I love APRS. The big deal for me is being able to not just hit a repeater, but 2 or 3. Now my 5 watt hand held can reach out of the back county when I'm hiking

I love APRS. The big deal for me is being able to not just hit a repeater, but 2 or 3. Now my 5 watt hand held can reach out of the back county when I'm hiking and actually get somewhere. Bonus that there is a gateway between APRS and SMS. Yeah, you can drive around and show the world where you are, but using it to write SMS messages when cell reception doesn't exist is awesome. I don't know about everyone, but if I'm driving around with it on it is so I can see where I get coverage and where I don't. I have to use and test so I know it works when I want to communicate, but overall I'm not a ham to be social.