Setting up A WIDE1-1 FILL-IN Digipeater                     18 Nov 2005
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Updated 5 Feb 2008 

There are two applications of a WIDE1-1 digi.  First, it is the 
simplest digi to install since almost any old TNC can do it.  Second,
a WIDE1-1 digipeater can be used as a local FILL-IN digipeater where
existing coverage for mobiles is poor.

WIDE1-1 fill-in digis provide a way for mobiles in a dead zone to be 
able to be digipeated out without that same digipeater adding to the 
congestion elsewhere by also digipeating every other packet heard from 
everywhere else.  In otherwords, it only responds to 1st hop packets 
from mobiles and/or stations that explicitly use its callsign FIRST in 
their path.  

These digis used to be called RELAY digis, but RELAY is now obsolete 
because it has no dupe-elimination process.  The WIDEn-N system 
(including WIDE1-1) on the other hand compares all packets for dupes
no matter what the path and will ignore any dupes.  Thus, in early 
2005 we decided to change all RELAY-only digis over to WIDE1-1 only.

To use these digis, mobiles typically use the path of WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1.
This way the first hop can be done by ANY digipeater, but all other
WIDEn-N digis will recognize any other dupes and will only process the 
same packet only once.

Fortunately almost any TNC can be used as a WIDE1-1 or FILL-IN digi
because no special algorithms are used.  The TNC is set to digipeat
only packets addressed VIA WIDE1-1 or VIA its own MYCALL.  Further
it does not ID beyond its own DIRECT range, thus, it does not add
any QRM to the network.  Also be sure to turn HID OFF so that this
TNC does not polute the spectrum with the every 10 minute HID packet
that is of no value to APRS.

IMPORTANT:  Some digis are more sophisticated than others and can
do callsign substitution such as the modern PacComm's, KPC-3+'s
and Kenwoods  In those digis the settings are different and are listed
later.  But in all simple older TNC's that only have one alias, 
then, use the following settings to make any TNC into a WIDE1-1 
FILL-IN-DIGI:

1) Reset to factory defaults to make sure no wierd settings are in it.
2) MYCALL  CALLSIGN
3) MYALIAS WIDE1-1
4) BTEXT !DDMM.mmN1DDDMM.mmW#W1-1 any_other-comment_here
5) B E 60 (60 is 60-ten seconds (10 minutes in TAPR-2))
6) UNPROTO APNXXX   <The XXX identifies the type of TNC. See list)
7) HID OFF          <this is important to eliminate this useless QRM)
8) DIGI ON

Other than figuring out exactly how your TNC handles time in the
BEACON EVERY command (minutes or 10's of seconds or seconds)...
We want a 10 minute -local- beacon from all DIGI's.  They are our
lifelines and we need to know which ones are serving us.  Notice that
for a WIDE1-1 digi, the UNPROTO path has no HOPS through other digis.
This is to limit their visibility to only their coverage areaand
to minimize QRM on surrounding systems.

That is all there is to it for these older TNC's.

FOR old PACCOM TNC's WITH CALLSIGN SUBSTITUTION:
set MYA none     (available for other use if any)
set MY1 WIDE1-1 
set MY2 SAR      (to support Search and Rescue)
set MY3 TEMP1-1  (this can be used during field day)

FOR D700's & Kantronics KPC-3+'s THAT HAVE THE UIDIGI COMMAND:
set MYALIAS none (available for other use if any)
set UIDIGI ON WIDE1-1, SAR, TEMP1-1
set UITRACE TEMP, 30    <== this supports TEMPn-N for Field Day

Notice that TEMPn-N support is also encouraged in ALL TNC's that
can support it that are NOT otherwise being used as big digis. 
This is because ARRL Field Day rules do not permit the use of the
existing APRS infrastructure and normal digis for FD.  To show
our ability to work in the field, we are supposed to set up 
temporary facilities.  For this reason, all TNC's not normally  
used for the routine infrastructure should have TEMPn-N support
for use during emergencies (and FD).  Especially this is true
of D700 mobiles.  We do NOT want mobiles routinely doing WIDEn-N,
but we DO want them available to support special FD and other
special events.  By having TEMPn-N support always turned on in
all D700's (and all home fill-in digis that can support it) then
we can instantly use this system if needed.

For all these TNC's, identify the type of TNC in the TOCALL of the
UNPROTO path using the APNxxx TOCALLS below:

  APN232 PK232
  APNMFJ if MFJ
  APNTC2 if any other TAPR-2 clone TNC
  APN3xx Kantronics KPC-3 rom versions 
  APN9xx Kantronics KPC-9612 Roms 
  APNAxx WB6ZSU's APRServe 
  APNXxx X-DIGI

If you are using any other kind of TNC, then choose an APNxxx for
it and let me know so I can add it to the list.  Thanks

Using UIVIEW HOME STATIONS:  If your station is a good one with
good RF coverage, yet no mobiles in your area can get out, then
you can enable it for WIDE1-1 digipeating too.  Setting it for
WIDE1-1 is the least harmful to our congested VHF network.  You 
must be running your TNC in KISS mode to enable the digipeater in
UI-View32.

 Go to Setup -> Digipeater Setup
 Enable Digi is checked
 UI Only is checked
 Alias substitution is checked
 WIDEn-n is -not- checked
 TRACEn-n is -not- checked
 Alias(es) has W6UUU,WIDE1-1 <substitute your callsign for W6UUU>
 Sub Alias has W6UUU <substitute your callsign for W6UUU>
 Dupe secs = 30
 Digi routes has 1=1

 Click on OK and you're done.

Good luck,

de WB4APR, Bob