NWAPRS serves: Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories,
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana

The First Annual NWAPRS Winter Gathering was held January 23rd, 1998 in Longview, WA, at the W7DG Lower Columbia ARA clubhouse. There were approximately 38 attendees at this event, with many newcomers, and a bunch of recognizable mugs. Coffee and donuts helped welcome the arrival of the guests. The discussions began (near) promptly at 9:00 a.m. and continued thru about noon, when the pizza man arrived. After a lunch break, discussions continued until about 3:00 p.m., when attention was turned to helping those who brought their projects along for completion. The meeting concluded at 5:00 p.m. and the cleanup crew completed their duties and we were out by 5:30 p.m. Attendees included groups coming far distances from Vancouver BC, Fruitland (Boise area) ID, Spokane WA, and Newport OR, as well as a contingent from the Puget Sound WA and Portland OR regions.

Following the usual round of introductions, some discussion, and rambling-on by Dave Dobbins/K7GPS, Certificates of Appreciation were given to Greg Sodering/VE7SOD, Gary Skett/VE7AS, Jim Reeves/WA7RVV, Ron Reeves/N7QXO, and in the blind to Herb Gerhardt/KB7UVC, and Gary Laurance/N7NAT, for their contributions to making the NWAPRS a great place to experience APRS. Additonal recognition was given to Doug Wetzel/K7IP, who is always there to help when needed. The "I've Got The Most Antennas" award went to Rob/WA7ROB and his red Jeep Cherokee, with a count of 9. Certificate to follow. Then it was time for business.

Over the next five hours discussion continued, in varying detail, and always with a sense of humor, on the following topics. Highlights are provided below. (If you wanted the full story, you needed to be there). Note: Where U.S.D. are mentioned below, multiply by 1,750 to get the equivalent in Canadian monopoly money. (Translated in Canadian: Note: Where U.S.D. are mentioned below, multiply by 1,750 to get the equivalent in Canadian monopoly money-eh).

State of the NWAPRS System: Our system employs 16 WIDE area digipeaters with coverage areas in BC, WA, ID, MT, and OR. The majority of these are remoted mountaintop digis, and a few are at home QTHs that are strategically located. The NWAPRS utilizes primarily Kantronics TNCs which support WIDEn-n and TRACEn-n programming. PacComm TNCs are also used at several locations. Concentration areas are primarily metropolitan communities and major transportation routes (long words for cities and freeways). The WIDEs in Newport OR, along the central Oregon coast, and at Lime OR, serving the Boise ID area, remain independent of the system until linking WIDEs are installed. Those linking WIDEs may be rectified by the end of this summer (99). Additionally WIDEs will be implemented, if all goes as planned, in 1999 in south central BC (providing an east-west direct link along southern BC); at Columbia Falls, Helena, and Livingston MT, at eastern-central OR, and two along I-5 in central OR. We hope to realize a Snoqualmie Pass (I-90) and a Jump Off Joe Hill (Kennewick WA) WIDE digis within the next couple of weeks, barring any unforseen circumstances. Why are WIDEs mentioned first? Because the WIDEs link our various pockets of APRS users all across the region and are a vital part of a successful system.

To come up with an accurate count of home stations in our system is difficult. A semi-accurate estimate of 100 sounds reasonable. Mobile trackers continue to expand at a surprising rate, almost like the technology stocks over the past month. We had a major surge when George/N7GME activated at least a dozen mic-e's and other trackers all at the same time, in December. (Yes, more SSIDs are needed beyond the 15 limit!). More weather stations are showing up, providing real-time weather reporting from across the region.

During the past year the group had opportunity to see operating trackers in sailplanes and fixed wing powered aircraft, boats, a "Nag Mount" tracker on a horse used in S&R, on bicycles, and other interesting conveyances. It's expected we'll see more creative uses of trackers aboard hot air balloons, back-packs, off-road vehicles, maybe even jet skies, as time progresses. The old-standby "wife tracker" (maybe this needs to be renamed the "spouse tracker" or "significant other tracker" or SOT) continues with much popularity. Some DF use continues at a slow pace, and more MIM and Mic-E ops are welcomed.

Organization of NWAPRS, Membership: The draft by-laws "Organization of the NWAPRS Association" was passed around for comment. George/N7GME provided the wordsmanship. Again, the primary reason for having this is to satisfy the requirement for processing a non-profit organization request, which can then be used to solicit funds and equipment to improve and expand our system. We do so much better when spending OPM (other people's money), eh? A copy of the proposed by-laws will be posted soon on the web pages, and comment is welcomed. A completion date of end of February is recommended.

NWAPRS Web Pages: Recognition was given to member Jeff Cummings/N7QOB?? for donating time, effort, and hard-disk space at the Fox Communications servers for the new www.nwaprs.org web pages and reflector list. The web pages continue to be improved and expanded. Thanks Jeff!

Setting up a home station and mobile tracker: This seems to be the primary interest of our group, naturally. Directions for downloading current versions of APRS from the TAPR FTP were given, and the NWAPRS web site has information for configuring a mobile tracker. Portable trackers were also discussed, and at least six portable trackers were on hand for touchy-feely, and looky-see.

Review of the AWT Tracker: While on the subject of trackers, Shawn Cherewick from "north of the border" spent a few minutes talking about his AWT tracker, and demo'd the unit's capabilities. There are four AWT trackers in operation around Vancouver BC, and the first U.S. AWT will be in operation shortly by Dave/K7GPS, AWTs first U.S. customer. The cost is $140 USD. That's like $67,500 Canadian monopoly money dollars. The device is professionally made and easy to configure. Well done Shawn!

WIDE Digipeaters and WX Stations: WIDEs have been sufficiently discussed (beaten to death) already, but some discussion on incorporating WX stations at the existing WIDE locations, and including them at future WIDEs, followed. The primary benefit of having WX stations as part of the system is the appeal to those emergency and disaster relief managers at the EOCs and DES offices across the region, and the NWS. This becomes more important in the group's efforts toward "convincing" local county and state officials that they absolutely-gotta-have APRS at the EOC and DES office.

Show and Tell of Equipment: Portable trackers, Battery Power Packs, Kenwood's new TH-D7A, pocketAPRS, APRSdos, WinAPRS and Precision Maps; AWT, Kantronics, and PacComm TNCs; were all available for discussion and experimentation. A slick-looking stainless-steel J-pole was on display as well. There's obvious genius amongst this crowd of enthusiastic amateur radio operators.

APRS Station Settings: As the NWAPRS system continues to grow, it becomes more apparent that close attention to station settings is necessary to ensure optimal utilization of the frequency. Just listen closely to your nearest WIDE digi, and you'll no doubt detect that digi'ing can be a near-continuous activity with many of the NWAPRS WIDEs. While APRS software controls the rate and frequency of transmissions from the home or mobile station, and is easily user-adjusted, closer attention to the TNC settings of the stand-alone or mobile tracker will greatly help managing the on-air time. Some recomendations were made to setting trackers to a once-per-minute rate and sending that signal via RELAY,WIDE. If available, a second setting of RELAY,WIDE5-6 can be used if the transmission rate is reduced to once every 3-5 minutes. While it's been real fun seeing all the tracker activity across the region, it's time now to adjust these back a bit and take into consideration making room, on the airwaves, for more stations, and more trackers. Please check your settings and adjust as necessary.

Doug/K7IP, did his usual outstanding job of explaining the WIDEn-n and TRACEn-n settings, and how the implemenation of WIDE5 across the NWAPRS region works. Finally even Dave/K7GPS, is near full comprehension level with this. Doug also discussed the utility of one-liners and the need to reduce or remove a digi path when communicating one liners with another nearby user. Frequency utilization can be improved by not taking up digi time on a distant WIDE if the message can get through on a direct, or short hop path.

Public Service and Event Support: As the APRS interest group grows, so does public awareness increase. The NWAPRS group has requests for APRS support of the Vancouver Island Challenge in July, the STP in ??? (June or July), and the MS150 in May. Most of these support requests are for trackers, with some personnel requirements in special cases. By rough estimate, the group has 15-20 portable trackers available, and this is increasing about one per month. Most are available for use in these events, and efforts to get these back and forth at the lowest cost or time expended should be considered. Perhaps a web page with contact information of available resources would help. In any case, all NWAPRS members are strongly encouraged to get out there and do something constructive with all these expensive toys, rather than let them collect dust from non-use, or under-use.

Upcoming Hamfests: Dave/K7GPS will commit to one hamfest presentation/attendance every two months, and more help is solicited to set up a table at hamfests across the region. If you need flyers or handouts, ask for them and they will be shipped in advance of the event. A live APRS station is a real seller, and the group should all be looking for those packet digi site owners that stop by and proclaim they own two remoted mountaintop packet nodes that aren't used anymore and ask what needs to be done to switch them over to the APRS frequency. Remember to get a name and address so Dave can send his "God Bless You!" message. The NWAPRS Calendar web page will be updated shortly, now that the calendar of events has been received.

The Microship Adventure: As an afterthought we should have invited Steve Roberts/N4RVE, up to discuss the Microship Adventure that he and his lovely significant other Linda are involved with. Steve is building two 22nd century catamaran hulled boats for an upcoming expedition down the Missouri River from Montana to the Gulf of Mexico, then up the Inland Water Way along the Atlantic coast and over to the Great Lakes via the Lawrence water way, then down the Mississippi back to the Gulf of Mexico. Is that right Steve????? What a trip, yet this is not unusual for Steve, who resides now on Camano Island in our own backwoods. In the recent past Steve toured the country on the Behemoth, much more that a Schwin bicycle, and racked up 22,000 miles. Steve plans to have APRS along on the upcoming trip, and mentioned he'd like to bring the Microship up to North Bend this summer. For more details, check http://www.microship.com.

Summer Gathering: Saving the best for last is a long standing life tradition, so why be different here? The Second Annual NWAPRS Summer Gathering will be held September 10th, 1999 weekend, at the VaLLLey Camp in North Bend, WA. Early attendees may arrive Friday afternoon and all are welcomed to stay until Sunday noon. Along with the usual discussions there will be more family activities planned, so please consider bringing the family along. There are camping and RV parking spots. The meeting area is all covered, and cooking facilities are provided. No word yet on which movie will be playing Saturday night. That decision will be made based on the newest videos released for public consumption. Maybe a DVD title is in the making this year! Mark your calendar now and plan on joining us for more fun and fellowship.

We missed you Pete. We know you wanted to drive down from your Island Paradise at Whidbey. We missed others as well, and hope that you'll all get the chance to join us for the next meeting. I counted eight digital cameras at this meeting, including my own. A copy of this text, and the photos, will be posted soon on the web pages.

Thanks to Bob Morehouse/KB7ADO for hosting this event and making the arrangements with LCARA for use of the W7DG clubhouse. It was the perfect meeting place. Thanks to others for helping out, and to all those who took the time from family and other activities to join us. Hope everybody made it home OK. You can email comments to the group, or complain to me direct, if you so desire.

Regards, Dave/K7GPS.