525cb451   
   From: lumpy@digitalcartography.com   
      
   obviouslydelusional wrote:   
   > Is it a correct assumption that APRS is a very public sort of tracking   
   > arrangement?  Meaning that if one were to explore certain areas in   
   > Nevada and wanted only a select few others to know one's realtime   
   > track, would it be useful for that?  Maybe not a lot of point to it if   
   > the powers that be could easily see the same info also or it's   
   > otherwise broadcast to the world.   
      
   It is, like all ham bands, public. You could use APRS on   
   any frequency you are licensed to use, not just the   
   amateur radio bands. But I don't think there is   
   a radio frequency/mode that any non-government entity   
   could use that would be secure.   
      
      
   > And what sort of digipeter coverage exists around Area 51?  It would   
   > seem reasonable that the areas to the north and east would have little   
   > radio coverage, especially when down in valleys such as Railroad and   
   > Badger.   
      
   There seems to be very good coverage everywhere north of US 6   
   up to and north of I-80. I have watched vehicles exploring   
   around the abandoned mines up in that area. There is good   
   coverage on US 95 all the way from LVegas to at least Tonopah.   
   There is a digi called "AREA51" at Warm Springs, intersection   
   of US 6 and ET highway. There is a digi called "CAVE" up at the   
   north end of the RR Valley, East of Ely.   
      
   All of the digis up there make it to some digi with an   
   internet connection. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to   
   see them.   
      
   There are tons of digis at SLCity and west on the   
   eastern slope of the Sierra Nevadas. I would bet that   
   Rachel and GLRoad are covered.   
      
   Here's a pretty simple way to view APRS stations.   
   There's a GoogleEarth kml file here -   
   http://digitalcartography.com/a51/   
      
   It tends to get memory intensive and bog down   
   your computer. So you may need to turn some   
   stuff off while experimenting with it.   
      
   Lumpy   
      
   Oooh!   
   http://digitalcartography.com/jazz/   
      
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