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ZL3AI > APRDIG 12.05.03 09:50l 269 Lines 11116 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: TAPR Digest, May 09, 1/3
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From: ZL3AI@ZL3VML.#80.NZL.OC
To : APRDIG@WW
TAPR APRS Special Interest Group Digest for Friday, May 09, 2003.
1. central us regional only?
2. RE: central us regional only?
3. RE: central us regional only?
4. RE: central us regional only?
5. Re: Tiger maps!
6. Tiger maps, a road map
7. Re: Tiger maps!
8. Apology to MB K3NMR
9. MacAPRS 3.7.1 now up on www.winaprs.org
10. RE: Need two old TNC chips
11. FS: Rand McNally GPS Engine
12. gps units
13. RE: Need two old TNC chips
14. RE: Need two old TNC chips
15. Winaprs 2.7.0 working, but ?
16. Re: MacAPRS 3.7.1 now up on www.winaprs.org
17. OT - extra Dayton ticket?
18. Re: FS: Rand McNally GPS Engine
19. Re: WAS: Tiger maps!
20. Hamvention APRS Forum
21. APRS Server help needed
22. GPS Antennas at Dayton
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Subject: central us regional only?
From: "northmoguy@grundyec.net" <northmoguy@grundyec.net>
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 01:29:16 -0400
X-Message-Number: 1
is there central us regional only (w/ wx?) feed? the Full feeds overload my
little 41k connects easily.
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Subject: RE: central us regional only?
From: "AE5PL Lists" <HamLists@ametx.com>
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 06:21:06 -0500
X-Message-Number: 2
You can connect to port 14580 on aprswest.net, aprseast.net, aprsca.net,
aprsfl.net, or second.aprs.net and set a filter to cover the area you
are looking for. Many client software packages allow setting this
automatically at connection time. For more information on types of
filters and how to set them, try
http://www.aprs-is.net/javAPRSSrvr/javaprsfilter.htm
This port will accept all data from your client, exactly like a standard
port. The only difference will be that only packets that meet your
filter criteria or messages for your client will be passed from APRS-IS
to your client.
73,
Pete Loveall AE5PL
pete@ae5pl.net
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Subject: RE: central us regional only?
From: tvsjr <tvsjr@sprynet.com>
Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 06:41:41 -0500
X-Message-Number: 3
Out of curiosity, are there any average statistics on bandwidth utilization
for different feeds and filter patterns? The reason I ask is, one of my
clients has recently been so gracious as to allow me to host my own
personal equipment at their colocation site here in Dallas. Of course, they
pay based on average megabits per second throughput used, so I have to be
careful and not allow my equipment to push them over into the next Mbps
bracket (as each Mbps costs around $xxx).
The current plan is to allow mobile users to query the system and return
all sorts of information (such as details on currently-active weather
products, geocoded location of an APRS user, etc.)
73,
Terry/N5RSE
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Subject: RE: central us regional only?
From: "AE5PL Lists" <HamLists@ametx.com>
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 06:49:38 -0500
X-Message-Number: 4
As there are virtually limitless filter combinations, you would need to
test the specific filter combinations that you want to use over a period
of time to get any reasonable feel for bandwidth used. You can pretty
well expect about 10-15kbs average utilization for a full aprs-is feed.
There are peaks that send this number higher. It has been a while since
I have looked at these statistics, but this was relatively accurate
about 5 months ago.
73,
Pete Loveall AE5PL
pete@ae5pl.net
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Subject: Re: Tiger maps!
From: Gerry Creager N5JXS <gerry.creager@tamu.edu>
Date: Fri, 09 May 2003 07:47:44 -0500
X-Message-Number: 5
I hesitate to get into this, but in defense of the Bros Sproul, "fixing"
Precision Mapping will be hard. The original folks, Chicago Maps, who
wrote the original code (well, to be precise, they openned the
development source tree up to the developer community and then retained
rights to the development code... and used it) are long gone. I don't
recall the exact sequence of successive acquisitions, but they've been
bought and sold several times.
Their original code wasn't too bad; their later code hasn't been too
bad, at least based on implementation. However, they have changed their
application programming interface several times, and have generally
wanted more money from any developer wanting access to it. This is a
fairly standard ploy in the software trade, but it's still expensive to
the developer.
WinAPRS isn't too expensive for what you get, if that's the way you want
to go. It's not fair, really, to compare price of WinAPRS to the price
of anything else. The only commonality is that all the Windows-enabled
clients appropriately detect and decode APRS data and display it.
Otherwise, the feature sets are different, and there's not a requirement
that anyone buy -- or develop -- ANY APRS client.
All that said, the cost of acquiring yet another API, and then the costs
in family time and time off from work associated with implementing that
API into another rev of code, testing it, releasing it, fixing the bugs
that snuck through the testing cycle, and listening to the grousing on a
public list, are frequently not worth the additional pain of upgrading APIs.
I'm not sure of the motivation Mark had for adding Tiger, but I can
guess there were at least a couple: "Everyone" has been going there...
Xastir has had Tigermaps for well over a year (but again, that's apples
vs applecarts: xastir's on Linux [Cut me some slack, here, Curt!]). The
various mapping systems, DeLorme, PM, etc., rely already on Tiger data
for their basemaps and there's no good reason we (APRS in general)
shouldn't do the same. TigerMaps are produced by the US Government on a
regular basis and their value (GNIS/geocoding; precision; accuracy both
spatially and in terms of digitizing) is improving with each iteration.
I think, in general, adding a Tiger feature was a plus for WinAPRS.
<SOAPBOX>
Getting on a little further, the costs associated with computers have
dropped remarkably. I just got a system for work for a little over
$400, new, that has a 600MHz Celeron equivalent, integrated 10/100 Mb
ethernet, integrated audio and video, and an incredibly small form
factor. Memory (256MB) cost me $35, a disk cost me $79 (40 GB). While
it's painful sometimes, and it is for me at home, too, upgrading
computers is now the way of the world. Microsoft has been trying ot
make us see the wisdom of that with each new Windows release.
Win9x is no longer supported, Windows Millenium Edition should never
have been released, Win2k is heading for planned obsolescence; WinNT,
perhaps the most stable, best planned and implemented OS to ever come
from Redmond, is no longer supported. Realize that, between NT and 2K,
80% or more of the Windows implementations in business are still
covered... XP requires, if you really want performance, more CPU,
memory and hard disk than any of the predecessors. It virtually
guaranteed the retirement of a Saganesque number of computers if folks
want to adopt it, and Microsoft, but quitting their other OS offerings
is making it painful for the general user to get by without support.
So, if you're going to keep up with the Microsoft software revolution,
you're gonna be upgrading. If you're not, you won't have support.
I suspect most folks, over time, will upgrade their hardware, and go to
newer software. BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS: if you have to go buy new
stuff, it is less expensive.
We're hams. By definition, we're CHEAP. Sometimes we have to get over
it. WinAPRS upgrades aren't expensive. Really, grafting a new hard
disk in place isn't too expensive. New memory isn't expensive anymore.
If you're willing, you can piece together a new computer, load the
software when it's done and keep the pain out of the equation. I know:
This is what I get to do at home. I usually don't have the latest and
greatest, but it's certainly more'n adequate for what I do at home, and
it gets replaced about every 3-4 years... by piece-mealing it.
[commercial content deleted]
If a computer were a military aircraft, more'n likely, Hams would have
started a Service Life Extention Program: Incrementally upgrade pieces,
so that eventually it's a new computer and it hasn't cost too much.
I guess this soapbox episode has been less than focused, save for the
general idea: Don't gripe about the resources needed to support what we
think of as a necessary part of an important hobby. Find a way to
support it, instead. Modest investments can result in significant
enhancements to a system these days.
</SOAPBOX>
Gerry
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Subject: Tiger maps, a road map
From: Mark Sproul <msproul@jove.rutgers.edu>
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 10:53:16 -0400
X-Message-Number: 6
Tiger map data is separated into county areas. The states are numbered
with FIPS codes and the counties are also numbered with FIPS codes.
FIPS is Federal Information Processing Standards
the tiger files are tgrxxyyy.zip where xx is the STATE FIPS code and
yyy is the COUNTY FIPS code.
For example, Middlesex county NJ is
tgr34023
I included with the distribution a file (fipscodes.txt). WinAPRS uses
this file as a mapping of every county and its FIPS code, this is
sorted by state and county.
WinAPRS will display the county numbers on the maps if you download
the COUNTY OUTLINE FILES.
There are 2 choices for this, you can download 1 file for ALL the
states or just the states you want. Don't put both the co99 file and
individual state files in the TIGER folder, it is redundant.
These are found at http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/co2000.html
All 50 States, D.C., and Puerto Rico - co99_d00_ascii.zip
(7,621,923 bytes)
Once you have this downloaded, the actual FIPS codes will be
displayed on the map when you zoom in.
When putting the files in the Tiger folder you can put them in sub
folders any way you like or just dump them all in same folder.
Once you have this, you can easily find the fips codes for the areas you want.
Why go down this road? some one asked. Tiger is the basis for most of the
mapping systems out there, it is produced by our tax dollars and is updated
every year. Additionally it was FUN to write.
Has anyone noticed that there is a button on the right side of the screen
that is FIND STREET, you can search for streets in currently loaded maps.
Mark
------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Sproul |
http://ecs.rutgers.edu |
msproul@jove.rutgers.edu |
Manager - Engineering Computing Services | 732-445-3121
Rutgers University School of Engineering |
Eng D111 |
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