[aprssig] APRS on Amtrak, DC to Minneapolis

[Jason KG4WSV]

On Wed, Jun 6, 2018 at 8:02 AM, Gregg Wonderly <gregg at wonderly.org> wrote:
> It depends on what does have power.  That’s the important thing about having the ability to transition your communications needs into whatever mode/mechanism is powered.

Agreed, but if you don't know what that network is, you really won't
be able to transition.  When the power goes out, so does most of the
infrastructure that connects wifi to the internet, for example.  Any
cellular service still up is usually saturated.

> We still have ourselves stuck with “serial ports”

Not quite sure what your point is, because pretty much everything is a
serial stream no matter if you're looking at bits, bytes, or packets.
RS232 is simple and versatile, which is the reason it's ubiquitous and
seems to be the communications version of the cockroach - it can
survive anything including nuclear holocaust. It's the communications
version of the 12V power pole.  I certainly couldn't think of a better
interface between a data radio and an embedded system (tracker) or
computer, at least for speeds of 100k bps or less, which would cover
any channel intended for VHF or lower.

>  to “TNCs” or other emission devices.

I certainly think we need to ditch all this layer 2 source routing
stuff if that's what you mean by TNC.

> if we are going to start down the path of change, I would suggest it really is time to look at OpenTrac and/or something much better in expandability and brevity of data than what we have today with the APRS text symbology and data wrapping.

+1

-Jason
kg4wsv