APRS

BCARS presentation 20120202By KB3DFZ

(with many things stolen from http://aprs.org/)

Automatic Packet Reporting System

Developed in early 80s by WB4APR/Bob Bruniga “It is a two-way tactical real-time digital communications

system between all assets in a network sharing information about everything going on in the local area.” In plain English, this means if something is happening now, or there is information that could be valuable to you, then it should show up on your APRS radio in your mobile.

144.390 Mhz Nationwide Yes, there is aprs traffic in Bedford County

APRS “Network”

Aa

Multiple Hops

And to the Internet Gateway

Digipeaters

55

Kenwood TM-D700AKenwood TM-D700A

Built-in APRS Displays and messaging.Built-in APRS Displays and messaging. Other APRS stations show on attached GPS map Other APRS stations show on attached GPS map

Dual band 144/440 MHz 50/35 WattsDual band 144/440 MHz 50/35 Watts Built-in 1200/9600 bps TNC including digipeaterBuilt-in 1200/9600 bps TNC including digipeater

Kenwood D7 Yaesu VX8RKenwood D7 Yaesu VX8R

TM-D710TM-D710

Mobile/Portable APRS Terminals

Adds operation Freq to every posit !Adds operation Freq to every posit ! Auto tunes to others with Freq!Auto tunes to others with Freq! Shows local Voice Repeaters !Shows local Voice Repeaters !

Beacon Objects

BEACON EVERY 10 . . . . . . .(every 10 minutes)UNPROTO APN383 . . . . . . . (For a KPC-3+ version 8.3. Note, no hops!)BTEXT ;FFF.FFxyz*111111zDDMM.hhN/DDDMM.hhWrTnnn RXXm NETxxxxxx

MTGxxxxx .........

Where ;FFF.FFxyz is the frequency, and "xyz" are optional local unique characters

or ;FFF.FF5yz for 5 KHz repeaters and "yz" is one of over 3600 unique characters A-z, 0-9

or Example "xyz"s might be -IA for Iowa, -A for Atlanta, *SD for SanDiego, etc

Where *111111z is the pseudo default null Date-Time field for the OBJECT format

Where DDMM.hhN/DDDMM.hhWr is the LAT/LONG and "r" symbol for a voice repeater

Where Tnnn is the tone in Hz (without tenths) and RXXm is the range in Miles Where Netxxxxxx is the local weekly net time (if any) Where MTGyyyyy is the monthly club meeting time (if any) Where ... are 9 more bytes of optional text that will not be displayed on most

mobiles but are visible on other clients

Messages

Messages can be sent “HAM to HAM” (but are not private)

Messages can be sent to all HAMs as BULLETINS Could be placed on large display in EOC

MESSAGE ROUTING

Messages are repeated by digipeaters and nodes Because of the prevalance of APRS, messages could be

repeated nationally, causing lots of noise for “local” messaging.

APRS messages have a WIDE-n “message decay” feature built in to limit how far a message is repeated.

Most messages are between WIDE-1 through WIDE-3 for 1-3 hops. WIDE-2 is most recommended.

If sending to a specific Dx station, messages may be sent WIDE-9.

Voice Call on APRS

VHF APRS packets use 144.39 Mhz, no PL APRS radios and data ports ignore PL tones during Rx

and Tx Adding carrier squelch of PL 100Hz “silences” packet

audio and allows for short voice calls on APRS frequencies

Voice calls should be short to avoid interfering with data transmissions

APRS recommends two memory channels: 144.39 “no tone” for troubleshooting 144.39 “PL 100” for enabling voice call

Once voice contact is made, operators should pick an alternate frequency (either simplex or repeater) for talk

GPS and Postion Reporting

Manually enter GPS coordinates Automatic with GPS receiver View with PC or Dedicated GPS (AVMap5/6)

Email APRS Style

Satellite EMAIL via packet using PCSAT-1, ISS, or GO32 Set UNPROTO to CQ VIA ARISS Set Beacon every 2 minutes Set BTEXT as:

BT :EMAIL :email@example.com message goes here

Set your TNC+Radio outside on 145.825 You will receive an email once email goes through

APRS Email Send an APRS message TO: EMAIL * First word must be a complete EMAIL address

TO: EMAILMSG: kb3dfz@arrl.net I am at the hamfest

APRSLink/Winlink

http://www.winlink.org/aprslink Can receive email via callsign@winlink.org

through APRS Must establish account through winlink system

first. Get notifications via APRS of waiting Winlink

emails. Send APRS messages to WLNK-1 to

request/send messages

APRS-IS Internet Service

Operators can connect feed APRS traffic into APRS-IS using a Radio, PC, and Internet connection

APRS-IS “Tier-2” Network has 83 servers in 29 countries Services such as findu.com, aprs.fi and more read this

data and present it using web pages and map data. Some operators run Internet to APRS gateways, allowing

specitic traffic to be sent from the Internet to APRS users.

http://APRS.FI/ Map view

PC Software

APRSDos – original and still most popular, runs on most anything – http://aprs.org/

WinAPRS/MacAPRS/X-APRS – Windows, MAC, and Linux ports of DOSAprs allowing multiple windows and more detailed maps – http://www.winaprs.org/

Xastir – Advanced APRS client for Linux, also can work under Windows using cygwin

UI-View – Considered one of the more advanced and user-friendly APRS Clients – http://www.ui-view.org/

Full list at http://info.aprs.net/index.php?title=Software

Additional uses

Vehicle tracking – put an APRS tracker in a vehicle. Position will show up on aprs websites

Several APRS Satellites in service for digipeating and Internet email

Experimental devices – lots of kits online for APRS only style radios (KISS TNC + 144.39 Tx on one board)

Ballooning – 3-dimensional locating and tracking. Hams place a cheap/homemade tracker in a balloon, sometimes as a weather station nd track it via APRS.

APRSDOS – East Coast Traffic

aprsDOS Power-Height-Gain

APRSDOS – Hops View

APRSDOS Path Tracing

APRSDOS Positions Page

APRSDos Dead Reckoning

Create mobile object without APRS and “dead reckon” their location automatically.