Go to this page http://aprs.fi/ http://aprs.fi/ and look for APRS activity in your area, chances are you are already on the map!

Take a look at the last 12 hours, you will see the path of moving vehicles. If you put the pointer on one of the dots, you will see the path the signal follows maybe crossing one or two digipeaters before arriving into the gateway to be transferred to the internet.

Nothing like real data to understand how the system works!

Regards,

Alejandro HP1COO, yes from PANAMA