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QLD Network Description
VHF
There are four primary VHF IGates in Queensland, these stations are considered to be the centre of the present four island APRS digipeater networks. In normal situations the transmissions from any of these gates should not bleed over into neighboring networks. The four networks are generally, South East Qld, Wide Bay, Central Qld and North Qld.
There are other RX only IGates within these systems that were intended to help gate traffic to the IS, it should be noted that if the primary and a RX gate sends the same packet to the IS it is considered one message if gated within a few seconds, ostensibly having multiple RX gates within the system should not cause duplicate packets.
However it has been identified that having more than one IGate in the system is causing problems, particularly when two way messaging is attempted. So, now the intention is to progressively shut down the RX only IGates and turn them into WIDE1-1 digipeaters. Having the functionality of a TX/RX IGate ready to go if the main IGate goes down is seen to be a huge advantage, hence we want to retain the IGate functionality at these sites, just in case. It is only fair considering that these operators have spent considerable amounts of time and money setting up their IGate, it is hoped that the effort is not wasted.
- VK4OG-1 at Mt Mee takes care of SEQ
We are fortunate to have a few very high digipeaters in SEQ that provide (in their areas) brilliant coverage for mobile stations. The non-coverage areas at the moment are Cunningsham Gap to Stanthorpe, Gympie to Bundaberg, everywhere North of Townsville and everywhere West of Dalby. Consider Qld is very large and in some parts sparsely populated. It is never envisiged that we will have total state coverage via VHF. The objective will be to cover the major highways and population centres.
- VK4KMR in Dysart for CQ
The digipeater system in the Central Highlands and Capricorn Coast regions is very extensive, helped by a linked voice repeater system. Mobiles pretty much have blanket coverage for most of the region located roughly from Gladstone up to Rockhampton and west almost to Emerald, covering Blackwater, Dysart. Mackay, Sarina and districts are well serviced by local digis and by a well located digi at Nebo.
- VK4ZZ in Townsville for NQ
One digipeater at this stage covering the Townsville district. Several digi-peaters are planned for this region.
- VK4FW North of Childers for Wide Bay and Bundaberg
Home based IGate located near Childers close to the Bruce Highway. A WIDE digi is planned to cover the city of Bundaberg and surrounding districts.
- Far North Queensland
IGate and digipeaters are in the planning/construction phase. Initially coverage will be Cairns and surrounding districts.
Please contact Mark Robinson or Peter Schrader if you plan to put up a WIDE or RELAY digipeater. Please do not enable gating to RF or gating RF to Internet unless you have contacted one of the above people. Contact details are in the Contact section of this website.
RELAY digipeaters are now replaced with WIDE1-1 fill in digipeaters. Home stations are encouraged to enable their digipeater functionality if 24/7 operation is possible. The more fill in digipeaters available in the built up areas the better chance the beacon will be heard by a WIDE digipeater and subsequently gated to the APRS-IS. If you are able to run a WIDE1-1 digi from your home QTH please get in touch.
For more extensive coverage the operator will need to use the HF APRS frequency.
HF
There are three HF Gates in Qld, VK4HW-4, VK4KMR-4 and VK4DMI-4. All three gates are receiving HF APRS beacons and gating directly to the IS. The objective is rather than have the HF Gate send the beacon out via VHF as before, the regional primary IGate will achieve this instead, reducing the number of packets on VHF. HF Mobiles in Queensland will not necessarily be gated by a VK4 HF gate due to the skip nature of 30 metres. Ensure your beacon rate and paths are set according to the national standards.
UHF
Presently there is one IGate located in Northgate (inner North-East Brisbane) RX and TX on 439.100. No plans for UHF digipeaters at this time unless there is a perceived need. This IGate gates beacons and objects from all of VK and ZL, W6EL weather and earthquakes and a DX Cluster feed from Europe. Mobiles will not be gated reliably using this service due to the high data rate, hence is it envisiged that this service is only useful for home or portable stations.
Satgates
Occassionally some operators will setup their home stations to gate satellite based APRS traffice, a 24/7 based operation of a Satgate in each region is encouraged.