AMSAT guys, If you run APRS to Dayton, you must be aware that over the last 3 years the old APRS generic paths of RELAY and WIDE have been completely abandoned. You cannot be tracked that way any longer. The APRS world has changed! (after 15 years of legacy support.. Now no more)...
(Barry, hint..)
The New-N Paradigm now recommends the single universal path
VIA WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 to replace VIA RELAY,WIDE
This has drastically (by a factor of 2 to 5 or more) cut down on the dupes and the load on the APRS network, and similarly increased the reliability by the same amount.
In your D700 or D7, set your path to WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1. This will give you a 2 hop path which is sufficient just about everywhere. Remember to RE-SAVE your PM so that the radio remembers it...
If you run a WIDE digipeater, then change its parameters. If you run a RELAY ONLY Home Station as a digi, then change the MYALIAS from RELAY to WIDE1-1. This makes sure that your station will digipeat the first-hop of any nearby mobile, but not add any QRM.
If you see digipeaters on the front panel of your radio that do not have an "S" overlay on the SYMBOL, or that do not show "W2" or "W3" as the first two bytes of text in their position text, then contact the SYSOP and remind him that his digi is obsolete and needs to be set to the new settings. In most cases this can be done remotely without a trip to the site.
This is posted on the AMSAT-bb, since many people use D700's but may not be keeing up to date on the major worldwide APRS paradigm shift that has occurred since 2004.
For other APRS hints for your Pilgrimage to Dayton, please see: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/DaytonPilgrimage.txt
Thanks Bob, WB4APR