Charles Brabham wrote:

APRS was developed as a packet radio "killer application" by folks
associated with TAPR in the US.

The idea is to kill any interest in packet by eliminating its most
interesting and useful features, substituting a pointless internet-dependent
activity sure to put just about anyone to sleep.

APRS fits TAPR's ideal of a "killer application" perfectly - It kills off
all interest in the hobby. The more TNC's they can talk hams into tying up
so they can report thier house's position on the internet, the less will be
used for communicating as hams or doing anything else that may be
interesting or useful.

In the US, tying up equipment to do APRS has taken the place of astrology,
numerology, or socialism a quick ( lack of ) intelligence test.

Charles, N5PVL



Are you high?

Well, these folks are. Sorta. From 2003:
http://www.arrl-al.org/balloon_chase2.htm

We had another successful launch last week. The balloon reached
94,000ft. It transmitted aprs, id, position, altitude, and other data on
2 meters. It transmitted video at 434.000MHz from a downward-facing
mini-camera. We chased it from Huntsalulu to the AL-GA border north of
Mentone, monitoring *direct* APRS signals at 144.39 and 144.34. Also
used an ad hoc rolling network of chase cars at 146.52 and other simplex
frequencies. In short, this activity used just about every vhf trick in
the bag 'cept weak signal techniques.

It was a blast. Even the farmer who was bushhogging when it came down on
his pasture was ultra cool. He gave us a ride to the recovery site and
acted like things fall on his farm from near space every day. Ho hum.

Oh, and the only internet activity was back at the launch site, where we
were tracked on a map on a internet-connected laptop.

http://www.unclaimedmysteries.net/uah_balloon.php

73 Corry K4DOH
--
It Came From C. L. Smith's Unclaimed Mysteries.
http://www.unclaimedmysteries.net

T. Boozer wrote in rolltidefan.net: "That dude that took the picture,
Corry Smith, is a bigtime aubie. Notice he named the pic
'BRIANDENNEHYstadium' Screw him!"