KD0TLS: Anoka County update 8/21/22

   Just a brief update to note some new real and potential developments in the APRS infrastructure north of the metro. 

 N0MQL-1 has burst onto the scene in Centerville -- the eastern edge of Anoka County. Initially showing up as a digipeater, it now is functioning as a TX I-Gate (and presumably a digi). This station uses RPi (Raspberry Pi) hardware to run Xastir on Linux -- a popular solution. 

 As I've previously noted, Anoka County has no APRS infrastructure of its own. Worse, the KE0CRR-10 digi that provided some baseline coverage to the northern parts of the County has been MIA for well over a month. The long-anticipated Ham Lake digipeater has not yet appeared. APRS-IS stations exist, but RF operation has been a spotty proposition in most of the County. Metro gateways and digipeaters have provided fringe (and barely baseline) coverage for the southern half of the area. 

 Adding the new Centerville TX I-Gate is a big development for the area. RF-based messaging is now possible for a significant share of Anoka County. Motorists with RF stations are now being gated. We can now begin to see the extent of RF activity that went undetected and ungated for years. 

N0MQL-1's coverage over a few days

 Keep in mind that these aprs.fi coverage maps are worst-case scenarios. Click on the map above to expand. 

Rumors

 A few days ago, I ran across one the metro's senior operators on the 444.750 repeater. I won't name him because I don't want people to pressure him, but he is the same ham that I mentioned previously as planning to put up a digipeater in Ham Lake. He confirmed that the project was still destined to happen, only with a TX gateway instead of a digipeater on the County tower. That's a pretty high tower, and he stated the gateway's antenna will be "high up there".  He's a very experienced ham who has put up more than one repeater, so I think this is beyond a "rumor". 

 But a gateway like this should reach across Anoka County easily. I would also assume it will include a digi function to move metro traffic outward, and this will also connect to the (extensive) Wisconsin digi system. If the Isanti KE0CRR-10 digipeater ever reappears, our MN network would take a big step forward. The addition of a digipeater in Princeton would make for continuous coverage over currently uncovered parts of the state. 

 Just as aside, I'm also told that a GMRS repeater will be going up on that Ham Lake site, too.

 Other developments 

 The North Branch KC0KUR-10 TX I-Gate has faded away, sadly. The RX-only gateway in Stacy -- WB0VGI-1 -- has also dropped off the map. The latter tells me that it will return soon. 

 This leaves some big gaps in coverage along I-35, especially now that the Hinckley digi has made an exit. 

 

 Even with a "mega-station" in Ham Lake, the network will still need elements on the fringes for reliability, redundancy, and expansion.

KD0TLS: MN APRS update, St. Cloud area

  It's been interesting to watch the new developments around St. Cloud, Paynesville, and Big Lake. The north-central APRS scene has seen some ups and downs over the past few years. There are some dedicated people in that area who see APRS as an important aspect of the amateur radio hobby, and understand that infrastructure is needed to make that aspect useful for the wider community. It's always been interesting for me to see individual operators make the move from passive participants to active contributors. In some cases, club resources are leveraged. In other cases, individuals just do what they can with their own knowledge and situation. 

 Currently, there are three TX gateways around St. Cloud. For a year or so, we had just one RX-only gateway there. This is a huge development, and a shift in both potential and mindset. 

 I've never been clear as to why rural areas seem to lean so heavily on digipeaters as a coverage solution. At one time, I'd agree that the scarcity of internet connectivity was a strong influence. There has been an apparent preference for large-scale solutions in rural areas for quite some time, requiring sites that may not be wired for internet access. I would also suspect some "old-school" attitudes, where the internet is seen as "the competition" to amateur radio. Then, there are those who see things like WinLink as the internet-capable solution, with APRS remaining 'pure'. 

 For whatever reason, a (somewhat) younger crowd that neither fears nor despises the internet has taken a place alongside the original operators of the network. Rather than wait for big towers to open up, they have moved forward with effective small-scale solutions, such as home gateways. And, in these low-RFI rural environments, relatively modest stations can make a large impact in their area. 

 With three TX gateways, St. Cloud has effectively shifted the "center of gravity" away from the metro. That's a very good thing. While the metro area has a lot of gating capacity, it also has a lot of traffic. This means packet collisions are unavoidable, and more distant stations tend to lose out given the capture effect of FM. Gateways in St. Cloud have the best of both worlds: access to the metro and independence from it.  

 Within reasonable limits, APRS traffic tends to flow where the gateways are -- much like water flows to a drain. Packet collisions tend to clog that metaphorical drain. We see gateways like K1LEO-10 in Rockford raking in a lot of digipeated traffic from the metro that otherwise would vanish into the ether ungated. But, let's take a look at those three St. Cloud gateways: 

• W0SV-15: There have been a few incarnations of infrastructure under this club callsign over the years. The current station is a TX gateway running 25W. While the stated antenna height isn't spectacular, it does a great job. Not only does it pick up the Little Falls and Paynesville digipeaters, it also has gated packets from the Mankato (N0PBA-1) digipeater. More than that, it has sufficient power to reach the metro, Lake Mille Lacs, the big Litchfield digi KD0JOU-2, and a few Wisconsin digipeaters. That's a lot of opportunity for RF-based messaging. And more distant areas can also reach operators in St. Cloud over RF, too.
• N0ANC-15: This is a new TX-gateway, located on the St. Cloud Hospital. In its brief existence, it has already proven itself capable of reaching the metro, the south-west, and the new Paynesville digi. It has put up some exceptional RX data, too: Duluth, Rochester, and several Wisconsin digipeaters. Incredibly, it's gated over 12.3k packets in less than a week. Obviously, it fills a niche. Equally obvious is the EmComm potential to reach huge areas of MN and WI with messaging. And St. Cloud operators have just gained a very reliable connection for their day-to-day operations. EDIT: N0ANC-15 now seems to be operating as an RX-only gateway.
• N0ANC-1: Once located at the home of N0ANC (Shannon) in St. Augusta, this TX I-Gate has now moved to St. Joseph in Stearns County. For a long time, it was the only gateway in the area, covering the gap between the metro and Little Falls. It's done a great job of covering I-94 from Monticello past St. Cloud, and it's also linked the St. Cloud area to several scattered digis around the state. Hopefully, it will continue to pick up at least a few metro digipeaters. It's already rated with 56 miles of coverage range, but I tend to think it does better than that. It's handling digipeated packets from South Dakota, south-west MN, Mankato, Duluth, Brainerd, and deep into Wisconsin. 
• EDIT: a fourth gateway has now gone up. N0ANC-2 is a TX I-Gate in St. Augusta. While not even operating a full 24 hours, it's handled 1.1k packets already.

The implications 

 The St. Cloud area now has an abundance of options to make use of both the RF and -IS aspects of APRS. The average operator now can disseminate bulletins, announcements, weather warnings, etc. Clubs can now announce nets, meetings, and events, or call for people to help with events. APRS objects can now be created by anyone for Field Day, marathons, repeaters, storms, closed roads, relief stations, and various advisories. 
 VHF propagation data will also greatly improve. HF operators can connect to distant stations to set up skeds or exchange QSO information using APRS messaging over RF. Even low-power stations can leverage these gateways to reach other operators across wide areas of Minnesota over RF. 
 I have to assume that these I-Gates also function as digipeaters, amplifying local traffic to areas that local operators never could reach before. 
 Such large gating capacity also makes future digipeaters more viable. We may see small digipeaters in places like Foley, Becker, or Sauk Rapids spring up to take advantage of the improved situation.

The larger picture 

 The NY0I-1 station in Paynesville has shifted operation from a gateway to a digipeater recently. This places increased importance on St. Cloud as a hub, since the area west of the metro has few gateways. This also makes a stronger case for at least a modest I-Gate to go up in Willmar or Sauk Rapids, which would provide the benefits of a hub to a wider area. Small-scale, home-based digipeaters in the surrounding area would make coverage more reliable, especially for low-power operators or places with challenging terrain. This a platform to build upon, not a destination. 

 The hardware to make this happen isn't expensive. Soon it may be possible to use an old Android phone and a Bluetooth TNC to set up a small TX gateway with your spare HT. Computer-savvy operators can already use old Chromebooks to run YAAC or DireWolf to set up digipeaters, gateways, or both. A Microsat WX3in1 TNC is available for $160, and a $20 cable will allow you to connect it to most HTs. With this, you can set up a gateway or digipeater easily, without a computer at all. Other options are already in the works that just need you to add an antenna and punch in your callsign once. 

 Rather than wait for someone else to set up a mega-station, you could start moving from "passive participant" to "active contributor" simply and easily with your home resources. And you can then teach others how to do it.