July 11 roadtrip

Yesterday, my daughter, Hayley, and I took a roadtrip from downtown Wolcott, CT, to Johnson State College ("JSC") in Johnson, VT. As usual, I had the WA1LOU-8 APRS mobile station up and running in Land Barge II for the 504-mile roundtrip up (and back down) I-84, I-91, I-89, and VT state routes 100 and 15.

Like our May 30 roadtrip to Sugar Hill, NH, APRS coverage was solid until we approached the Massachusetts-Vermont border, where coverage dropped out until we approached Brattleboro, VT. APRS coverage picked up again, but dropped out north of Claremont, NH, just like it did on May 30.

Unlike May 30, we turned left onto I-89 instead of continuing up I-91, but there was still no APRS coverage until we were about 5 miles south of Montpelier. APRS coverage was very good during the rest of our journey up I-89 and VT state routes 100 and 15. (There was excellent APRS coverage at the Ben & Jerry's factory; a cone full of Sublime Key Line Pie ice cream was excellent, too.)

There was no APRS coverage at our destination, Johnson State College, but for what it's worth, my daughter's Verizon cell phone was useless at JSC, too!

Comparing APRS maps of our May 30 and July 11 roadtrips, it looks like switching my digipeater path from WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 to WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 might have improved coverage slightly, but not much.

By the way, just to keep me honest, the July 11 map also shows this morning's commute to the salt mine in Wallingford, CT.