more aprs fun (1 Viewer)

[george_tlc]

Just back from a week camping trip with the kids. Ran APRS during the trip, turned it on at Garberville (northern california) and off again on returning home.

Impressive coverage. My wife definitely knew where we were (or at least where the vehicle was)... Had Spot as well for checking in 3 times per day (each mealtime) so she would be happy knowing all was well.

Here's some pics from the APRS server:

Overview of trip:

Bit of a zoom in:

Zoomed in more into the area (forestry roads):

And even more zoomed in. Pretty impressive coverage given some of the mountainous tree covered terrain.

cheers,
george.

 

[1911]

You did have good coverage for your beacons; good job. My family likes seeing where I am on a trip too.

 

[sdnative]

What are your path settings? Wide1-2? Wide2-2?

and power level? 10W?

I ask because a couple of guys in my group use APRS and we are trying to determine the best settings for mixed city and rural use.

 

[george_tlc]

What are your path settings? Wide1-2? Wide2-2?

and power level? 10W?

I ask because a couple of guys in my group use APRS and we are trying to determine the best settings for mixed city and rural use.

I have my firmware set to encode WIDE2-1 in my outgoing packets. I've coded a smart beaconing algorithm in my APRS tracker unit, so I'm not sending too many packets out. Appears in typical use I send one out every 80secs or so while moving.

My rig is set to 50W output since when I'm using APRS I'm out in the mountains etc. I also use a short antenna (comet SBB1) due to lower branches/trees etc on the forestry roads.

In city I'd imagine 5W would work just fine with the same antenna.

cheers,
george.

 

[1911]

I use WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1 (Two hops in all directions with potential to use fill-in digis) by default and only change to WIDE1-1, WIDE2-2 (Three hops with potential to use fill-in digis) if I'm way off the beaten path such as in remote southern Utah.

Like George, I only use 5 or 10 watts in town or on the highway but full power out in the boonies.

 

[sdnative]

It has been a couple of years since I setup my TT4, but I think I started out using WIDE 1-1, WIDE2-1 and have since switched to WIDE2-2 (removed the WIDE1-1).

Here is a great discussion thread we had on this:

Outdoor Adventure USA, LLC • View topic - APRS Digipeating and Path Selection 101

 

[RobRed]

Just back from a week camping trip with the kids. Ran APRS during the trip, turned it on at Garberville (northern california) and off again on returning home.

Impressive coverage. My wife definitely knew where we were (or at least where the vehicle was)... Had Spot as well for checking in 3 times per day (each mealtime) so she would be happy knowing all was well.

Here's some pics from the APRS server:

Overview of trip:

Bit of a zoom in:

Zoomed in more into the area (forestry roads):

And even more zoomed in. Pretty impressive coverage given some of the mountainous tree covered terrain.

cheers,
george.

Looks like we were in the same neighborhood last week.

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