[VHFcontesting] APRS Comment - The Flaw re: Rovers

[Ev Tupis]

----- Original Message ----

APRS being run by rovers does you little good when they are
out of "FM with an omni" antenna range.
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The same can be said for any strategy.  For instance, "CW does little good if no one in the area knows morse code."  HamIM (APRS, reconfigured for contest support) is no different.  On the other hand, I worked many rovers who were "just passing through" and would have otherwise missed them.  Likewise, though I may have lost them along the way to their hilltop, I found them again as soon as they arrived (their altitude is a benefit).

I even went out as a rover one year, with no pre-announced activity...but with HamIM active.  When I arrived on my hilltop, my HamIM screen filled with messages from home-based stations wanting a QSO (they are valid on 2m simce they are simplex) and a QSY to another band (I was a 5-band FM only rover).

I presented a paper on HamIM at the Central States VHF Conference in Toronto.  More info can be found in those proceedings.


Ev, W2EV


 
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