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On 1/6/2012 2:34 PM, Alex Carver wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:1325878445.19540.YahooMailNeo@web130105.mail.mud.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;
font-size: 12pt;">
<div>I just drove cross country from FL to CA using the Florida
Turnpike, I-75 to Georgia, I-22/US-280/US-78 to Tennessee,
then I-40 to California (check my route on aprs.fi). </div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
It helps to tell us what station to look at on aprs.fi and what date
range, but I believe it was KF4LVZ (thanks to your e-mail address,
not any signature here) and from Jan 01 through Jan 04 (thanks to my
7 day APRS database).<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:1325878445.19540.YahooMailNeo@web130105.mail.mud.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;
font-size: 12pt;">
<div>I had my D700 with me at 25 watts with a 3 minute beacon
going out as WIDE1-1,WIDE-2-2 (covered all areas so that I
didn't have to fiddle with the radio en-route).</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Hopefully that was WIDE2-2 and the WIDE-2-2 was a typo?<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:1325878445.19540.YahooMailNeo@web130105.mail.mud.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;
font-size: 12pt;">
<div>Looking at the map, there were some huge holes in
Oklahoma. I didn't exactly expect that given the flatness of
OK. I was picked up very well in Oklahoma City but didn't get
digipeated or gated until I reached Amarillo, TX. East of
Oklahoma City there was another large hole between Oklahoma
City and Ft. Smith, AR.<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
If you want an idea of coverage before doing such an extensive drive
(handy for telling the family where NOT to be concerned if they
don't see you moving), see <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://tinyurl.com/APRSAct24">http://tinyurl.com/APRSAct24</a> and
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://tinyurl.com/APRSAct00">http://tinyurl.com/APRSAct00</a> for APRS coverage maps. You have to
look closely at the file dates to find the most recent and now that
I look at them, I need to restart the batch job for the new year.
But there's enough there to get the idea.<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:1325878445.19540.YahooMailNeo@web130105.mail.mud.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;
font-size: 12pt;">
<div><br>
</div>
Note, I'm considering a hole as an area where I traveled 50
miles or more without a single gate or digipeat (digipeat being
the D700 saying MY POS if it managed to hear its own packet).
All these areas were quiet both in the car and on APRS-IS given
the track data. Other than these hols coverage was pretty good
even in remote places and small towns (like Alexander City,
AL). Coverage in NM, AZ, and CA most likely benefited from
mountain top sites that could cover huge areas easily.<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Well, not hearing a MY POS doesn't necessarily mean that you're in a
hole, but you're in an area where one of the following is true. <br>
<br>
a) No digipeater was within range or<br>
b) Digis in range didn't decode your transmissions or<br>
c) Your D700 didn't hear the digipeat or<br>
d) Your D700 didn't decode the digipeat.<br>
<br>
In a perfect world, all APRS hardware would decode all other APRS
hardware, but since the Kenwood APRS radios transmit non-emphasized
audio (I'm told), any XR-2211-based digi that's being fed
de-emphasized audio may have trouble decoding Kenwoods. De-emphasis
(audio out) lowers the high tone to be quieter than the low tone
causing issues with XR-2211 demodulator chips - see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.febo.com/packet/layer-one/transmit.html">http://www.febo.com/packet/layer-one/transmit.html</a>.<br>
<br>
Your mention of "quiet in the car" provides a better correlation
that you were indeed in a hole and not suffering from one of the
above issues, IMHO.<br>
<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:1325878445.19540.YahooMailNeo@web130105.mail.mud.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times
new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The coverage holes or areas where I failed to be gated were
the following:<br>
</div>
<div>Gainesville, FL to Valdosta, GA (fairly large)</div>
<div>Albany, GA to Columbus, GA<br>
</div>
<div>Birmingham, AL to Tupelo, MS</div>
<div>Memphis, TN to Little Rock, AR</div>
<div>Fort Smith, AR to Oklahoma City, OK (mentioned above)</div>
<div>Oklahoma City, OK to Amarillo, TX (mentioned above)</div>
<div>Amarillo, TX to Tucumcari, NM<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
See <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://tinyurl.com/78bhsrm">http://tinyurl.com/78bhsrm</a> for renderings of your APRS
utilization for your trip. Note that the Jan 01-Jan 06 total trip
comes between the day detail for Jan 01 and Jan 02. The 24 hour SE
and SW coverage maps for December (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://tinyurl.com/869twr9">http://tinyurl.com/869twr9</a>)
pretty much bear out your definition of where the holes are.<br>
<br>
Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - APRS Infrastructure Visualization<br>
<br>
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