[aprssig] APRS on UHF?

[Bob Bruninga]

> Hardware for 9600 baud has never been 
> easier with the out of the box
> D710 functionality and forthcoming 
> data rigs from OpenTracker and
> TinyTrak families...

Except that 9600 baud pays a 7 dB penality in decoding and a 6 to 9 dB penalty in RF path loss, so unless you have some really great mountain digis that can see line of sight to your intended area of couverage, the performance is very poor compared to 2 meters.

Yes, with ideally-designed-and-tuned radios, you can get most of that 7 dB back, but you cannot get the 6 dB worse range at UHF back without having 9 dB gain verticals at the digis on UHF. Then you are only 3 dB worse than VHF...

Again, it makes a nice alternate input if you can afford he many dB loss in performance.  But you have to conisder all this in your plans.

Bob, Wb4APR