[aprssig] 9600 APRS net experiment in Central NJ

[Wayne Sanderson]

I live in New Jersey, right next to the NJ Turnpike and also right in
QRM Alley where the APRS collision racket on 144.39 is so bad during
the day that my D700, D7 and now my D72 are frequently receiving max
bar signals and are unable to dig any usable packets out of the hash.
This has been the case for years here, and when all I had to operate
was a TH-D7A(G) it was so frustrating that the radio spent more time
in a drawer than in use- sometimes months at a time.
I now have a D700 mounted in my car, and I have a stash of assorted
other equipment on hand that I want to use to get a local 9600
alternate APRS channel up and running, as an experiment and test bed,
and frankly so that I can actually enjoy APRS without having to drive
to West Virginia to get anything but a howl on 144.39.
I have a spare PC, a spare 2 Meter HT with standard speaker and mic
jacks, a small cigarette packet sized TNC that will do KISS and AX25,
a spare D700 and a D7AG that is now a backup since I got my D72 the
other day (Yowiee!- I love the thing!) I propose to do the following:
1- Connect the pocket TNC to the spart HT and use it to connect to the
main APRS channel. I expect that the radio will be low powered enough
on TX and deaf enough on receive with a rubber duck antenna that it
will hit and hear only the closest digi.
2- Connect the serial output from the pocket TNC to the PC, which I
will set up with a DOS or Windows based Digipeater program. I'm
looking at DigiNed right now.
3- Connect my spare TH-D7A(G) to the other serial port on the PC,
configured in KISS Packet mode, set for 9600, on something like 145.10
or some other likely Packet frequency that is open.
4- Run my mobile D700 and my D72 on that channel exclusively, in 9600
mode. I will leave my mobile set to digipeat all 9600 APRS packets so
I can enjoy my D72 wherever I happen to be and reasonable expect it to
be able to hit my home digi and 9600 gate.

I wish I were loaded and could set up an honest to goodness 9600 digi
somewhere up high so there would be a WIDE9600 in Central NJ- Maybe
someday WB4APR's idea for the ultimate Digi will come about
everywhere. Until then, I think I will try to cobble something
together.

If there are any other users who are sick of the 144.39 screech and
would like to try 9600 ops in my area, drop me a line and we will
talk. With the good radios now out there and a solid used market with
D700s and D7s available, I personally think it is about time we
started to enjoy them on 9600, away from the dumb trackers and
collisions.

Wayne Sanderson
KC2EBD
Hightstown, NJ