[aprssig] NE Illinois Balloon Tracks

[Bob Bruninga]

> I believe that a digi should be filtered
> so that it will digi only packets which
> originated within its defined 'service area',
> no matter what path was requested.
>
> I'm looking for better specification 
> ability than hop count.  With mountains, 
> valleys, interstate corridors, etc. and 
> geographic filtering, we could have a 
> more self-managing network, and no need 
> for the user to learn all the 'special' 
> paths unique to the geography they're 
> travelling thru.

Wow, lots of triggers there.

First the user does not have to learn anything.  He uses WIDE2-2 anywhere in the USA and that should cover his local VHF range anywhere.  That is the beauty of the New-N paradigm.

In those areas that cannot even tolerate 2  hops, like LA and some other areas, the digi's simply make only one hop.  Done.

But for sure I will fight tooth and nail not to lose the freedom to route my packet where it needs to go, and not have some absentee sysop make a draconian decision on a whim and nail it in his TNC and then never change it.

Events come and go. Needs come and go, urgency comes and goes, and it changes hourly, weekly or spontaneously.  APRS is NOT an end in itself, it is a comunications tool to assist the ham radio operator to do his thing.  And the "things" that people do in ham radio are as varied as are the people that make up hamdom.  What you propose is a sure way to restrict the flexibilty of the APRS network down to only one thing (and that one thing is only defined by that one sysop) and everyone else then has to suffer.

Oh and each sysop would disagree as to what each area was best for.  Thus we would loose consistency and standard responsiveness.

No, only the ORIGINATOR of a packet knows what he wants to accomplish with it, and not some absentee sysop with power issues.  Ham radio operators using the APRS network need to learn how it works and what it can do, and not treat it like some dumb appliance operator.

> "Those who would give up essential Liberty, 
> to purchase a little temporary Safety, 
> deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
>                      -Benjamin Franklin

And your own signature block says it all!
No way am I willing to give up the flexibility of the APRS network to a few draconian sysops for a little assurance that my packets will go (only to where that sysop says they can go).

Bob, Wb4APR