OPS.txt 7.5b                APRS OPERATIONS NOTES

Version 6.7b: Includes a SLAVE mode for operating several different APRS 
PC's all from the same TNC/radio.  This permits multiple operators in an 
EOC or other command post, to each have his OWN display, while sharing 
only one radio /TNC.  See SLAVE paragraph at end.

FOR MOBILE Operations, see MOBILE.txt

OVERVIEW:  This OPERATIONS file may help you to understand the finer points
of operating an APRS net both ROUTINE and SPECIAL EVENT.  Since APRS was
designed to facilitate real-time tactical communications, operating APRS
on a routine basis is sometimes like watching the grass grow!  The reason
for building a routine APRS net is primarily for operator training and
familiarity.  If your operators are not familiar with APRS in a benign
environment, then they will not be able to use it in a under stress!

Do NOT think that you need GPS for tracking special events.  It is so easy
to update your vehicle's position just by moving the cursor and hitting
the INPUT-MY command, that the only stations that need GPS are the ones
that are lost!

BULLETINS:  To send a bulletin to all stations, simply SEND a message to
BLN# where # is a line number from 1 to 9.  Like any other message, these
BULLETIN lines will be transmitted on the decaying time period and will
soon fade out of the system.  If you want the bulletin to remain at about 
a 15 minute rate, then instead of using numerals in the BLN# mesage, use
a LETTER.  This way, new stations joining the net will quickly pick up 
the BULLETINS.  Since lines are sorted onto the receiver's BULLETIN page, 
a new BLNx line will overwrite any previous BLNx at all stations making 
changes and corrections easy.  If your bulletin is time sensitive, be 
sure to include the TIME in the text, since BULLETINS are not time-
stamped.  When your BULLETIN is no longer needed, simply ERASE your 
outgoing BLN#.  This will stop your transmission of the BULLETIN lines.  
Receiving stations can erase all old bulletins by using the ALT-E command.


GATEWAY RULES:  I have interjected this paragraph because of the large
number of APRS HF to VHF gateways now in operation.  First, it is very
important that users understand that GATEWAYS ARE ONLY INTENDED TO LINK
HF ACTIVITY INTO LOCAL VHF NETS.  IT IS INNEFFICIENT, DISCOURTEOUS, AND
MAYBE ILLEGAL TO LINK from VHF to HF.  Linking HF operations into every
local VHF APRS net in the country is not a problem, because the slow 300
baud data rate could never saturate ANY 1200 baud local net.  HOWEVER,
linking just ONE active VHF net ANYWHERE in the country out onto HF
WOULD CERTAINLY BLOCK ALL HF OPERATIONS NATIONWIDE!  The capability is
there for linking special events or cross country travelers on VHF out 
for the entertainment of all HF listeners, but DO NOT ABUSE IT, OR WE 
WILL LOOSE IT!  See HF.txt.


DIGIPEATER RULES:  The advantages of APRS are many, but there is a price.
Since APRS uses a fixed digipeater path sometimes different for different
stations depending on geographic location, there is a duplication of on the
air packets.  This assures that all stations in the net are maintained up 
to date, but also proves to be less efficient during intense operator-to-
operator QSO's where this point-to-point traffic is also being unnecessarily 
broadcast to all stations in the net.  In such cases ALWAYS CHOOSE THE 
MINIMUM PATH TO THAT ONE STATION.  You will be amazed at the improvement 
in throughput!  Watch the DIGI page, and if you can work him direct, DO SO!

WIDE-RELAYS AND COMMUTERS:  The greatest contribution of APRS is the use of
generic alias callsigns for digipeaters so that mobiles do not have to
change their paths as they move from area to area.  Since WIDES are widely
separated and are made for WIDE area and LONGHAUL comms, many mobiles cannot
hit them reliably.  For this reason, all WIDE area digipeaters should
have a SECOND alias of RELAY.  This makes EVERY station INCLUDING digi's
act as a RELAY.  This permits mobiles to send their packets VIA RELAY,WIDE 
no matter where they are.  This allows the WIDES to remain WIDELY separated
and local gap-filler digis (as RELAY only) to be placed where ever needed 
to provide good mobile coverage everywhere.  See DIGIs.txt.  FIXED stations 
should NOT use RELAY generic paths except under the most unusual
circumstances.

ACKS THAT DONT MAKE IT:  Just like connected packet, the chance of a message
packet getting through is usually the same as the chance that the ACK will
get back.  If the radio path is only 50%, that means that the receiver will
probably get the message by the second transmission, but that the sender may
not get an ACK until after his 4th!  This is because the sender had to send 4
packets to get two through and the receiver then ACKed twice in order to get
one through.  You see this effect frequently on APRS, when you are talking
with a station over a long poor path.  You will notice that the person at
the other end has already responded to your message even before you get an
ack from your outgoing message.  BUT your next line will never go out UNTIL
it gets that ACK.  The reason that you will probably get his response message
before your ack, is because his response message is being repeated over and
over in the usual APRS decayed algorithm, but his ACK is ONLY transmitted
once each time he gets a dupe of your message line to him.

    What this means is that whenever it is obvious that the other station has
responded to your message line, you should ERASE it so that APRS will move on
to the next line.  Sometimes if you know that the other station is probably
hearing the digi better than the digi is hearing him, and you are not getting
ACKS, then simply send him messages in the blind.  Let each line will be 
transmitted for 6 minutes and then you can erase it.  APRS will then move on 
to the next line.  Remember that APRS will have transmitted 6 times in the 
first 6 minutes, but that it will then be over 3 minutes, then 6 and then 
12 minutes for further transmissions.

    To improve on this effect of lost ACK responses (which I see a lot on
HF), APRS recognizes a duplicate message, and not only sends out the usual
ACK, but stores a copy for transmisssion in the blind 30 seconds later. 
The 30 second delay is to avoid cluttering up the frequency if the path is
good, since the sending station will have sent the message at least twice
in the first 30 seconds.  After the third transmission, it is clear that
the ACKs are getting lost and it is time to double up.  This algorithm has
the potential of doubling throughput on a poor channel!


SHORT MESSAGES:  As with any packet, especially on HF, the shorter the packet
the better the chance of getting through.  With 25 characters of overhead,
however, there is not much sense in making the message part much shorter
than a half line (40 characters).  The chance of a 40 character line getting
clobbered compared to a 75 character line is 65%.  On HF keep 'em short. 
A trick that I frequently use whenever I know that a station is not currently
on the air, or the path is not currently good, is to send the first message
line with only the word "test" followed by additional lines with the body
of the message.  This way, only the very short "test" line is transmitted
(often for hours on HF) until the band opens, and then once the station ACKs
that line, the remaining lines are transmitted.


ROUTINE OPERATIONS:  The APRS default digipeater path of RELAY is ok for
a few users starting up an APRS net, but you will soon need to focus on a
few good stations to serve as WIDE area digipeaters.  The reason for this
is obvious.  As soon as you get 3 or more local stations on APRS, any
station living equi-distant (RF wise) from any two other stations will
ALWAYS hear a collision of EVERY packet digipeated by both of those
stations.  That is why, once your network begins to grow, you need to
designate your path by specific callsign and designate certain high
stations as permanent digipeaters.  If you put up a few good wide area
digipeaters with the generic ALIAS of WIDE, the coverage of the network
can be extended significantly.  It is important to keep generic
WIDEs well separated (40 miles or more over smooth terrain) to minimize
duplicate repeats (or you end up with the same collison problem but on a
larger scale).  Most users should be able to hit at least one of these
WIDEs.  Just like with the RELAY's, however, users should use the specific
digipeater call instead of the generic WIDE in routine cases to minimize
collisions.  You may store up to 12 different, frequently used DIGI paths
using the OPS-DIGI command for instant recall to tailor your DIGI path
for the exact calls and path for each QSO.  Proper use of this capability
can significantly improve APRS effeciency and reduce the use of the
WIDE,WIDE generic path!

   All users must understand that they are responsible for setting their
outgoing VIA path so that their packets hit the intended area of interest.
Unlike normal CONNECTED protocols which automatically return ACKS via the
reverse path of incomming packets, APRS is an unconnected broadcast protocol
only and each station's packets will only go via the outgoing path set up by
that station.  If your station receives a duplicate APRS MSG packet more than
twice, it gives you a beep and an alert that your ACK's are probably not being
heard by the other station and that you should check your outgoing VIA path.


    APRS has a very useful feature for determining the best path between
stations.  The Power-Height-Gain reporting capability lets APRS plot range
contours around all stations that have included the P-H-G data in their
position reports.  For maximum effectiveness, every station should use the
INPUT-PWR command to enter his transmitter power, antenna Height Above
Average Terrain (HAAT), and antenna gain.  Also APRS permanent digipeaters 
should include this info in their position beacons.  Do NOT use height 
above sealevel or tower height!  You may live at 1000 feet above sea level 
and have a 100 foot tower, but if the land around you is 100 feet higher 
than you, then your HAAT is ZERO or NEGATIVE!  See DIGIs.txt and
PROTOCOL.txt for the exact formats.

    Those stations between WIDE area digipeaters only need to use the single
hop of WIDE and their packets will go in both directions.  Stations that can
only hit one WIDE area station may set the path of WIDE,WIDE without any
conflicts.  Paths of WIDE,WIDE,WIDE should be avoided because it folds back
on itself.  The same area can be covered by using WIDE,WIDE,W3XYZ where the
unique call of the third digipeater is specifically specified.  If you think
about it, stations at the end of an area can specify a pretty long string of
digipeaters since the path is linear.  Stations in the middle can only
specify a symetrical double hop with WIDE,WIDE before they have to begin
favoring one direction or another with unique calls.

CAUTIONS ABOUT APRS MESSAGES:  Remember that the general condemnation of
multiple digipeater hops in the packet community applies only to connected
protocols.  This is because the probability of success goes down drastically
because all ACKS must be successfully returned or all packets are repeated.
This is generally NOT a problem with most APRS operations which use UI 
frames without acks.  HOWEVER, APRS one-line MSGS are ACKED, and the 
inefficiency of digipeaters DOES APPLY!  If you do a lot of one-line
messages between operators, you will experience the same hopeless 
probabilities of success as with conventional packet.  (As noted above, 
APRS doubles up on ACKS on a poor channel and helps this situation 
somewhat.)  But, in general, NEVER expect an APRS MSG to be successful 
beyond 2 digi's except if everyone else is DEAD.  Operator messages are 
a secondary function of APRS, and should not be used as a primary means 
of passing traffic!  One further caution, since APRS suspends all packet 
processing while waiting for the operator with a BOXED prompt, never 
linger in a prompt.  The SEND command is a BOXED prompt and should not be 
left un-completed!

USING THE OPS-COMM-TNC dumb terminal mode.  This mode works OK for using
your TNC normally, but it doesnt have any file transfer capabilities.  You
might try to find a small .EXE comm program that you can FILES-SHELL out
of APRS, do your COMM thing, and then EXIT back into APRS....  YAPP and
PACCTERM both work, but be careful of how these programs change your
TNC parameters...

OBJECTS:  As noted previously, anyone may place an object on the map and all
other stations will see it.  On their P-list, the object will be marked
with the last three letters of the originating station.  Any other station
that has more current information on that object can also update its
position by hooking, moving the cursor, and then hitting the insert key.
His station will begin uplinking the new posit, and all stations, will
update their P-list entry for that object INCLUDING THE ORIGINAL UPLINK
STATION!  Since the new position overwrites the old one, the original
originating station will now no longer uplink it.  This comes in handy during
hurricane tracking.  Who ever has information on the latest HURICANE posit
uplinks it and everyone then always sees the latest storm track without
anyone in the net being dependent on any one station for updates!

    Once objects are transmitted on to other station map screens, they will
remain there until that operator deletes them, even if the originator stops
transmitting them.  It will, however, fade to dark gray after 2 hours to
show it as an old report.  You can use the CONTROLS-FADE command to bring
them back to bright colors, or use the J command to see JUST-the-LATEST
symbols.  The KILL function permits the originator of an OBJECT KILL it
from all displays on the net.  His station will continue to uplink the
object, but tagged with a special KILL flag to suppress its display on all
screens.  It remains in everyone's P-lists, though, so they can refer back 
to it if needed.  They must still manually DELete it from their P-list as 
needed.  Once the originator has KILLED an object, he should let it remain 
on his P-list for at least 6 minutes to be sure everyone has received the 
KILL indicator; then he can delete it from his list.


SPECIAL EVENT OPERATIONS:

    The alt-SETUP-MODES-sPecial command sets up an APRS station to send 
TO the UNPROTO address of SPCL... vice APRS...  and to ignore all other 
packets NOT addressed to SPCL.  This allows the event participants to 
keep their screens (P/L lists, etc) clear of unwanted other APRS stations 
on frequency, while tracking the event normally.  All other stations 
watching the event will still receive all SPCL event posits on their 
screens, and they will be automatically marked with the # for special 
display using the # key vice SPACE bar.

SPECIAL EVENTS:  The Cycle Across Maryland (CAM) bike tour is a good example
of a special event using APRS.  We had two of three relief vehicles with
GPS trackers.  These were assembled in cake pan enclosures duct-taped to
the roof with a small power cable extended down the windshield and clipped
directly to the battery.  These packages could be moved among vehicles in
about five minutes.  Some other packet mobiles ran APRS without GPS units
by just using the INPUT-MyPOS command to update their positions.  In this
manner, my normal APRS/GPS combo can be split into TWO separate tracked
vehicles for an event.  The GPS/TNC combo acts as a stand-alone tracker,
and my laptop and another TNC keep my vehicle on the map manually.

    Since we only have two WIDE-RELAY APRS digipeaters in the state, and
the CAM tour never went near them, we were dependent on home stations all
across the state to serve as digipeaters for the event.  The GPS packages
were set to digipeat via the RELAY,WIDE path.  Even without lots of APRS
stations (RELAYs) we got as many conventional packeteers to tune to our
frequency for the event and set their TNC aliases to RELAY for that day.
This way, the mobiles were never beyond range of at least one RELAY 
station.  Due to the short range of our simple 1 watt units, we needed 
home stations about every 5 to 10 miles.  

     We also set up both GPS units with the alias of RELAY so that they 
would also help digipreat each other along the trail.  The disdavantage 
of this technique however, was evident as both vehicles returned to
the evenings command post (also RELAY) and you had three RELAYS in 100 
yards of each other!  It was noisy within local simplex range of that site, 
but stations all over the state still saw the packets via the permanent
WIDE digipeaters.

SYMBOLS:  As a result of KD4SJJ's suggestion, APRS has 9 lettered circles  
and 9 numbered boxes in addition to the dozen other mobile symbols.  This 
makes it easy to still distinguish mobiles even with CALLSIGNS off to reduce
clutter!  

EMISSION CONTROL:  If there are only a few APRS stations involved in an 
event but there are lots of APRS observers on frequency, then the observers 
can set their transmitter off using the CONTROLS-X command to minimize QRM 
on channel.  They can still transmit under manual control by using the
X key.  


LOAD SHARING:  Since any station can take over reporting of any objects, one
approach is to let only one station hook every symbol that comes in and then
he becomes the reporting repsonsibility.  The original station that uplinked
the report in the first place will fall silent when it sees the report
comming from the designated Net Control station.  This way all positions are
reported by only one station on frequency, although all other stations can
still update the positions as needed.  Remember that the last station to
report the position of an object will be the one that continues to report it!


MARINE CORPS MARATHON:  See MARATHON.txt for the lessons learned using 
APRS at the Marine Corps Marathon for the last 3 years in Washington DC.


SLAVE MODE AND EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTERS:  Dont overlook the fact, that a
handful of separate PC computers can ALL BE CONNECTED TO A SINGLE TNC AND
RADIO!  This fact can be used to create quite an impressive multi-station
tactcal communications system that will rival some 911 consoles!  By having
each PC operating under the SAME callsign, the TNC will not know or care
which PC is sending data, and all monitored data will be fed in parallel
to all consoles at the same time!  The slave consoles will see the MASTER
console data after it is digipeated.  To make this work, you must set the
PC's in the MASTER and SLAVE modes using the alt-SETUP-MODES commands.
In these modes, APRS will accept digipeated packets from itself (in this 
case, other PCs sharing the same TNC) and will see any objects, posted by 
the other SLAVE consoles.  The MASTER remains fully functional, but the 
slaves act as follows:
   Slaves do NOT send BEACONS or POSITS (would be dupes of master)
   Slaves do NOT send MESSAGES (the ACKs wouldnt work due to same calls)
   Slaves CAN send BULLETINS (since no ACKS are required)
   Slaves CAN send OBJECTS (assign each operator to track different objs
   Slaves will see the MASTER messages on the READ-MAIL screen

   To connect all the PC's to the TNC, use 3 conductor cable with only
RXD, TXD and ground.  Connect all grounds and all RXD's to the TNC.
Then DIODE-OR all of the TXD's together to the TXD line of the TNC via
a diode with a 15K or more bypass resistor.  You may want to include a
switch in the TXD line so that the MASTER station has control of who
can enter OBJECTS into the system.  So that all these PC's see the same
data, there MUST be a digipeater on the net.  (AEA TNC's have a command
called MXmit which can be turned on to echo all transmitted packets as
if they were digipeated from a digipeater).

   This way ALL consoles see the tactical picture, and these SLAVE PC's
are at the individual operator's disposal to zoom in, and hop from screen
to screen to give them access to what ever info they need!  Do not think
that a big screen display is better.  A single big screen is impressive,
but actually useless.  Only the person at the KEYBOARD of an APRS system
can actually get useful info from APRS.  In our county, you need to be below
the 8 mile scale to get an idea of what is going on at a crisis, and
while you are zoomed in there, others need to be focusing on other parts
of the county, or different screens.

     At the master APRS PC, you may want to have ON/OFF switches for each  
of the SLAVE PC TXD lines so that you can control who is permitted to
enter OBJECTS into the net.  Even without TXD, all SLAVE APRS PC's still
provide each individual operator the full APRS tactical picture!  If you
only need one console for entering data, then you can wire every PC in
the building using cheap 2 conductor speaker ZIP cord!  You can carry
hundreds of feet of this stuff in the briefcase with your portable laptop!

This is a TREMENDOUS capability, since these days PC's are much more
plentiful than TNC's and all available assets can be brought into the
picture.  Every SLAVE operator has his own INDEPENDENT access to all
of the APRS info without bothering the APRS operator.