[aprssig] Satellite positions: User Statistics

[Pete Loveall AE5PL Lists]

Let's go with meaningful statistics.  Over the last 30 days, 33,509 total (much fewer mobile) stations heard on RF that were gated to APRS-IS.

Hopefully, you are not promoting texting while driving!  That is illegal in some cities in the US and for good reason.  If they are en route to/from work then they will probably have Internet access at either location which will provide significantly better prediction models than what would be obtained via APRS en route.  Also, there are SMS messaging services and apps that give you "next pass" predictions that are also available free of charge.

I don't dispute that having pass predictions on demand is a "nicety" but it is far from being cutting edge or something that should be viewed as a "change method of operation to accommodate" requirement.  A station is a packet originating entity; an object is something that is pointed to by a station.  It becomes an issue when you blur those lines, especially for those who are trying to create mechanisms to differentiate between the two in their displays.

73,

Pete Loveall AE5PL
pete at ae5pl dot net

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Bruninga
> Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 7:46 AM
> 
> > I'm not sure where your 40,000 APRS users in
> > the field came from, In the past 2 hours there
> > were 18,342 unique callsign-SSIDs active,
> 
> WHAT???  Completely Meaningless Statistic.  Taken at 7 PM on a saturday?
> Surely you understand the use of APRS mobile radios is not very well
> represented by a 2 hour snapshot at such a time.
> 
> Also the target user is the mobile enroute to or from work.  He sends out a
> query to ISS and then his radio will capture all he needs for the next pass.  If it
> is more than a few minues away, he will then have it there in his MESSAGE
> list to remember when to comeout and do the pass.