Light APRS tracker on balloon: Avoiding "seriously bad path error" on APRS


ve7nz
 

On our first and only launch so far we got the above named error from the APRS network, apparently due to using digipeating at altitude.

Looking at the following code from github:

/**
  Airborne stations above a few thousand feet should ideally use NO path at all, or at the maximum just WIDE2-1 alone.
  Due to their extended transmit range due to elevation, multiple digipeater hops are not required by airborne stations.
  Multi-hop paths just add needless congestion on the shared APRS channel in areas hundreds of miles away from the aircraft's own location.
  NEVER use WIDE1-1 in an airborne path, since this can potentially trigger hundreds of home stations simultaneously over a radius of 150-200 miles.
  */
  uint8_t pathSize=2; // 2 for WIDE1-N,WIDE2-N ; 1 for WIDE2-N
  boolean autoPathSizeHighAlt = true; //force path to WIDE2-N only for high altitude (airborne) beaconing (over 1.000 meters (3.280 feet))


Should I be setting the second to last line above as pathSize=1 instead of the default "2" ?

If not, what do I need to do to fix this?

Thx. Adrian VE7NZ