[aprssig] APRS and dstar (why)

[Gregg Wonderly]

On May 28, 2012, at 1:30 PM, Bob Burns W9RXR wrote:

> At 02:29 PM 5/27/2012, Amateur Radio WB8NUT wrote:
>> It has GPS built-in, no programming required and every time I transmit, my position goes to the APRS network.
> 
> APRS network? No, it goes to the Internet-based DStar network and it is eventually gated to the Internet-based APRS-IS server network. Your position does not appear on the RF-based APRS network.

And, this is still a standing issue with the design of APRS-IS.  It was designed in the days of Ham radio frequency only RF.  Now that we have RF based devices using many more diverse network paths, it is now time to reconsider how we manage APRS traffic flow.  Soon, the 144.390 radios will be the ones with the least amount of information about what is going on around them, as mobile devices and cellular modem connected laptops become more and more dominate.

In many rural and hilly areas, it is often easier to get APRS traffic out via a cellular data path, than through the marginal, and many times non-functional APRS RF network.

Gregg Wonderly