I agree, Kevin. The unattended beacons seem pointless. Unlike propagation beacons, these don't really tell us anything. My guess is these people are beaconing every minute or so 24x7, ISS passing or not.
Satgates don't need to identify to be beneficial. My dad and I have both successfully tested experimental Satgates using just a simple receiver with a ground plane, feeding into a computer sound card. This is essentially all you need to relay ARISS-digipeated frames to the APRS-IS network.
73, Clayton
Sent from my mobile phone.
On Jan 5, 2012, at 19:56, Kevin Deane [email protected] wrote:
Ok so I think that this all fine and dandy and even more so if it keeps people from logging into the BBS and ruining the pass for everyone else. I dont think that an email sent via ISS would be considered a Qso but still pretty neat. In between the beacons there are Two Way Communications made on the ISS Digi.
What I do not understand is the Beaconing. What is the point? So that while you are at work, or sleeping, your callsign shows up on arris.net? In doing so you Beaconers not only clog up the passes but have basicly killed NO-44.
If you are going to use the ISS or a satellite you should be there at your station and not be like the very annoying automated menu you get when trying to get through to a human being on the phone.
By the way Unproto CQ via WIDE2-2 or RS0ISS-4 then k or CONVERSE :EMAIL :[email protected] Type mess here works great there is no need for the Beacon...
Just my opinion.
Kevin KF7MYK
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