[aprssig] Train tracks across the northern U.S.

[Andrew P.]

Greetings, all.

I just had an interesting voyage, riding the 
Amtrak #27 "Empire Builder" from Chicago to Washington state, with my 
APRS gear with me. You can look up the track on aprs.fi (KA2DDO-9, 
between August 22nd and 24th). I saved a screenshot of the run on my website as well. http://www.ka2ddo.org/ka2ddo/traintracks22-24Aug.png

I noticed several things on the trip:

1.
 There are huge spans with no digipeater/I-gate coverage at all along 
the route. In the screenshot, note the places where I was able to 
report position over Internet connectivity but not by 2m radio (obvious 
because of no nearby digi's).

2. The coverage for AT&T 
cellular service was better than for 2m APRS (I could maintain an 
APRS-IS connection over a wireless hotspot in places where I couldn't 
hit a digi), but still had holes.

3. Don't use adhesive tape to stick a twin-lead J-pole to the window; it won't hold but will leave a glue residue behind. :-)

4.
 I found a few more bugs in my YAAC program along the way regarding 
mobile operation, and have been fixing them (next build due out this 
week).

5. It was fun, being able to work the rig safely without having to worry about driving.

Andrew Pavlin, KA2DDO 		 	   		  
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