[aprssig] VHF Rover symbol?

[Ev Tupis]

Ouch. This one touched a nerve for me.  A brief reminder of the chain of events...then your answer...

In the early days of APRS, I was (and still am) a VHF contester ... who saw the value of APRS tracking to the VHF contesting community.  So I lobbied for (and received your agreement) the addition of the "Rover" (Little Puppy) map symbol.
To make my vision complete, I also lobbied for the use of the "RFONLY" alias.  It was also agreed to and implemented.
About the same time, I lobbied for (and lost) a QSY to 147.585 instead of 144.39.  It would have allowed the greatest separation between Rover use of 144.2 SSB/CW and the new APRS frequency.  Onward...

The combination of the Rover Symbol and RFONLY made way for the use of APRS technology on a *simplex* frequency.  147.585 was chosen anyway.  No digipeating, no IGATE-ing.  No "assistance".  Rovers sat on high locations and were encouraged to use 100-watt transmitters.  Perfectly aligned with ARRL rules as they stood 20+ years ago.

Fun and excitement began to brew in the contesting community.  Right up to the point where the ARRL's Dan Henderson (Contest Manager) and Tom Freye (Chair of the committee it reports to) ignorantly said it violated ARRL rules.  They later recanted after I challenged them, but not until after the damage was done.
Is it used today?  Yes, somewhat.  Sadly, today's ARRL rules to include digipeated APRS were poorly thought out and it (APRS) is of only limited use to the VHF community.
Last chapter to this story...I recently rejoined the APRS list *specifically* to lurk to see if there was any opportunity for me to rekindle interest in the VHF contesting community via APRS.

Ev, W2EVex-WB2ELB, K2IV
 
      From: Robert Bruninga via aprssig <aprssig at tapr.org>
 To: aprssig at tapr.org 
 Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 8:01 AM
 Subject: [aprssig] VHF Rover symbol?
   
<!--#yiv6378426804 _filtered #yiv6378426804 {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}#yiv6378426804 #yiv6378426804 p.yiv6378426804MsoNormal, #yiv6378426804 li.yiv6378426804MsoNormal, #yiv6378426804 div.yiv6378426804MsoNormal {margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";}#yiv6378426804 a:link, #yiv6378426804 span.yiv6378426804MsoHyperlink {color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6378426804 a:visited, #yiv6378426804 span.yiv6378426804MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6378426804 span.yiv6378426804EmailStyle17 {font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";color:windowtext;}#yiv6378426804 .yiv6378426804MsoChpDefault {font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";} _filtered #yiv6378426804 {margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}#yiv6378426804 div.yiv6378426804WordSection1 {}-->Does anyone use the ROVER (a dog) symbol for VHF Conteest Rovers? That was my original intent, but it may not have caught on. Bob 
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