I'm not understanding the legalities of beaconing and broadcasting. Are they not the same.
Neither one describes APRS. APRS is a group of stations participating in a network no different than the round table discussions on the local voice repeater during commute times. Someone that has info to contribute, transmits and everyone copies it. With one transmission, everyone in the net is updated, a very efficient 2-way system.
What is frustrating to see on APRS is so little USEFUL real-time content of interest to the mobile operator. What the local network should provide to the front panel of your radio when you are driving are these things (and their location):
Frequency of the locally recommended voice repeater (and TONE) Frequency of local IRLP/Echolink or other asset Local weather Any NETS in progress Any hamfest coming up in the next 2 weeks ANY other ham activity in progress Any incoming messages from your friends
See www.aprs.org/localinfo.html
In addition, of course, you see all the other APRS mobiles nearby, and if one is within direct SIMPLEX range, you can hear a "Voice Alert Beep" letting you know he is looking for a contact. See www.aprs.org/VoiceAlert3.html
On satellites what we used to see was not only the location of the satellite, but also all the other participants. In addition to the range and direction to the satellite, we used to see the instantaneous uplink and downlink and Doppler. This was very handy for handheld satellite operation. But again, this required someone in the footprint to be running software that would uplink this info in real time. After over a decade, the excitement wore off, and now we have too many lights-on-nobody-home type operations.
See www.aprs.org/astars.html about 65% down the page "APRS Bulletins and Objects"
Bob, WB4APR
I'm not understanding the legalities of beaconing and broadcasting. Are they not the same.
No, they aren't, at least not here in the states.
Beaconing is defined by Part 97.3(a)(9) as transmissions "...for the purposes of observation of propagation and reception or other related experimental activities" and is one of the few one-way transmissions allowed under the rules. A beacon station may not transmit concurrently on more than one frequency, transmit with more than 100 watts output, nor be automatically controlled below 28.200 MHz or outside the band segments defined in 97.203(d) (except for the NCDXF/IARU HF beacon network, which operates under an FCC waiver).
Broadcasting is defined by 97.3(a)(10) as "Transmissions intended for reception by the general public, either direct or relayed" and is one of the prohibited types of transmissions identified in 97.113.
George, KA3HSW
So is transmitting for the benefit of a limited Amateur Radio community (those practicing APRS) the same as "broadcasting" to the general public?
73, DE W7IN - Larry
On 6/7/2011 12:24 PM, George Henry wrote:
I'm not understanding the legalities of beaconing and broadcasting. Are they not the same.
No, they aren't, at least not here in the states.
Beaconing is defined by Part 97.3(a)(9) as transmissions "...for the purposes of observation of propagation and reception or other related experimental activities" and is one of the few one-way transmissions allowed under the rules. A beacon station may not transmit concurrently on more than one frequency, transmit with more than 100 watts output, nor be automatically controlled below 28.200 MHz or outside the band segments defined in 97.203(d) (except for the NCDXF/IARU HF beacon network, which operates under an FCC waiver).
Broadcasting is defined by 97.3(a)(10) as "Transmissions intended for reception by the general public, either direct or relayed" and is one of the prohibited types of transmissions identified in 97.113.
George, KA3HSW
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No! It's not intended for the "general public".
Jeff Moore -- KE7ACY CN94 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Gerhardstein" W7IN@montana.com
So is transmitting for the benefit of a limited Amateur Radio community (those practicing APRS) the same as "broadcasting" to the general public?
73, DE W7IN - Larry
On Tue, 2011-06-07 at 14:26 -0700, Jeff Moore wrote:
No! It's not intended for the "general public".
Not that anyone cares if the general public can receive it, or not - hence why you can get a receive-only feed from APRS-IS servers without a valid passcode.
Here's the thing, guys - no-one cares what you do as long as you're not stepping on anyone else. The 2m band is big enough for everyone to have a bit, even without all this ridiculous 12.5kHz channel nonsense. Play nice, don't be a nuisance, and send packets as much as you like.
Just keep the emcomm wallies off my digipeater, or I'll close it down ;-)
Gordon MM0YEQ
participants (5)
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Bob Bruninga -
George Henry -
Gordon JC Pearce -
Jeff Moore -
Larry Gerhardstein