It has taken two years to get to this point, but this week it all came together, and it works, too!
APRS, finally
- Thread starter HenryAZ
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... so now where is the build thread telling us how you put it all together. Just my amateur radio operator exam today and got an advanced rated. One of the instructors recommended I check out the Kenwood radios for an APRS Radio. You got any other recommendations?
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Kenwood certainly makes it about the easiest, but at a cost. You'll need a radio (2m or 70cm) and a terminal node controller (TNC) to participate in APRS. A couple of the Kenwood radios bundle this together in one unit. Hooking up a GPS also makes vehicle tracking in real time possible. The whole thing is pretty straightforward to put together; the harder part for me was making a vehicle first that I could trust and rely on in the desert. There are lots of how-to's on APRS itself. Several web sites let you track assets by call sign, in pretty much real time (APRS Database Access, also Google Maps APRS)
HenryAz,
That's a sweet set up you have there.
John
That's a sweet set up you have there.
John
Thanks for the info HenryAz. Yes, the Kenwood TM-D710A isn't cheap. I'll have to do some more reading.
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Here is a quick track, checking repeater availability vs terrain (40 mi with intervening mountains), and also the smart beaconing parameters I had set.
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Here's a few tracks from a couple of years. Driving up in the mountains in winter:
and
and this kind of terrain:
and a fix from Spot:
I run a yaesu ft-857d connected to a home made APRS tracker unit. Been using it for several years when we go on trips. My wife can then see where we are (kids & I) as we drive around on our camping trips. Spot has become a secondary mechanism to report position etc.
The aprs stuff is pretty neat and is fun to use.
cheers,
george.
and
and this kind of terrain:
and a fix from Spot:
I run a yaesu ft-857d connected to a home made APRS tracker unit. Been using it for several years when we go on trips. My wife can then see where we are (kids & I) as we drive around on our camping trips. Spot has become a secondary mechanism to report position etc.
The aprs stuff is pretty neat and is fun to use.
cheers,
george.
Congratulations! I really like mine, and my family likes being able to track me in real time on the internet when I'm on a long road or 4WD trip. I have a Kenwood TM-D710A and an AvMap G5 GPS that I can switch between trucks.
Since this photo, I've run the power for the GPS through the roll cage so it's all nice and clean with no exposed wires.
Since this photo, I've run the power for the GPS through the roll cage so it's all nice and clean with no exposed wires.
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I bet that AvMap GPS integrates with the Kenwood a lot better than my Lowrance, since it is made for the purpose. I do get other stations showing up on my Lowrance display, but they only show as waypoints, no special icons. The callsign is there along with the location. I already had the Lowrance, so I made it work.
The AvMap is pretty nearly plug 'n play, but it's very expensive. It's nice to see other stations as icons; it's very easy to see which is an I-gate, repeater, or another mobile (and even what kind of mobile - there are different icons for cars, pickups, "jeeps", 18-wheelers, airplanes, pedestrians, etc.) but I'm not sure it's worth the extra expense just to get that. The other cool thing it will do is navigate to any other APRS station just by touching the icon on the screen. I used it to find some 4WD friends from a different state in the San Juan Mountains in SW Colorado last year.
Your set-up is plenty good and a lot cheaper. Good job making it all work.
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It pained me somewhat, when it came time to pick an icon for my station, that the closest thing I could find was "jeep".
Hey guys, am studing for my Tech lic & will be taking the exam in about 4 weeks.
This thread is great as I am trying to learn as I go...it's a slow progress for an 'old man'.
I had more or less settled on getting a Y. 2900r as my 1st station. As I learn more in my studies I have now become a bit more interested in also having APRS capabilities. Currently I have no eqipment, is it even possible to intergrate APRS w/2900r or should I be looking for a different rig ??. Willing to spend what is necessary but still trying to control the cost.
Thanks for your help.
John
This thread is great as I am trying to learn as I go...it's a slow progress for an 'old man'.
I had more or less settled on getting a Y. 2900r as my 1st station. As I learn more in my studies I have now become a bit more interested in also having APRS capabilities. Currently I have no eqipment, is it even possible to intergrate APRS w/2900r or should I be looking for a different rig ??. Willing to spend what is necessary but still trying to control the cost.
Thanks for your help.
John
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If all you care about is sending out APRS packets with your position, then any 2m rig will work fine. Just add a GPS tracker unit to feed the modulated packets into the rig (and key the transmitter). I built my own tracker unit, but there's quite a few out there for not too many $, e.g. Byonics - to which you can add a serial nmea GPS unit (they sell those too).
Of course while sending out the APRS stuff the rig is dedicated to that until you unplug/turn off the tracker to release the radio.
Anyhow, lots of ways to use a cheap 2M rig with APRS or you can spend some serious $$ on a Kenwood/Yaesu with APRS capability.
cheers,
george.
Of course while sending out the APRS stuff the rig is dedicated to that until you unplug/turn off the tracker to release the radio.
Anyhow, lots of ways to use a cheap 2M rig with APRS or you can spend some serious $$ on a Kenwood/Yaesu with APRS capability.
cheers,
george.
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Yeah, me too. At least the "jeep" icon is green like my 40.
What George said. You can go as plain or fancy as you can afford, but to be practical you'll want a 2M radio solely dedicated to APRS. It could be a single cheap radio like George said or it could be one side of a true dual-band dual-receive radio (which is really just two radios in one unit). One advantage to using a dual-band radio is that you only need a single antenna and installation, but then again you're spending more money to get one too.
Keep in mind that APRSDroid is also available as well as an apple version. It uses the same APRS database and vehicle tracking is in real time and can be monitored from arps.fi or any other APRS site.
The one stipulation is you need cell service, so for 99% of my travels it works well. We are using this to track the 10 vehicles that are going out to CM12 from the east coast. It works a dream.
The one stipulation is you need cell service, so for 99% of my travels it works well. We are using this to track the 10 vehicles that are going out to CM12 from the east coast. It works a dream.