so ive been messing with APRS for a few months now and i think i finally have my station somewhat dialed in but im getting weird results with my path settings and cant figure out if its a config problem or just how the network works in my area.

running a TM-D710G with a homebrew vertical on the roof, using WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 which i thought was pretty standard. but when i check aprs.fi i sometimes see my packets showing up with like 6 or 7 hops listed and other times barely any. my buddy who lives about 8 miles away says he sees my beacons fine direct sometimes but sometimes not at all.

also tried reducing to just WIDE2-2 based on something i read on a mailing list but honestly im not sure i understand the difference well enough to know which is better for my situation. im in a semi-rural area, not super dense with digipeaters but theres a few around. is there a good way to actually test this without just guessing?

the WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 path (note: WIDE2-2 not WIDE2-1 at the end) is actually the more common recommendation these days especially if you're in an area with fill-in digis. WIDE1-1 is specifically intended to be heard by those low-power fill-in digipeaters that might not respond to WIDE2 calls. if your area doesn't have many of those it's basically just adding hops for no reason and yes that can cause duplicate packets floating around which is why you see inconsistent behavior on aprs.fi.

best way to test honestly is aprs.fi combined with findu.com — look at the raw packets and see which digis are actually picking you up and how many times each packet shows. if you're seeing the same packet relayed 4-5 times from the same digi chain that's a sign your path is too aggressive for the local infrastructure. i went through the same thing when i moved out here, took me a while to realize there was a really solid WIDE2 digi about 12 miles out that was doing all the heavy lifting and my WIDE1-1 was just creating extra garbage on the channel.

yeah what he said about checking raw packets is the way to go. also worth looking up what digis are actually in your area on aprs.fi map — zoom in and filter for digipeaters, gives you a pretty good sense of the coverage you're actually working with before you spend too much time tweaking paths blind.

tbh in semi rural areas i usually just run WIDE2-2 and call it good, keeps it cleaner