[aprssig] information of voice repeaters on APRS

[Andrew P.]

Hmmm....

That's an interesting idea. APRS already has the generic RF-only queries ?IGATE and ?WX to find local I-gates and weather stations (respectively). Maybe we could define a new RF-only generic query ?RPTR which would cause all stations sending repeater objects to send them immediately (and thereby let the mobile user know about local repeaters without waiting for the periodic report).

Or would this clog the channel from abuse of this query? It doesn't seem that ?IGATE and ?WX are being too badly abused, but those aren't station types that a user needs to explicitly know about "right now!".

Just an idea.

Andrew Pavlin, KA2DDO
------Original Message------
From: Kristoff Bonne
To: aprssig at tapr.org
Sent: Mar 30, 2013 9:22 AM
Subject: [aprssig] information of voice repeaters on APRS


Hi All,



Can somebody help me understand what is exactly the possibilities of 
adding information about voice (FM or DV) repeaters on APRS.

This question is the result of a small discussion I had with a couple of 
fellow hams on finding a way to feed information about what repeaters 
into a handheld radio.

What is done now (manual lists or "chirp" images) is not the most handy 
thing to use, requires additional devices and is not really standardised 
that can be used on all handhelds.

One idea was to use APRS for that:
- Some information about Repeaters is already found on APRS (be it 
limited). This information can be cached in the local APRS node or 
stored in the APRS-IS archive

- A handheld could send out a query "please provide list of repeaters" 
on the local APRS frequency; which would be received by the local APRS node

- these can then return that information: frequencies/shift/tone, mode 
(FM, D-STAR, MotoTbro, ...), echolink/IRLP/... info



D-STAR repeaters already post their existance on APRS, as does some 
echolink software (like "thelinkbox").

However, if I am correct:
- the information send to the APRS node is not really standardised (it 
seams to be an "object", but information like frequencies, supported 
modes, ...) are in freeform text.

- There does not seams to be a way to query the APRS network "give me a 
list of repeaters"


There also seams to be a type-of-object "voice repeater", but I cannot 
find the exact information in the specification on what is exactly in there?
Does it also contain information like modes; is it extendable towards 
digital voice (including non-D-STAR systems)



Any help appriciated.

73
kristoff - ON1ARF

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