Curious about APRS - here is my last week (1 Viewer)

[LC4LIFE]

I know some people new to Ham are curious about APRS and what it does or how it can benefit you. I just spent the last week traveling into some remote areas of Colorado and Utah, many of which did not have cell service and also some not so remote areas without service. Using APRS beaconing, my whereabouts were known and I had the ability to text if needed, even if I did not have cell service. These examples are only a portion of how APRS can be used, but this is a feature that I am very happy to have

BTW - I run a Yaesu FTM-400XDR

 

[Dharma Dude]

I know some people new to Ham are curious about APRS and what it does or how it can benefit you. I just spent the last week traveling into some remote areas of Colorado and Utah, many of which did not have cell service and also some not so remote areas without service. Using APRS beaconing, my whereabouts were known and I had the ability to text if needed, even if I did not have cell service. Theses are only a portion of how ALRS can be used, but this is a feature that I am very happy to have

BTW - I run a Yaesu FTM-400XDR

Cool. You were able to get 2m coverage during your entire trip?

 

[izzyandsue]

Thats great results, specially in that remote area that a APRS repeater was able to pick up your signal. In our neck of the woods it works well too, but we do have a sections where there is no receivers. You can still use HAM to other regular repeaters, but they are not used for APRS. And thats the trick for APRS or DPRS (the digital version), getting to a repeater that will hear you and report your data.

 

[LC4LIFE]

Cool. You were able to get 2m coverage during your entire trip?

I hit all the repeaters I wanted to, but there may have been areas I would not have been able to. I’m just not sure where that would have been. I also run my antenna in the middle of the roof, instead of off the hood or taillight area, which helps too.

 

[Skidoo]

How much power do you run for APRS and what is your Path setting?
I run up to 50W and "WIDE1-1, WIDE2-2" in remote areas.
Have a friend that runs a 5W Baofeng with roof magmount and "WIDE1-1, WIDE2-2" and does not get as many hits in remote areas, but still does pretty well.

 

[LC4LIFE]

I ran 50W the whole time. I am also convinced my roof mount and good antenna helps too.

 

[Skidoo]

Here is my trace back beginning of Aug of a segment of your route. Performance seems similar.

.

 

[half k cruiser]

I was a little surprised that during our spring trip this year my buddy received text while at Devils Kitchen Campground in Canyonlands. Some random guy was trolling the APRS site and found his call sign floating down there, then sent him a message.

 

[LC4LIFE]

I was a little surprised that during our spring trip this year my buddy received text while at Devils Kitchen Campground in Canyonlands. Some random guy was trolling the APRS site and found his call sign floating down there, then sent him a message.

I am very often surprised when I can send or receive messages via APRS. I have really come to liking having APRS a ton and not only for the beacons.

 

[half k cruiser]

I am very often surprised when I can send or receive messages via APRS. I have really come to liking having APRS a ton and not only for the beacons.

Yeah, I am super amateur when it comes to amateur radios. I know these things have way more capability then what I have knowledge to run. But, the reason I went with the 400XDR was it would give me room to grow into the hobby.

 

[LC4LIFE]

the reason I went with the 400XDR was it would give me room to grow into the hobby.

Same here...I have had mine for about a year and the more I use it, and understand it and HAM, the more impressed and thankful I have it.

 

[spressomon]

Are you using a stand alone monitor to display your APRS objects?

A few years ago I went from my old Icom 208H to the Kenwood 710A...then with help from @TrickyT was able to port the APRS signal over to my Lowrance Baja 540C via NMEA protocol to display APRS objects. It worked great with one exception: Deleting the objects was a RPITA...one at a time dealio.

 

[Skidoo]

Are you using a stand alone monitor to display your APRS objects?

A few years ago I went from my old Icom 208H to the Kenwood 710A...then with help from @TrickyT was able to port the APRS signal over to my Lowrance Baja 540C via NMEA protocol to display APRS objects. It worked great with one exception: Deleting the objects was a RPITA...one at a time dealio.

Run a Kenwood TM-V71A (the External TNC connector provides simultaneous voice and APRS operation on different channels), a TinyTrak4 with Bluetooth adapter, and an 8inch Android tablet with APRSDroid app uses tablet GPS. APRSDroid has a version which support offline maps (maps are quite good). APRSDroid also supports APRS messaging, station lists, etc and has a very good user interface to configure various settings.

 

[retrofive]

Noob, but what would be needed if you have a y8800?

 

[Joel Kasper]

Run a Kenwood TM-V71A (the External TNC connector provides simultaneous voice and APRS operation on different channels), a TinyTrak4 with Bluetooth adapter, and an 8inch Android tablet with APRSDroid app uses tablet GPS. APRSDroid has a version which support offline maps (maps are quite good). APRSDroid also supports APRS messaging, station lists, etc and has a very good user interface to configure various settings.

I use a similar setup with the tablet but use the Mobilink TNC2 . I run Back Country Navigator that has loadable maps and works with aprsdroid. Used it on the Rubicon last year and it was great!