Mountain Digipeater Settings

122 views
Skip to first unread message

Bill Erhardt

unread,
Jan 29, 2021, 8:49:11 PM1/29/21
to nwa...@googlegroups.com

Howdy gang,

 

I have all six of my digipeaters set to information on NWAPRS.info page and have not changed it for quite a while.

 

I got a email from Lisa AK7WS a while back that I was illegal for not sending an iD every 10 minutes with a call sign so I fixed that on all sites I had it set to hourly and she quoted the instruction about every 10 minutes from regulations..

 

My uidigi is set to on wide1-1,wide4-4,wide-3-3,wide3-2 per the old nwaprs.info site. I see that was last updated in 2018. I need to know if uidigi setting for kpc-3  ver 8.2 has changed ??????  LISA told me that they are seeing packets in the Hamilton Valley Montana and I should not use wide2-2 ?????

 

Help with the uidigi setting  please….

 

Thanks  from Bill K7MT managing Toston,  Macpas, Bolder, Goldcr, unvmtn, and lookot.

 

 

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 

Jason Buchanan

unread,
Jan 29, 2021, 9:54:03 PM1/29/21
to nwa...@googlegroups.com
Well over 50% of the packets I receive are the digipeaters chattering amongst themselves so i'm surprised that WIDEn-n for beacons and ID is still a thing?  Kinda surprised there is a need for any beacon or ID if the digipeater properly puts itself into the path.  But i'm a greenhorn so let the eggs fly my way if i'm out of line - hi

73 jason N1SU



--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NWAPRS" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to nwaprs+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/nwaprs/6014bb15.1c69fb81.8a6d5.8350SMTPIN_ADDED_MISSING%40gmr-mx.google.com.

David Dobbins

unread,
Jan 30, 2021, 9:42:04 AM1/30/21
to nwa...@googlegroups.com
I've long-addressed my response back to Bill K7MT, but will Reader's Digest it for the good of the group.

I helped draft the recommended settings for NWAPRS years ago, working closely with Bob Bruninga WB4APR. In the late 90s there were significant improvements made to the Kantronics TNC architecture that really supported APRS activities. The settings on the NWAPRS pages have helped lead the interest of other regions across the USA and Canada. Again, these were blessed by Father Bob, and are current today.

If you're confused about UIDIGI and other settings, welcome to the club. To break this one down as simple as I can, a properly configured digipeater in the NWAPRS "areas" will respond by digipeating a signal from any station using WIDE1-1, WIDE2-2, WIDE3-3, or WIDE4-4 in it's outgoing path. It will not digipeat a signal configured with WIDE5-5 or WIDE6-6 or any other matching number. We used to want to digipeat that many occurrences because iGates were few and far between, and activity on the system could easily absorb the occasional burst of packets. Think of UIDIGI as a kind of filter.... digipeat anything with these settings, but nothing more. As we grew, especially around the Puget Sound region, we asked people to limit their trackers and home stations to an outgoing path of WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 as that path USUALLY (not all the time) would get you two hops out and certainly there would be a home station or internet connected digipeater that would hear the transmission and get it up to the APRS-IS.

I remember some tests we did back in 1197-1998 between Spokane and Vancouver (WA) using six digipeaters and a path of RELAY,RELAY,RELAY,RELAY,RELAY,RELAY to get this packets back and forth. This was a proof of concept practiced elsewhere as well that the signal could bounce, and rebounce all over the place. That led Bob and Kantronics to come up with the depricating values that we see used in UIDIGI now.

A concern from one person in the Bitterroot Valley says the digipeaters are not broadcasting an FCC-compliant callsign every 10 mins as required. BS. If the digipeater has been set up using the NWAPRS guidelines, it's completely within FCC rules. The digipeaters send the actual callsign (not an alias) every 9 or 10 minutes as a direct transmission, which is not digipeated by any other digi, so it can only be heard within direct range of the digi. This is not the same rule as required for voice transmissions. We talk for 10 mins and include our callsign, which gets re-broadcast over the repeater, as required by FCC reg. Our digis are continuously digipeating packets according to the UIDIGI (responding to WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2,WIDE3-3,WIDE4-4) and using typically the alias of the digi, mountain name or geo ref, but when it comes time, every 10 mins or less, the actual callsign programmed in the TNC gets transmitted on NO PATH, so only those stations within earshot of the digi will ever hear it. The APRS-IS may pick this up, or may not.

OK, so it's a long Reader's Digest. 

If anyone has any concerns about the NWAPRS settings, you can ask anybody who's been using APRS in our region for some time about it, and hopefully get a good explanation. If you feel we're not within the guidelines of the FCC packet rules, then I encourage to write the FCC and file your complaint. It's been done before, many times, but the FCC always comes back and says 1) we don't care and 2) they're following guidelines already previously investigated and found to be within the law.

If anyone has any questions, please ask away. Some of this stuff is being forgotten and way back in the cobwebs of my head. I'll probably have to research some before responding.

BTW, in short response to Herb's Windows 10 serial port/USB issues..... that's why I still have laptops with Windows 3.1, W95, and W7 that have serial ports embedded. They still work great.

David K7GPS

--

Curt Mills

unread,
Jan 30, 2021, 10:44:45 AM1/30/21
to NWAPRS List
On Sat, Jan 30, 2021 at 6:42 AM David Dobbins <ddob...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A concern from one person in the Bitterroot Valley says the digipeaters are not broadcasting an FCC-compliant callsign every 10 mins as required. BS. If the digipeater has been set up using the NWAPRS guidelines, it's completely within FCC rules. The digipeaters send the actual callsign (not an alias) every 9 or 10 minutes as a direct transmission, which is not digipeated by any other digi, so it can only be heard within direct range of the digi.

Yep!

I could even set a digipeater or APRS station to only ID with morse
code, so only the alias and never the legal callsign appeared in APRS
packets. That would still be ok per FCC rules. You're identifying your
transmitter only.

--
Curt, WE7U http://xastir.org http://www.sarguydigital.com

David Dobbins

unread,
Jan 30, 2021, 11:00:58 AM1/30/21
to nwa...@googlegroups.com
I had forgotten about that feature of CWID. Yep.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NWAPRS" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to nwaprs+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/nwaprs/CAKDpQX%3DP-dNe6g9kSVeAfk%2BSZsX%3Dn9GBBXD-OUpie-xda0XBBw%40mail.gmail.com.

Bill Erhardt

unread,
Jan 30, 2021, 11:10:32 AM1/30/21
to nwa...@googlegroups.com

I like the CWID every 10 minutes and am going to look at that..  That would help reduce packets from the six stations I maintain..

 

Bill K7MT

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 

K7FZO

unread,
Jan 30, 2021, 11:20:27 AM1/30/21
to nwa...@googlegroups.com
Thanks to both Dave and Curt for your accurate information and Dave’s history lesson. Once a teacher always a teacher!
It’s good to know the brain trust is always in the background listening.....hi hi. 

73,
Thom/K7FZO
“Battle scared APRS user since 1994”

--
73 de K7FZO / Thom

Bill Erhardt

unread,
Jan 30, 2021, 11:22:03 AM1/30/21
to nwa...@googlegroups.com

Hi Dave,

 

No it was not re broadcast.  That issue is long taken care of on ID’s from Lisa.

 

Yesterday she told me that they were seeing packets digied through our Toston Digipeater.  I told her about the uidigipeater settings on a KPC-3 for a mountain tops setting.   She indicated it was other senders in there area only use wide1-1 and that I should set Toston to do the same.  She had the two confused when I told her the Widen-n uidigi setting in the NWAPRS.INFO for mountain tops and the setting on the main page!!!

 

Pretty sure we got that squared away.

 

Bill K7MT

 

Bill K7MT

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 

Bill Erhardt

unread,
Jan 30, 2021, 1:01:08 PM1/30/21
to nwa...@googlegroups.com

Hi Kurt,

 

Yes, I just set my MACPAS digipeater to CWID every 10 minutes and reduce the APRS Digi Packet ID in BLT to every hour..  I will watch how it goes and then look at the other sites I maintained.  Thanks for that info….  Bill  K7MT

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages