[MNAPRS] Too many stations using WIDE1-1 in path

[Doug Reed]

Hi guys.

When I'm bored, I frequently go downstairs and watch a terminal screen 
with APRS packet captures rolling by. (If I'm REALLY bored I'll turn up 
the speaker and match audio quality with packet decodes...) And I 
occasionally capture that text for future analysis. Then I'll write 
emails about what I see and what should probably be changed at other 
stations.... The general idea is to reduce the number of duplicate 
packets being sent and try to keep the channel open for more mobiles.

This email is because I see too many fixed stations who are using 
WIDE1-1 in their outgoing beacon path. I know it is too many stations 
because there are few or no reasons for a fixed station to ever use 
WIDE1-1 in their outgoing path.

Just to recap for everyone, a station that listens for and responds to 
WIDE1-1 packets is called a "fill digi." That is the new name for what 
used to be described as an APRS RELAY digi. Plain old WIDE and RELAY are 
no longer valid paths and have been replaced. WIDEn-n and WIDE1-1 are 
the equivalent new path statements.

As before, a "fill digi" is supposed to fill in the coverage holes of a 
main or regional digi. Ideally, every home station will be configured as 
a fill digi. The only call sign a fill digi needs to respond to is 
WIDE1-1. Every old or new TNC can operate as a fill digi simply by 
configuring MYALIAS as WIDE1-1 and turning DIGIPEAT ON. There are more 
complete directions available if you have an old TNC and want to use it 
or perhaps I could help you update the software. :-)

But the only APRS stations that should use WIDE1-1 in its outgoing path 
are mobile and portable stations that are expected to have trouble 
hitting a distant main or regional WIDE digi because of low power, or 
poor antenna, or poor location, or all three.... A home station should 
never be using WIDE1-1 in its outgoing path since no home station with 
an outside roof antenna should ever be having trouble hitting a main 
WIDE digi, especially in the metro area! (A 2 watt HT in the basement on 
a rubber duck shouldn't be transmitting at all. But with an outside 
antenna it would probably work in the metro area...) :-)

So if you are running a home station, please configure it as a "fill 
digi" to help all the mobiles be heard. And especially check your 
outgoing beacon path to make sure you are not using WIDE1-1 in your path.

The second side of the path issue is to make sure you are not using too 
many hops! The recommended path these days is WIDE2-2 as maximum in a 
metro area and WIDE3-3 in an out-state area where there is little 
activity. They also recommend that fixed stations reduce their beacon 
path and their beacon rate since those stations don't move very fast. 
One beacon every 30 minutes should keep your station on the APRS map. 
More often than four per hour serves no purpose beyond vanity. Position 
beacons should all be identical for position and text so they only cause 
one log entry at the receiving station.

You can also think in terms of how those beacons are being used. Are 
they being displayed on a map at home or mobile? If the map is at a 
fixed station, it either has a good antenna or it has an Internet 
connection. Either way it can "hear" your station anywhere within a 
50-100 mile radius of your home. If anybody beyond that really cares 
where your house is, let them look it up on findu.com or aprs.fi to find 
out.

If it is a map in a mobile station, will they really care where your 
house is when it is over an hour away by car? Chances are real good they 
will not be able to talk to you on the radio. So what is the point?

This comes down to my personal preference that most fixed stations 
should limit themselves to an outgoing path of WIDE2-1 or or maybe 
WIDE2-2 if you are out in the boonies with nothing around for 100 miles.

I don't much care what you do for beacons that do NOT get repeated by a 
main or regional WIDE digi since they don't take extra air time beyond 
your area. That is why most suggestions for beacon paths usually suggest 
once every 30 minutes as WIDE2-1 and fill in with 2 more beacons using 
blank, LOCAL, RFONLY, or IGATE as the path. This is called "proportional 
pathing."
<http://www.aprs.org/fix14439.html>

I am a little more drastic than most about reducing paths and hops but 
that is because most of Minnesota has one or more I-gate stations within 
range of every main digi in the state. The days where your station was 
lost and unknown if its packets were not heard via RF 200 miles away has 
been replaced by I-gates, Internet gateways, in every corner of the 
state. With I-gates and aprs.fi, everyone in the world can know where 
you are if they know your call sign.

I've thrown out this email to encourage users to think about their 
station setup and perhaps make some changes. And to generate some 
discussion from people well outside the metro area who see things 
differently. As well as from other users within the metro who see 
something I missed or just plain don't agree with my suggestions. :-)

Have a great weekend!

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.