Well, over the weekend, I took my APRS GPS THD7 conglomeration on the road with me to Nashville, out of Memphis. What I first noticed is that the range of our local repeater system has limited use with an HT (handheld) Not so surprising, but I wish it wasn’t the case. I’m going to have to set up an external antenna, probably 5/8 wave, to extend my reach.
When in Nashville, I was able to hear alot of stations broadcasting packets, but only had my packets repeated twice. Again, I needed a larger antenna to get out. On the way back to Memphis, I had one packet repeated near Oakland, TN. Not sure who is operating that repeater.
As of now, it looks like the repeater coverage for this kind of “travel” tracking is not adequate. I’m going to be getting with the local HAM club to find out how I can help.
I’m thinking that we can use some of this old WLAN gear I’ve got laying around to distribute more “internet gateways”, as long as others can come up with the digi-peaters and we can get roof rights where we need them. Always the challenge for HAM’s with no budget!
Squirrel