[aprssig] Discouraging long paths and other bad settings

[Ray Wells]

Paula,

Thank you.

Ray vk2tv

On 16/01/13 08:12, Paula wrote:
> I have nothing sensible to say on this subject, as I don't understand 
> what you're aguing about, but...
>
> I was trawling through this thread getting rather annoyed at the 
> perjorative language used (e.g. "evil", "perpertrator", "offender", 
> "witless", "abuser") and by the assumption that "bad guys" who set 
> "wrong" paths are of low intelligence.
>
> Then at last, a breath of fresh air from Brian Webster, who points out 
> what might be the real problem, which is a lack of *knowledge* not a 
> lack of intelligence.
>
> I have been around Packet Radio from the very beginning, and I 
> consider myself to have average intelligence. At least good enough to 
> write software for most of the ax25 and TCP/IP protocols the hard way, 
> long before "open source" made everyone and his dog a programmer.
>
> Of all the dozens of protocols I've implemented, APRS has been the 
> most frustrating. The APRS protocol spec is "fuzzy" and difficult to 
> understand. The goal posts keep moving, and recommended "good 
> practice" has changed so many times, I've lost track.
>
> It may all be obvious to those who do nothing else but APRS all day, 
> but to be honest most of what you lot argue about in this forum might 
> as well be written in Swahili as far as I'm concerned.
>
> I WANT to understand APRS, but as Brian points out, the documentation 
> is weak, and the truth is hard to find amongst the dross. Where is the 
> simple, authoritative documentation? If it doesn't exist, because 
> "this is amateur, not professional radio", then you can't be surprised 
> that there are people like myself who are lost.
>
> I wouldn't dare transmit an APRS packet these days, in case someone 
> bit my head off for being a clueless idiot!
>
> 73, Paula
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian Webster"
>
>> The problem as I see it on most cases of bad paths, is a lack of 
>> education.
>> Most of the problem with this education seems to be relative to the 
>> lack of
>> standards coupled (I know we have recommended settings, but 
>> documentation is
>> weak) along with a good centralized authoritative documentation 
>> system for
>> APRS. It's understandable it does not exist in a volunteer 
>> organization such
>> as this. That takes a lot of work. We easily assume most people 
>> actually do
>> research and thoroughly SEEK OUT and read documentation when they 
>> start a
>> particular aspect of the hobby. For those new and clueless to APRS the,
>> coolest whiz bang feature is making yourself visible on the internet 
>> for all
>> to see. They have no idea how they are getting to the internet based web
>> sites nor any clue to the consequences of the ramifications of path 
>> setting
>> to the RF network that gets them on the internet. We assume most 
>> people have
>> a much greater knowledge than they typically possess. 
>
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