[InHam] APRS in southern Indiana?

[Bob Burns W9RXR]

At 07:09 PM 12/26/2007, Dan Evans wrote:
>However, since the ARRL has approved the use of HamIM [APRS in 
>simplex mode], I believe it would be legal for them to monitor 
>144.39, and could then spot you when you are near.  Not as useful as 
>being able to watch the "wide" area, but it could still help you 
>pick up  a few Rovers that might other wise slip by unnoticed.

Ah, that's the great feature of APRS. You, as a rover, can beacon 
with your position and a comment or status text saying that you are 
monitoring such and such VHF weak signal frequencies. As long as your 
beacon is digipeated over a wide enough area, another station 
monitoring APRS will see your beacon even if they can't hear you 
directly over APRS.

For instance, a station in the Bloomington area can beacon on 144.39. 
A local Bloomington digi will hear the beacon and re-transmit it. A 
digi in Indianapolis will hear the repeated beacon and digi it back 
out so Indianapolis area stations can hear it. All of this is done on 
RF with no Internet communications. Because the APRS network was 
getting crowded in some parts of the country, steps have been taken 
to limit the number of hops a beacon makes. You should get two hops, 
sometimes three. That would get you from Bloomington to Indianapolis to Marion.

Bob...