[MNham] NE MN & NW Wisc Digi Information

[Doug Reed]

Hi Matt, John, etal.

Thanks for the summary of Northern APRS activity. Looking at my map, I find
I have everything except  KC0MKS-10 on my list. I found Knife River and
added it to the map. I was going strictly by info retrieved from findu.com
and looking for systems using the WIDE star icon. 

At 09:28 PM 2/2/2004 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi Doug and others,
>Matt  KB0KQA was kind enough to forward your recent posting on the MNAPRS
>list to me. I have since joined the list.

Actually, the post was to MNham. But I do want the MNAPRS list to be active
for the APRS topic. 

>I have been on aprs for about 4 years have worked with a small group of hams
>to install a system of digipeaters in NW Wisc. and NE Minnesota. This
>started with K0NDX-10 in Duluth in the Summer  of 2001. The terrain in this
>area makes digi locations much more challenging than in "flatland"...snip... 
>These factors make a 60-80 mile distance between digipeaters unworkable in
>many areas.

I knew I was going to have trouble with 60-80 mile coverage in northern MN.
The terrain becomes much too rugged to provide significant coverage with so
few stations. But that is also a difference in my intent. One of your
primary goals has been to provide complete coverage of the route for
Grandma's Marathon. That certainly requires more stations given the terrain
in and around Duluth. 

But my intention has been to provide *some* APRS coverage over as much of
the state as possible while building as few stations as I can. And there is
also a difference in what I expect of the user's station. For a small
portable tracker, 5 watts is probably all you're going to get without
having a very large battery. But I'm more interested in mobiles on the
highway and I'm thinking most will be 20 to 50 watts. And since the project
must have some utility to Skywarn as well, I need to support home weather
stations which will again be in the 20 watt class with better antennas than
on a car. So I will trade off coverage for low power portable and mobile
stations against having some coverage over wider areas. And it gives any
interested local clubs something to do. As long as the WIDEs can hear each
other I'm satisfied. If the WIDEs are there, it is much easier to add local
coverage with home or club RELAY stations. 

>I will pass along the specifics of each digi and approximate mobile coverage
>area. Maybe this will help to avoid duplication of coverage areas when
>planning future digipeaters.
>73, John AF9T
>K0NDX-10 Duluth Antenna Farm
>W0GKP-10 Mahtowa,MN
>N0WW-10 Deer River,Mn
>KC0FTN-10 Two Harbors,MN
>KA0TMW-1 Hermantown,MN
>KC0MKS-10 Knife River,MN
>N0BZZ-10 Washburn,WI
>KC0KSH-10 Rice Lake,WI
>KD9FC-10 Hayward,WI
>AA0AW-10 Solon Springs,WI

That is an impressive number of stations. We certainly don't have any
duplication of coverage yet and given that everything comes up on a map, it
shouldn't be hard to avoid. I mentioned that my current plans for spring
and summer would be to put WIDEs in Spring Valley or Emerald WI, another in
Rush City or preferably farther north in the Pine City-Hinckley-Mora
triangle, and another in Pequot Lakes unless a better site in Aitkin is
made available. That will fill three holes on the map. The Rush City WIDE
along I-35 is desirable to support the MS 150 Bike-a-thon in June. 

When I drive I-35 north, I find the stretch between Pine City and Beroun
most interesting. In that stretch I can not hear Minneapolis or Duluth but
I do start hearing another digi, probably Rice Lake or Hayward according to
the map, but possibly Little Falls. I would think that a good high WIDE in
that area would hear all five surrounding WIDEs plus cover the I-35
corridor. That is why I'd like a WIDE in that area but Rush City is the
closest site available so far. 

A site along the upper edge of Knapp Hill in western WI is needed to
provide coverage of I-94 east of the metro. Spring Valley is the best
location so far available. If a certain site in Emerald becomes available,
it might be a better location for the WIDE. From the top of Knapp Hill, I
expect the WIDE to provide coverage of not only western WI into St Paul,
but also I-94 and the valley east to Eau Claire. It should be able to link
into the APRS net in Rice Lake, Arcadia and SE Minnesota. N0HOY-9 was
recently installed at Downsville but it is east of Knapp Hill and has no
coverage on top of the hill.  

The Pequot Lakes fire tower is a good location between Little Falls and
Deer River but I really would prefer a location in Aitkin as being more
centrally located between Little Falls, Deer River and Duluth. But I'll
take what I can get and worry about making changes later if something new
comes up..... 

To finish filling in the weather warning area of the Chanhassen NWS office,
I need to be looking for sites west of the metro. I really need to do some
work with the terrain map to see what I need but something around Redwood
Falls is probably about right, possibly another around Gaylord-Glencoe, and
another way out west near Canby. If I could move things around, I'd have a
WIDE in New Ulm instead of Mankato & Gaylord-Glencoe, and another in
Marshall instead of Redwood Falls & Canby. But I don't even have any leads
for new sites in that area, so it will wait..... 

Time to go to work. I'll have a few questions for you about GE Delta radios
tonight.....

73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.