APRS Path Tables: To enhance the effectiveness of the 144.390 MHz national APRS frequency for all amateurs, the following recommendations are presented for the setup and operation of APRS units:
Path Settings and their meaning:| Path Setting | Meaning and Placement |
| RELAY | Should only appear as the FIRST item in the path list. If not placed first, this setting can cause “ping-pong” and increase frequency congestion. |
| WIDE | Should only appear once as the First or Second entry in the path. |
| WIDEn-n | Should only appear once as the First or Second entry in the path. [There is rarely any reason to use any setting larger than WIDE2-2 in North Texas or any other area well covered with digipeaters!] Do not use WIDE and WIDEn-n in the same setting. |
| TRACEn-n | Should be used only temporarily for testing to determine the best path for your station. |
| GATE | This means, “Gate this packet to HF.” Unless there is a reason to send your packets to an HF Gateway, this setting should probably not be used. |
| NOGATE - RF ONLY | This means, “Do Not Send this Packet to the Internet.” Most IGATE software will recognize and honor this request if the operator has selected the option. |
| TCPIP, TCPXX, qXX | All of these settings are added by gating software when it places a packet on the Internet. These terms should NOT appear in the RF Path. Do Not Use! |
Recommended Path Settings for different types of stations:
| Type Of Station | Recommended Path Setting |
| Fixed | Digi, WIDE [Where “Digi” = your nearest wide area digipeater] |
| Mobile | RELAY, WIDE or RELAY, WIDE2-2 (WIDE is the same as WIDE1-1) |
| Air Mobile | WIDE |
| Special Event | RELAY |
| Digipeaters | NONE |
Recommended Beacon Rates for different types of stations:
| Type of Station | Recommended Beacon Rate |
| Fixed | No Less than 30 Minutes |
| Mobile | No Less than 3 Minutes except in unusual situations. [REMEMBER TO SET TO 30 MINUTES OR MORE IF MOTIONSTOPS!} |
| Air Mobile | No Less than 5 Minutes |
| Special Event | Usually No Less Than 3 Minutes except under special circumstances |
| Digipeaters | No less than 30 Minutes |
| Weather | 10 or 15 Minutes [The National Weather Service collects information every 15 minutes] |