig] KPC3+ beacons

[Keith VE7GDH]

Keith WD9GET wrote...

> Our club just installed a KPC3+, firmware v9.1 as a digi....
> However, the digi (W5RRR-1) is not showing up as having been
> igated. Here's the settings:
> LT 1 !2933.65N09505.32W#PHG5340 W3, STXn-N  JSCARC etc.

As Bob pointed out, the LT buffers weren't configured properly, but it's
an easy fix to enter the S separator. It looks like W5RRR-1 will be very
close to W5RRR-7 which was sending its own beacon with a very obsolete
WIDE,WIDE. Perhaps W5RRR-7 will be replaced by the much more up-to-date
W5RRR-1 once you get the syntax correct.

> My question is on the BLT/LT/LTP interaction. I don't seem to be
> seeing any of the LT packets showing up. The digi is in a fixed
> location with no GPS. Would this prevent the digi from transmitting
> them? (this is my inference from the manual which seems to associate
> the BLT/LT/LTP with INTFACE set to GPS for dynamic position
> reporting). Does the setting (or not setting) of DAYTIME make a
> difference?

INTface should of course be set to Terminal. The LT buffers store the
position and information that helps others see what it is intended to
respond to. Think of it as the "location" text. The BLT settings tell it
when to beacon the location text. The LTP settings store the path to be
used for each of the LT strings. The DAytime settings will make no
difference unless you were connected with a terminal program looking at
when the TNC heard a particular station. With your settings, it should
be beaconing (as it should direct with no path twice an hour, and once
each hour with a path of WIDE2-1 or WIDE2-2. In other words, it will be
heard locally every 10 minutes, and once each hour one hop in each
direction by any WIDEn-N digi that hears it and twice each hour in two
hops in all directions where there are two WIDEn-N digis.

> A complicating factor is we do not have an igate that can hear the
> digi directly. should I change the LTP 1 & 2 to also be via a WIDEn-N
> path? (not sure if it will matter as I haven't seen LT 3 & 4
> transmitted yet).

Well, looking at the obsolete W5RRR-7, it was heard by W5SI-2, and
W5RRR-1 (with the fixed LT buffers) just showed up. It was gated by the
same W5SI-2. It looks like you are in business.

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