I spent some hours today trying to receive a balloon travelling nearby on 2m 1200Bd AFSK.
At the end of the day, I note that the balloon was decoded by only two receivers located in or near Sydney and that resulted in a record to APRS-IS. One was my own station which decoded three packets, and VK2RHR-1 which relayed 16 packets.
Given the balloon’s flight, it is notable that it was not relayed by VK2AWM-1 (which was 40km closer), VK2RAG-1 and VK2RTZ-1 at Gosford and Newcastle, and at least four igates in Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle. Continue reading Diagnosis of APRS reception problem