[aprssig] Here we go again...sigh

[Jeff Dugas (Mobile)]

There is already a lot of information published on APRS web site.

The following is taken directly from the following page of that site:  http://www.aprs.org/balloons.html

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General APRS Balloon Configuration

APRS BALLOONS: Balloons make a good low cost test bed for small satellite payloads. Mission duration may last from a few hours to a few days and just about matches the modern student's attention span. The Naval Academy balloons are typically detected as far away as South Carolina and Conneticut.

APRS SETTINGS: It is critical to use the proper APRS setting for balloons which are UNIQUE compared to normal APRS operations. Wrong settings can disturb the APRS network over half the country and affect tens of thousands of APRS users over several hours. This has always been problematic. No path (simplex direct) is all that is needed above 1000 feet since every APRS station within hundreds of square miles will hear it directly. Next, nothing more than a single hop (WIDE1-1) is desired once the balloon is on the ground and lost..

DO NOT USE WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 Path! This is much worse then even WIDE2-2. This is because most of the WIDE1-1 digipeaters only do callsign substitution and are not part of the WIDEn-N algorithm. When these packets get delayed for whatever reason by a second or so, then other digi's hear them and can end up with multiple dupes from every nearby digipeater. There is no need to have 2 hops either. If your chase team is not within 30 miles of the landing, then it is your fault. Dont make up for it by jamming the APRS network over half the country.

PACKET RATES: These balloons will be seen by everyone within hundreds of miles, and although they do not add more than the equivalent of a single local mobile traveler, they should adhere to the same gentlemenly rules of channel sharing as everyone else. In that regard, short duration flights should never use a packet period any shorter than once a minute. For cross country longer duration flights, a 2 minute rate should be considered.

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