navman

tell me more about this APRS program please

Dave O

I'm interested too.

Googled this
APRS

APRS stands for automatic position reporting system. First of all one needs an amateur radio license, not hard to get these days, and the apprioprate equipment consisting of radio and a controller and of course a gps to broadcast digital position reports through a series of repeaters and eventually into the internet where anyone can look up your position. The amateur network is worldwide and where vhf/uhf repeaters don't exist I use HF radio. Instead of an expensive controller I use a program on the laptop and the soundcard to generate the tones for transmission, I have the laptop with me for nav purposes so I may as well multitask it for APRS as well. The laptop and radio are connected through a simple interface.

Click here and you'll see my last reported position. The maps here aren't the best but the missus can enter the position into oziexplorer for a better view. There are other lookup sites offering slightly better maps.

Once you have the license and the equipment it's all free.

Heaps of APRS info on the web, punch it into google

Utemad, the tinytrak in your url is available in oz as a kitset for $70 or fully built for $120, suits vhf/uhf or the slower hf speed. With this you don't need a pc, just plug in a gps and connect to the radio.

Ray, I have no doubt you will develop it more and it already looks good. Hope we have an opportunity to chat about it soon.

G'day John, thought you were over in the land of the long white cloud, must have been a quick trip. What I would like to do is parse the info from the web and display the position and track in Oziexplorer. My research shows it has already been done, I've emailed the guy. In the end it's just another hobby along with this 4x4 travel stuff to waste my time on :)

you have really whet my appetite with regard to this APRS stuff (as it seems with many) and a google has not really helped me greatly with getting into the detail. I would (as I gather many others) welcome further details on how this works. How does it work in remote areas?

I am willing to do my own research etc via google and other means but if you can give me a "leg up" it would be appreciated

Trevor

Hi Trev, To be able to operate APRS within ham radio one needs a license and for a run down on that look here It's not a difficult exam but ones does need a basic understanding of electronic and radio theory along with radio regulations

The APRS network consists of the individual stations reporting positions by radio or direct connection to the internet, repeaters and gateways that channel positions and messages to and from internet servers. The internet servers are also connected thus we have a network

As a simple example if I was driving around Geelong where I live I'd have my system set up to beacon my position every 2 minutes. My beacon is heard by a repeater which repeats my beacon. An internet gateway hears my beacon from the repeater and fires it into a web server which distributes my position to all the other internet servers. Depending on my location my beacon may have to go through 2 or 3 repeaters before being heard by a gateway.

In remote locations or locations not so remote that are not covered by repeaters HF radio must be used, there are a few HF gateways around Oz and any number worldwide. There are also a few amateur satellites that can be used for APRS and the international space station has a repeater on it but when using low orbit sats one is limited to the short window when the sat is passing over. There are numerous Sat predictions programs available that will tell you when to expect the Sats overhead.

There are other uses for APRS, some users have weather stations that automatically report weather conditions.

For a brief rundown on APRS in Oz look here

For me along with all other hams it's a worldwide communciations hobby but it does have practical uses.

Thanks Ray,

I will certainly be doing some research further

Trevor

Guys, I thought I'd resurrect this to show some better online maps. You can get down to street level all over Oz with these maps. Firstly you must have java enabled and working ok, second it will ask to install a little applet, there is no concern over this...all above board.

when the map comes up click on the little ute and then use the page up\down keys to zoom in and out.

Click here