Last week, 7/20 to be exact, NY0I-1 appeared on aprs.fi.
It described itself as a digipeater: "NY0I Digi Paynesville, MN". That alone would have been an exciting development, but NY0I-1 started gating packets this weekend. The MN APRS network now has a TX gateway in western MN. (EDIT: NY0I-1 has now returned to operation as a digipeater only)
The Western Gap
A bit of context and history is probably in order here. For over a decade, going west of the metro meant losing APRS coverage. There was the big KD0JOU-2 digipeater south of Litchfield, and there was the Granite Falls NY0I-2 digipeater. That was it until you got into South Dakota. Then the N0GEF-15 digi appeared in Maple Lake, but it often went deaf or off-air. Still, it was a step forward. We also had a digipeater in Maple Plain that was continually deaf -- it would often go an entire month without digipeating anything except a single ID from the Robbinsdale K0YTH-13 station. Ultimately, it disappeared.
Much changed when the KC0CAP-1 RX-only gateway came into existence in Litchfield. While it didn't provide any significant direct coverage, it was a reliable path to gateway for the massive KD0JOU-2 digi, which no longer had to rely on relatively distant gateways in the metro or St. Cloud. The Granite Falls digi could also bounce off KD0JOU-2 and find a reliable path to gateway. The western MN APRS network was finally connected to the rest of the world!
Last year, the KC0QNA-1 digipeater appeared in Green Isle. This is a solid station with great TX and RX. It anchored the southern end of (what I call) the Western Gap. Although I think it could benefit from a nearby RX-only gateway (like KD0JOU-2 has), the digipeater has proven itself capable of reaching relatively distant gateways in Faribault, Albert Lea, Winona, and the metro.
But these were all digipeaters. There were no TX gateways for messaging or other APRS services (e.g. bulletins and queries). Sure, the metro had TX gateways that could reach into the eastern part of the Gap. Faribault and Winona had TX gateways. St. Cloud sometimes had a working TX I-Gate. KC0CAP-1 could gate messages it heard, but could not transmit a reply over RF. A new TX gateway, K1LEO-10, appeared in Rockford last year. But that's on the fringe of the Western Gap.
The new situation
With the new NY0I-1 TX gateway in place, western MN can now handle its own RF messaging. It also connects western MN to the rest of the MN RF network, since NY0I-1 is already proving it can pick up other gateways in far-flung parts of the state. It has a decent hold on MTLAKE, the only gateway for south-west MN, for example. It has picked up the core gateway in Faribault (N0QVC-1). It can definitely reach the TX gateways in St. Cloud, and it picks up the Mankato digi (N0PBA-1) that acts as a hub for southern MN traffic. It even already has a weak hold on the MHTOWA digi south of Duluth.
Over the next few weeks, I expect that we will see this new I-Gate expanding on those results.
But there are other implications. Paynesville was pretty much the fringe of KD0JOU-2's coverage. That baseline coverage has now moved further, and has become quality direct coverage. Even these early results show NY0I-1 directly gating packets from stations near Willmar and along I-94. It's one thing to pick up distant gateways and digipeaters operating off towers with 50W. It's quite another thing to gate packets from mobile stations, and it looks like NY0I-1 is quite capable in this regard.
Having a solid gateway in that location also opens possibilities for more expansion. New digipeaters could spring up further to the west, now that a path to gateway exists. Willmar, for example, could benefit from even a modest digipeater located there. This would also create an alternate path to gateway for the digi in Granite Falls. A digipeater in Sauk Rapids could fill in some gaps in coverage on I-94, and relay RF traffic from north-central MN.
Even though the new Paynesville gateway has decent TX, it can also leverage the big KD0JOU-2 digipeater to reach an even larger area. It can also leverage KD0JOU-2 to expand its reception, allowing it to receive traffic from Wisconsin and South Dakota. This has big EmComm potential for several County EOC's across western MN. They (and individual amateur operators) can now send/receive updates over RF, without internet or cell coverage, into adjoining states. In weather emergencies, operators over a wide area can send reports of blocked roads, washed-out bridges, status of relief stations, power/cell outages, etc. EOC's can issue directives, query individuals in relatively distant areas, and reach other EOC's to co-ordinate a response. Without NY0I-1, all of this would need to be relayed through metro gateways, or I-Gates in St. Cloud.
My only concern in all of this is that projects based on the Paynesville tower tend to have short lives. We still need redundancy for this leg of the APRS network. If NY0I-1 "goes deaf" -- and it will -- there are no other stations to take its place.
We still need to expand. RX-only gateways in places like Redwood Falls, New Ulm, and Waconia would be easy to set up. These can be run on RPi devices and could be little more than an old analog scanner using a J-pole hanging off the eaves of a garage, connected to home wi-fi. Local ARES groups should be looking into the possibility of setting up small digipeaters on short notice. While operators are scarce and thinly spread in these rural areas, one individual can make a big difference with very little investment. Simply setting up an APRS station, whether on -IS or RF, can connect you to the network -- and that may prove to be vital in emergency situations.
Yes, FM repeaters have a role in local comms. But connecting to an entire network of individual operators all over the world is also an important tool to have at your disposal. And having the ability to chat with an HF operator over the internet is also a useful tool in non-emergency scenarios. So is the ability to chat with your nephew when he's at the cabin, outside of the cell network, using digipeaters and gateways that other amateur operators have set up. Or the ability to send a text to your wife's cell-phone when you are out of cell coverage, using SMSGTE -- quietly, without disturbing others. Or finding out when the next ISS pass will happen at your location.
All of this is possible because other licensed amateurs have stepped up to provide coverage and services to amateurs that they don't even know exist. They aren't asking for payment, or even recognition. It's just what they do. If you have a smart-phone or a computer, you can be a part of that. If you have a spare HT and a Raspberry Pi board, you can make a contribution to that network. Nobody cares if you're an Extra or a Technician. You're just someone who wants to make APRS work better for the entire amateur community.
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