[aprssig] NMEA tracker

[Steve Dimse]

> On Jul 21, 2016, at 1:04 PM, Kenneth Finnegan via aprssig <aprssig at tapr.org> wrote:
> 
> It's 2016; microcontroller processing power is cheap, so there is no reason to build a NMEA tracker.
> 
Well, I actually think I've figured out why, though I confess it has taken me longer that it should have. He just wants attention.

When he showed up many years ago, he was like most newcomers to APRS: asked questions, got answers. But most APRS users are above average in intelligence and progress quickly to point where they first learn how to figure things out for themselves and later become a resource rather than a drain on the SIG. He seems to be smart enough, and he should have progressed long ago. He hasn't.

When he runs out of APRS questions he will ask questions not related to APRS. His justification is always the same, there are smart people here. At first I tried to be nice about it, and several times emailed him with instructions on how he could have used Google to answer the question without bothering all of the hundreds of subscribers on the SIG. When that didn't work I tried making those "use Google" answers public, hoping a little shame would get him to act like a seasoned member of the APRS SIG. Didn't work. I was trying, if not always succeeding, to just ignore him.

My thinking changed two days ago, when he 'experimented' with the APRS Internet System by flooding it with hundreds of thousands of lines of non-amateur data. Then he simply declared his experiment over, leaving us to dread his next 'experiment', and he moved on to asking other questions. Sorta feels like the toddler is loose in the basement workshop - you worry over every noise.

That made me think that like the toddler left alone, he just wants attention. So I'm giving it to him.

His most recent APRS related interests seem to be attaching a touch screen to the PI and this NMEA tracker. Other 'projects' have been equally passé. And I think that is the key. He needs to do things he knows are possible (because they have been done by hundreds over a period of years) - topics on which that he knows someone on this SIG will be able to answer his questions, giving him the attention he so desperately craves. 

So I'm thinking if we all just lavish our attention on him, he will be less needy and we will hear from him less. I hope.

So, I for one am anxiously awaiting to hear how his attempt at the NEMA tracker turns out, I hope the rest of the SIG is with me on this!

Steve K4HG