On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 1:35 PM, Lynn W. Deffenbaugh (Mr) <[email protected]> wrote:
> An excellent analysis for your home QTH, but decided impractical for a > multi-day, over-the-road trip. I don't see how the concept of multiple digipeaters acting upon the packet for up to "n" hops is any different for a single packet as opposed to an extended trip. Each location where a packet is initiated is unique, and one must analyze each independently. The simplest case being where one is in isolation, where no one hears you "braaap"... I spend a lot of time in areas like that. I can run a 7 hop path with no adverse impact. The issue is where there is an APRS network within earshot. With a single hop path, you will only activate digipeaters that can hear your station directly. At a minimum, this will be one station because we have put in the definition of being within range of a network. At a maximum, it is hard to say, that depends upon the density of the network, and the propagation characteristics of the initial station. A balloon borne station has the potential to hit dozens or digipeaters on its first hop. Every hop after that has the potential to hit between zero and an unknown number of previously unactivated digipeaters. Each time you ask for another hop, you are potentially impacting more users. I seriously think that an application that would allow the user to select a location on the map, and then observe the area impacted while adjusting the number of hops requested would be a good thing. This application would need to build a digipeater mesh of the affected area by keeping track of which digipeaters can hear which neighbors. If the user could select a path previously travelled, and run the simulator against each position report, showing the full area of impact, and not just the path travelled to the first i-gate, the user could get an idea of how much of an impact they are having on the network. James VE6SRV
