I’ve travelled to NC from NJ multiple times and I typically saw no APRS coverage not long after leaving I-95 and getting onto I-40 to head into Wilmington, NC nor during my travels around Wilmington, NC. See APRS map from December 2008 for the lack of coverage I previously experienced. That seems to have changed since my last visit, using the same equipment and vehicle  and I see some coverage as shown in the below map.

If I recall it’s about 100 miles from where you get off I-95 onto I-40 to head to Wilmington. After about 30 miles or so, I wouldn’t show any APRS activity as the old screen shot shows. Now, though not extensive, I saw enough activity to provide a few hits on the way where before there was nothing.  And once I got near Wilmington I seem to have some APRS coverage now where I hadn’t before. There are no APRS stations that I hit late last night as I got into Wilmington that are in Wilmington and they were much farther away. In fact, the last station that “heard me” if it indeed heard me shows as WD4IXD-3 located 451 miles away in Clermont, FL (25 miles from Orlando). I don’t know the APRS packets enough to determine if that is indeed the case but if so, that’s a nice distance over the ocean.

Here’s the screen shot from APRS.fi of the last leg of the trip:

73,
K2DSL