>> No, HamIM has always been legal. The difference is normal APRS uses the
>> Internet - I can go to findu.com during the contest to get your location to
>> try to work you. Until now you couldn't use APRS this way because normally
>> you can't use non-Amateur Radio means (Internet) to solicit contacts during
>> the contest. HamIM doesn't use the Internet - anyone within simplex range
>> on 147.585 gets a position report they can plot on a map. That's really not
>> any different than me telling you my grid square is EN52vj on 432 SSB so you
>> can point your 1296 beam better.
>>
>> 73!
>> Chris N9YH
You got all that from reading the rules? Somebody's going to have to send me
the
decoder ring...
Ok, some people have already made the assumption that rovers can use "full blown
APRS", i.e. the network on 144.39 with all of its glorious features such as
digipeaters
and internet gateways. So how do you tell a contest rover from a few thousand
other
mobiles? They are only allowed callsign and position. Unless they use an SSID
of -R,
for rover, you can't pick them out. Now somebody says "That's easy, move the
rovers
to 147.585 so we can pick them out, we've been doing HamIM there anyways". The
rovers are still running APRS and cannot use HamIM to it's full extent. They
are only allowed
callsign and position, nor can they use digipeaters or internet gatways because
the premise
of no digipeats and no gateways is what got HamIM past the ARRL contest desk to
begin with...
Beside all of that, the rules do not seem to include anybody else in using
APRS, in either
form. Rovers are allowed to tx calls and positions and multi-op stations are
allowed to
monitor, as in a spotting network.
-Mac, KB8YHV
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