[aprssig] APRS experiment along I-40, mapping vs. voice alert vs. local info

[Stephen H. Smith]

Robert Bruninga wrote:
>
> At 50 cars per minute from the other direction, you pass maybe
> 3000 cars per hour in the opposite lane.  But on your side of
> the road, you can drive for hours and still be within simplex
> range of the same 50 cars that barely changes...  

50 cars per minute???!!      That would be almost 1 every second!      
That would imply full Interstate speed (60-70 MPH -- 100-120 Kph) in a 
crowded urban area (where one almost never is able to get up to that 
kind of speed) .   No way!

I make the 2000 mile trek from Los Angeles to central Michigan about 
once or twice a year.   Once I get clear of the L.A. metro area and Las 
Vegas, I'm lucky if I see FIVE cars/min going the other way (if that) 
until I reach the Joliet/Chicago part of I-80.

I agree with one of the other posters that the most successful way of 
setting up voice contacts via APRS has been  with text messages sent by 
other stations that have seen me on their maps.    I routinely run a 
mobile laptop with full mapping display and USABLE text messaging.  Pics 
of installation here:

     <http://wa8lmf.net/mobile>  

[I have the sound effects in UI-View set up to play the AOL Instant 
Messenger chime sound every time an APRS message arrives on my mobile 
laptop.]

On the last trip (Early May on the way to MI, and then to Dayton), I 
received four or five text messages asking if I could call them on a 
local voice repeater.  [These were all FIXED stations that noticed me in 
their neighborhood on their APRS maps and got curious about my beacon 
comment field "Mobile SSTV LiveCAM". ]

Here in my local area [Greater Los Angeles metro area], I get a message 
popping up on my laptop about once or twice a month (again 
overwhelmingly from FIXED stations).


------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
EchoLink Node:      WA8LMF  or 14400    [Think bottom of the 2M band]
Skype:        WA8LMF
Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.net

NEW!    *** HF APRS over PSK63 ***
   http://wa8lmf.net/APRS_PSK63/index.htm

Universal HF/VHF/UHF Antenna Mounting System
  http://wa8lmf.net/mobile/UniversalAntMountSystem.htm

"APRS 101"  Explanation of APRS Path Selection & Digipeating
  http://wa8lmf.net/DigiPaths



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