Robert,
There are a few issues at play currently...
1. Availability of orbiting digipeaters. The current ISS packet system appears to be hard of hearing. It can hear strong signals, and those with lower-power stations - like the APRS-ready HTs - are only able to get through on the higher passes. If the new ISS radio and power supply are installed and set to operate an APRS digipeater, this issue with the ISS digipeater may go away.
Besides the ISS, NO-84's digipeater is rarely on. FalconSat-3 is available, but that requires more sophisticated radio gear due to its use of 9600bps packet and operating cross-band. FalconSat can be worked with just a Kenwood TH-D72 or TM-D710G, as those radios support cross- band packet at 9600bps, and (try to) do that full-duplex.
2. Unattended stations. This has been an issue for a long time on 145.825 MHz. It is not legal for US stations to operate in the 145.800-146.000 MHz and 435-438 MHz subbands unattended, yet it happens. I referenced this in articles I wrote for the AMSAT Journal and QST in the past couple of years, and those are available from the "Articles" folder in my Dropbox space at http://dropbox.wd9ewk.net/
3. Button-pushing. It can take many presses to generate a very short message using a DTMF keypad on APRS-ready radios. Some of the radios, the Kenwood HTs and mobile radios in particular, provide a way to store prepared messages (they are called "phrases" in the Kenwood manuals) that can be called up with fewer button presses. Others use programs like UISS on a Windows system to handle APRS, including messaging. UISS can work with software like AGWPE or SoundModem, avoiding the need for a TNC.
The APRS messaging protocol takes care of showing the sender and recipient. This can leave the message text to convey information like a grid locator(s) and state, or a "TNX/73" at the end of a QSO. The AMSAT Journal article I co-wrote about packet on the TH-D72 and TH-D74, which is available from:
https://www.amsat.org/station-and-operating-hints/
described my message setup. I store 3 prepared messages in my radios, and normally use two of the 3 in making QSOs, following the process outlined in AMSAT Field Day rules for a complete QSO.
A small computer could be useful here, allowing more radios to be used with the orbiting packet digipeaters. A TNC probably isn't needed, if the audio hardware on the computer is connected to the radio's speaker and mic jacks. If the small computer could compile a list of stations heard, and the user could select one of those stations for a message, that could reduce the button pressing needed to send messages.
Hoping for the new ISS radio and power supply to be installed and activated soon...
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 7:02 PM Robert Bankston via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:
It's a shame that their are not more APRS messaging satellite QSOs being done via ARISS and other satellites. Is this because...
- Lack of equipment? * Erratic operational schedules? * Proliferation
of non-attended stations (beacons)? * Too much button pushing? Most ops you an HT and very few of those have APRS messaging capability. Those HT's that do (including mobiles) are a bit clunky and require fast thumbs to complete all of the necessary steps to complete a QSO. Of course the more you do it, the more second nature it becomes, but that circles back to the erratic scheduling. One solution could be to develop an app or software with prescribed message formatting and QSO automation, similar to similar FT8. (click on target call in station list) * [Target Call] [My Call] [My Grid] * [My Call] [Target Call] (Target Grid] * R [Target Grid] * RR [My Grid] (click on log QSO) Single board computers could easily handle the task (even the Pi Zero), for those worried about keeping their station small. Only thing left would be a microarduino TNC or soundcard and a couple cables to the HT mic and earphone jacks. Just a thought. 73, Robert KE4AL