[Xastir] Balloon tracking

[Jason Winningham]

More thoughts on xastir vs. APRS+SA:

APRS+SA is frozen at an old version, so the map data is old.

I don't know if APRS+SA can give you complete information about the 
station being tracked directly on the map.  I can tell at a glance the 
position, speed, heading, altitude, and report age, just looking at the 
icon. Telling xastir to track that station gets a bullseye style set of 
rings to highlight it, as well as make sure it stays visible on the 
display, scrolling as needed.

I chase with a navigator, who I rely on for driving directions, laptop 
operation, etc.  TIGER shapefile data is more than adequate for street 
navigation.  If I were to chase alone, I'd probably just use the D700 
and the GPS displays, leaving the laptop aside unless there was an 
issue serious enough for me to stop the vehicle.

It's trivial to create objects to mark a last known position, predicted 
landing site, etc.  Using objects you not only have the notation on 
your map, but the rest of the chase team gets it, too.  Put notes in 
the comment field, if they won't fit in the object name.

If you had a GPS tied to xastir, you should have been able to see your 
position relative to the balloon (and other chase vehicles, if they 
were beaconing) at a glance.

The only thing I can think of that SA does that xastir doesn't is 
provide driving directions, and I'd never miss such a feature.  In my 
(admittedly limited) experience with APRS+SA, xastir is better all 
around.

It did take me several chases to find and learn to use all the xastir 
features I needed.

-Jason
kg4wsv