Using several digipi digipeters

[Scott]

OK I am lazy but to test this is going to be complex perhaps there are experts with experiance.

Recently I worked in Net Control for a huge marathon here in Atlanta >10K runners). We wanted to track the pace car, tail runners, SAG wagons, Bike patrol riders and so on. We have 0 APRS coverage in metro Atlanta when we ran this. (We have since added an IGATE/Digipeter to Stone Mountain Ga to help with this, W4BOC-1). As a stop gap all persons with a FCC license used APRS droid  (Android phones) or APRS.FI (Apple I phone) thus position informality was obtained by Cell to Internet to APRS-IS. This is fine but we would rather not be reliant on a infrastructure that can fail in an emergency (Hurricane Helene anyone). ( I have been to many disasters where everything is gone with the AT&T disaster recovery team so RF wins if everything else is GONE. ) 

My bright idea is to use Digipi PI with Baofeng radios distributed along the course (I have made 4 of them). Each is a Pi 0 2W with a GPS receiver, shielded USB to USB cable, Battery power (9.9 AH) not connected to WI FI, solar trickle for the battery and for now a Baofeng 82HP radio. This is a pure RF concept. Now when I configure Digipi my call is KJ4ZZB-2 on all of these Digipis. My thought is that with enough RF coverage with digipeters I could get a signal to WRBOC-1. 

Would this cause havoc having several Digipis as repeaters with the same Call? .  

[Craig]

this is a cool idea.   it wont melt down the network because the first guy
to digipeat the packet with the callsign in the header will put an asterisk
next to it in the header, so it wont be digipeated more than once.

-craig
KM6LYW