I back Bob on this. Unless you live in the sticks, and possibly even then it's not like there's no way to get your location on the internet via APRS without going through the ISS a few times a day. I have tried keyboard contacts via ISS, it's like calling CQ on a dead 10 meters at midnight most of the time. At least the interference to that is less now with the lesser beacon activity. But there are so much better things to do with ISS than just add another digipeater to your unattended APRS beacon. Maybe you do it a couple of times to prove that you can, but things like MAREA or yet to be thought of things seem much more an "advancement of the art".
Jerry N0JY
On 5/26/2014 10:58 AM, Robert Bruninga wrote:
The beacon while-unattended into a very valuable limited channel such as the ISS and PCSAT digipeaters are disappointing to me. The purpose of the APRS digipeaters in space are for humans to contact humans, or for the rare -out-in-the-atlantic or Pacific lone traveler or experiment.
The unattended beacons are intereference to that mission and are not welcome.
Bob, WB4aPR