I am moving this to the regular Groups.IO discussion because it is getting into questions that others may have as well.
Everyone benefits!
First I'll answer you question:
The? ALIAS# does not contain callsigns of people you want to DIGI.? It contains text that, when matched to path elements, will be DIGI'ed.
As I read the manual and have read on the discussions, the TT4 can be used with things as simple as ALIAS1 WIDE and it will DIGI all packets following the WIDEn-N path elements.? That means if you use ALIAS1 as WIDE, then any packet heard by your TT4 will be DIGI'ed if they have the common WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 path elements (not just your co-offroaders).
Because the algorithm is used 'in general', it will also respond to anyone using WIDE7-7 (or other high repeat rate).
So I personally, prefer to limit the WIDEn-N parameters my TT4 responds to by specifying
? ALIAS1 WIDE1
? ALIAS2 WIDE2
This will still provide the DIGI action for normal users but won't encourage those with with high DIGI counts - it ignores them.
For your situation, I believe the recommendation is to setup your TT4 connected to the Kenwood as a fill-in DIGI:
?? ALIAS1 WIDE1
Encourage your fellow offroaders (and you) to use the normal path of WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1 (or WIDE2-2 if you need another hop) on their HTs.
I believe that is the default for many HTs.
?? PATH1 WIDE1-1
?? PATH2 WIDE2-1
BACKGROUND:
In previous message exchanges, there was a concern about someone using Cliff's callsign for APRS.? Upon further investigation it appeared Cliff had PERIOD > 0 and so his TT4 was transmitting Telemetry packets.? Cliff didn't realize that?while in KISS mode communicating with an attached device, the TT4 could continue the other functions.
This led to the question on DIGI below.
