[aprssig] Fuel Stops

[Wes Johnston, AI4PX]

I'm on the fence on this one.... advertising the LOCATION of a gas station
in my opinion is OK.  But the price is a thin gray line.  Da rules say I can
use the radio to place an order for a pizza as long as that order doesn't
profit me.  So it'd be OK for my wife to tell me to get a pizza on the way
home over the radio, and it'd be OK for me to use the autopatch to call the
pizza place.  It would not be OK for the pizza guy to take orders over the
repeater (we actually have a pizza shop here in Sumter SC owned by a ham).
Heck, even for me calling the pizza shop on the autopatch is too close to
the line.  I have to say I'd be worried if I heard someone ordering food on
the autopatch... even though as I understand the rules, it is OK.  Even to
me, there's a difference between someone telling me to pick up pizza on the
way home and telling me to go buy from a specific pizza joint on the way
home.  So I'm becoming a fuddy duddy.  I thought this day would come _after_
40.

Despite the fact that posting the price of gas in a particular part of town
is probably OK by the rules, we must think of the long term fall out.
Remember what killed PBBS system?  forsale.all.us advertisements.  We
already have a similar problem with people sending position reports, wx and
digipeater ID's >w3-3.  What happens to our precious bandwidth when every
well intentioned joe wants to "help" us by posting the price of gas at every
corner gas station?  Every 10 minutes?  Over 3 or 4 hops?

I _really_ never thought I'd ever say this.... sending the price of gas at 6
or 10 different stations is just unnecessary fluff.  But advertising the
existance of a functional gas station in an emergency could be a Godsend.
Heck in an emergency, we could post objects for grocery stores which are
open, the _location_ of places selling generators, just not the _price_ of
groceries or generators.

I'll now step down from my soap box..... and you kids stay offa my lawn!
;-)

Hey gang, we can even use aprs to transmit objects for events partaining
to trafffic like a bridge out.  Or beds left in a shelter.

Wes
---
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter

On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 4:24 PM, Ian <ik7565 at verizon.net> wrote:

> Might be construed as commercial use of amateur radio by the FCC.
> Particularly if the ham inserting the object is also the gas station owner.
>
> 73, Ian N8IK
>
> Wes
> ---
> Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter
>
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