Mike-
It would seem then a VHF Shari would be able to do the same thing. Granted they are low power, but could be placed up a tower and stubby duck replaced with a J-pole on the cheep. Or deployed during search and rescue. .Reason I say this- we have a dead spot in our area- Just happens to be where the Ham Radio store is. So obviously, lots of APRS traffic there and no reporting. The Ham Store has Internet too.?
I have coupled a SHARI with a cellphone hot spot... I've done that on UHF.. gets me on my favorite ALLSTAR NODE while traveling or out of town.
Reason I mention the SHARI as the Nice RF SA818 module is a $12- item single channel .radio.. Gets RF in the air on the cheep.
The other item I may mention SHARI or DINAH. I have unplugged both while the RPI is live and no RPI consequences by doing that, swapping them or moving between 2 RPI's would be the same result. I was integrating a DINAH to a Repeater, so I was swapping my RPI between the two..
Great going experimenting !!
Larry W8LM
Larry Macionski