[amsat-bb] GO-32, APRS mobile, and wasted D7's...

[Robert Bruninga]

> Well, 4XTECH showed up on the display of my 
> mobile D710 a couple of times, but I didn't get a 
> MY POSITION.  I wasn't able to find anyone local to
> listen out for me.

The good news is that it is easier to see one's self via GO32
than via the ECHO satellite, because GO32 has a PTT delay some
of the time.  So your radio will have turned around in time to
hear your packet come back...  But being in the mobile, you
probably only get a good -downlink- for the center 3 minutes of
a good high pass.

But you can get in on the uplink from horizon to horizon if you
are running your typical 50 watts mobile.  That is why we need
LOTS more people Igating the downlink.

The best way to do this is to encourage all D7 owners that do
not use their D7 routinely, to not just set it in the closet,
but leave it hooked to an Igate all the time they are not using
it.  Connect this through a SHORT coax to a 19" vertical whip.

This station will receive GO-32 downlink packets for the center
3 to 5 minutes of the best two passess per day... And if we have
enough people doing this (say a dozen over the USA), then at
least one of them will always have a good chance of hearing each
packet and feeding the APRS-IS...  Thus giving mobiles all over
the continant the ability to get out a positon, messsage, or
email from anywhere.

And since coax loss is the big bugga... The better way is to put
the D7 up near the antenna and run only the 3 wire RS-232 down
to the shack...  Then you don't need a pre-amp...  Shucks, you
can even use the same RS-232 to remotely control the radio, and
use it for other weak-signal reception work as needed too...

Bob, WB4APR