<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Courier New, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4703" dir="ltr">Ouch. This one touched a nerve for me. A brief reminder of the chain of events...then your answer...<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5056" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5055" dir="ltr">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.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5096" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5149" dir="ltr">To make my vision complete, I also lobbied for the use of the "RFONLY" alias. It was also agreed to and implemented.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5624" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5661" dir="ltr">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...<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5150" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5151" dir="ltr">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.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5219" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5274" dir="ltr">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.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5275" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5276" dir="ltr">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.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5715" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5744" dir="ltr">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.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5368" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5580">Ev, W2EV</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5581" dir="ltr">ex-WB2ELB, K2IV</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5582" dir="ltr"><br> </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4702"><span></span></div><br> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4646" style="font-family: Courier New, courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4645" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4700" dir="ltr"> <hr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5583" size="1"> <font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5768" face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Robert Bruninga via aprssig <aprssig@tapr.org><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> aprssig@tapr.org <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Monday, June 29, 2015 8:01 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [aprssig] VHF Rover symbol?<br> </font> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4644" class="y_msg_container"><br><div id="yiv6378426804"><style><!--
#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
{}
--></style><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4643"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4642" class="yiv6378426804WordSection1"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4655" class="yiv6378426804MsoNormal">Does anyone use the ROVER (a dog) symbol for VHF Conteest Rovers?</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_4641" class="yiv6378426804MsoNormal"> </div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5476" class="yiv6378426804MsoNormal">That was my original intent, but it may not have caught on.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1435611386713_5477" class="yiv6378426804MsoNormal"> </div><div class="yiv6378426804MsoNormal">Bob</div><div class="yiv6378426804MsoNormal"> </div></div></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>aprssig mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:aprssig@tapr.org" href="mailto:aprssig@tapr.org">aprssig@tapr.org</a><br><a href="http://www.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig" target="_blank">http://www.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig</a><br><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>