[VHFcontesting] Busy times during VHF contests

[Alan Larson]

> Honestly, while I've beaconed both with the app and with a mobile radio
> dedicated to APRS I have to wonder if it is ever at all useful. Does
anyone
> watch APRS for rovers?
>
> 73
> Sean WA1TE

  I certainly don't.  When operating portable, I don't take the internet
with
me except for the cellphone, which doesn't get used much.

  It doesn't matter to me if the rover is somewhere in my grid, or a nearby
one.  It matters more if I can work them, and the APRS doesn't tell me if
they are in a shadowed area, or if their antenna is facing away from me,
or if there is someone on the radio on a band I also have.

  Since my portable operation has generally been with "all I can fit in a
VW Jetta", adding computers and other stuff doesn't fit.

  Multi-op stations with lots more equipment may have someone watching
APRS and other sources to know who is out there.  I just hope to be there
to work them.

        Alan