[aprssig] APRS Local Info Digipeater Operator Failure

[Robert Bruninga]

ABYSMAL!

I just checked, and of 4500 digipeaters only about 19% appear to be
outputting this fundamental APRS information.  This is very disappointing
to me, since it has been the standard since the New-N Paradigm of 2004!

>> I checked the map and no APRS digis in the area are doing its proper
>> job of informing mobiles in the area of the recommended repeater.
>> Why  is this so hard for digi owners to understand.

> Probably because there isn't enough map room
> to place all the "recommended" repeaters, and
> placing only one will be the source of endless
> consternation among everyone who can see/hear it.

In most areas, there are dozens of "repeaters" but only a small few where
travelers are reommended to go both to talk to folks and to find real
humans listening most of the time.  We do not want to see the map and
station list clogged with basically lifeless repeaters.  The ARRL repeater
directory is fine for that.  But where APRS shines is filtering out the
wheat from the chaff and informing APRS travlers where to tune in that
given small area *based on* the knowledge of the locals who program in
these repeater objects into their DIGIpeater beacons.

The challenge is simple:  If anyone anywhere turns on their APRS radio for
10 minutes and their front panel displays do not show them a nearby
repeater frequency, then the local APRS folks are not doing their job of
properly configuring their digipeaters in that area.  After 20 mintues you
should have had 2 chances of getting the data.  Similarly , it the radio
shows a frequency that is 50 to 100 miles away, FAR beyond the ability to
hit it, then again, the local APRS folks are not monitoring their local
info for improperly set beacons.

This has been the APRS standard since 2004, but still more than 80% of all
digipeaters are still blathering the airwaves with pre-2004 settings...

It is so fruatrating to travel with APRS and see areas where it fails to
do this simple fundamental function.

See http://aprs.org/localinfo.html

Bob, Wb4aPR

On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 9:10 PM, Robert Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:
> Anyone know the most active recommended voice repeater around the
> Rutgers University area in NJ?
>
> I checked the map and not a single APRS digipeater is doing its proper
> job of informing mobiles in the area of the recommended repeater.  Why
> is this so hard for digi owners to understand.
>
> see http://aprs.org/localinfo.html
>
> Bob, WB4aPR.
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