[aprssig] Local Info & Object Bandwidth (+ AVRS)

[William McKeehan]

In the middle of the East Tennessee area, around Knoxville, we have adopted a
system much like what is described in http://aprs.org/fixingLA.html.

We have 5 high-level digi's which provide almost total coverage for the entire
area. Each digi is heard by at least one iGate. I believe the iGate coverage
is critical since for MOST day-to-day use, people want to get their packets to
and from the internet.

We essentially provide everyone with a single hop in the area. The number of
out-of-area packets has dropped dramatically (we were routinely seeing
stations 200+ miles away locally) and the availability of the frequency has
opened up quite a bit.

We have a number of objects & bulletins that are created for nets and other
events of interest to hams in the area and are continually adding more
information.

I've been very pleased with the results and everyone else seems to be as well.

The only issue that I have is that there are five repeaters which show in our
local area when we really should only show one or two; if you look, you'll see
that many of them are being sent out out by home stations using multiple hops
and not direct from the digi's. But given that we have room on the frequency
now, this is not too much of a problem.
-- 
William McKeehan
KI4HDU
http://mckeehan.homeip.net


On Thu, July 23, 2009 12:10 pm, Robert Bruninga wrote:
>>> Build it and they will come! Bob, WB4APR
>>
>> I have a big philosophical difference...
>> A 1200 baud ALOHA channel will never be
>> able to carry a significant amount of data
>> from the internet to mobiles.... Why are
>> you still trying desperately to force all
>> information through a tiny straw...
>
> I am not trying to force "internet to mobiles", I am trying to
> serve "local relevant real time amateur radio info" to local
> mobiles and travelers for their use. (anywhere, anytime).  And
> we can do it.
>
> Look at APRS in any metro area.  95% of all packets heard just
> about on any APRS digi in any metro area is stuff
> from-out-of-area of no interest to the local operator in the
> footprint of that digi.  The New-N paradigm made a HUGE
> improvement, but still there is so much of non-local footprint
> value spamming our channel.
>
> Placing local real-time HAM RADIO info on the mobile display is
> still the fundamental objective of APRS.  And the channel -can--
> handle it... We just have to be more selective about how we put
> the right data in the right place.
>
> In the footprint of my local digis (lets say 3 of them cover all
> of my local routine travels), there may be 3 dozen mobiles, 3
> digis, 9 WX stations and 5 OPEN Echolink or IRLP nodes. The
> local 1200 baud channel can easily source that data with no
> problem at all.
>
> So yes, I persist in pushing the envelope to get the INFO and
> CONTENT out to users...  When the load gets too big, just like
> the cell phone system, then we simply make the cells smaller.
> Still, feeding LOCAL info to LOCAL users, while providing
> point-to-point global messaging.  (And with EchoLink integrated,
> global voice!).
>
> We have had all the toys since 2000 when I began this AVRS
> initiative, I just need help in figuring out how to get it all
> integrated...
>
> AVRS - Automatic Voice Relay System
> www.aprs.org/avrs.html
>
> Bob, Wb4APR
>
>
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