[MiQP-Mail] APRS ?

[Fredric Moses]

Ok since my aprs setup doesn't "spot" like a DX cluster spot would self spot I am not violating the rules of self spotting freq/mode..... Which I have seen some aprs setups do......   Mine is just where I am I have my parents 35th wedding anniversary party so I know my father will have his APRS screen going to make sure I make it to there house by 3:30...

Besides the route I am planning, will planning at the moment is also testing the performance of the aprs network that myself and randy have built....  If I am driving a few hundred miles it's nice to have some other data to look at after the fact...

--
Fredric Moses - W8FSM - WQOG498
fred at moses.bz




On Apr 15, 2013, at 10:57 PM, David Pruett <k8cc at comcast.net> wrote:

> All,
> 
> There has been zero discussion on the reflector or sent to the MiQP committee about the use of ARPS in MiQP prior to K8MR's e-mail today.  This would be a useful discussion if it were six months or a year ago.  But since it is a week before the contest, it's too late for 2013.
> 
> As K9TM pointed out, the MiQP rules that are in place prohibit self spotting.  If APRS is used to broadcast information about the station (current frequency/mode, county, etc.), then it is self spotting.  And if it isn't helping you make QSOs in MiQP, why bother?
> 
> So the use of APRS to self spot is prohibited in the 2013 MiQP.  End of discussion.  The committee will have a discussion about APRS and there will be a definitive decision for the 2014 MiQP.
> 
> BTW, the use of any sort of self spotting is not a question of "modern technology" vs. "old school".  The fundamental question, at least from my viewpoint, is a question of equality and fairness. MIchigan is a state which is largely rural; I know this first hand, having operated MiQP mobile from every one of its 83 counties over a four year period.  I suspect there are large areas of the state where continuous Internet or PacketCluster service is not available, which puts a number of MiQP single-op competitors at a significant disadvantage from the very start.  The benefits to the contest of allowing packet have to be judged carefully vs. the uneven competitive landscape it would create.  And that's the committee's job.
> 
> OhQP allows packet use and self-spotting by single ops.  As an out-of-state station, I used APRS to follow K9TM/m in the 2012 OhQP as they mobiled around the state and APRS was much less useful than I thought it would be.  Many times the system lagged behind and K9TM/m would be almost out of a county before the APRS status even showed their presence.  And in many places in rural Ohio the system did not update at all.  So my real-life experience was that APRS wasn't very useful in the contest context.
> 
> So, drop it for 2013.  2014, maybe...
> 
> Dave/K8CC
> 
> 
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