1. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 APRS 101 Dave Locke, KC5SII

2. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Expectations: What is APRS What you can do with APRS What parts of APRS are important to get started How APRS works. How you can get started on APRS.

3. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Topics What is APRS? How does it work? Configuration information What equipment do I need? –TNCs –GPS –Radios –Computers –Software –How to connect things up Types of APRS Stations Information Resources

4. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 What the heck is APRS? APRS, or Automatic Packet Reporting System –Developed by Bob Bruninga WB4APR –Allows users to transmit data in single packets. –NOT Automatic Position Reporting System! APRS uses existing packet TNCs –144.39MHz at 1200 baud (Also HF & satellite) –Short-range tactical system (broad areas with IGATES)

5. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 APRS Applications Search & Rescue Public Service Events –Bike rallies –Parades –Crime prevention patrols Other –Repeater advertising –Event talk-in –Propagation Skywarn Nets –Spotter assignment –Storm tracking –County alert status Post Disaster Management –Damage assessment –Liason tracking –Logistics management –Staging site talk in

6. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 How APRS Works An APRS station broadcasts (beacons) or packets of information. – Digipeaters hear the packet and rebroadcast it. – Data can be direct from node to node The packet is be received and decoded by anybody who hears it. –Stations determine what to do with the data. –Message, Position, Bulletin, Weather... Packets can travel through the internet (IGATEs)

7. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Example (1) – Mobile Station Beacons Step 1. An APRS station beacons and is heard by every other APRS station in direct range

8. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Example (2) - Digipeater relays Step 2. The packet is rebroadcast by every digipeater that hears it. The packet is heard by every in direct range of the digipeater, including other digipeaters.

9. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Example (3) - Other digipeaters relay Step 3. The packet is rebroadcast by every digipeater that heard the first digipeater. The packet is heard by every APRS station in range of this second set of Digipeaters, including the original digipeater.

10. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Example (4) – 1 st digipeater relays again, etc. Step 4. The packet is rebroadcast by every digipeater that heard the second set of digipeaters, including the original digipeater, unless proper commands are added to stop this. --The command WIDEn-n is intended to control this process.

11. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Example (5) – Internet gateway relays to APRS-IS server Step 5. Packets heard by an internet gateway station are transmitted via the internet to APRS servers. Data is relayed out to computers via the Internet. Some internet gateways transmit the data out to RF,

12. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Beacon Rates The rate at which an APRS station transmits beacons is an important consideration. The more often you beacon, the fewer users can tramsmit Your beacon rate should take into consideration what you are intending to accomplish and how fast you expect to be moving Stations that expect to be moving very slowly over a large area should beacon occasionally. Stations that are moving rapidly over a small area might beacon more often. If you will be tracked on a high-resolution map and the person tracking you needs to know exactly where you are, beacon faster. Stationary stations (digipeaters, etc.) should only beacon once every 10-30 minutes

13. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Speed vs Beacon Rate Mobile stations should generally beacon no faster than once every 3 minutes. With a three minute beacon rate, a station will move the following distances at a given speed: SpeedDistance TraveledComment 60 mph3 milesHighway Speed 45 mph2.25 miParkway speed 30 mph1.5 milesResidential 25 mph1.25 miBicycle rally lead 7 mph0.35 miBicycle rally trail

14. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Configuration Information youll want to have. SSID –Call Sign + Number Latitude and Longitude UNPROTO Address – Wide 2-2 Beacon Comment Beacon Rate

15. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 SSID Your SSID is what identifies you uniquely Consists of your call at minimum Is transmitted every time you beacon An optional a dash followed by a number from 1 to 15. Useful if you have more than one station operating… And You Will! Example: KC5SII-4 or W5HTK-5 There published guidelines are available

16. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Latitude & Longitude Latitude and longitude coordinates are angles that describe your location uniquely on the face of the earth Latitude runs north and south, with values from 0 degrees at the equator to 90 degrees at the poles. Latitudes also need a N/S identifier. This may be done by setting the value negative for south lats or including the letters N or S Longitude runs from 0 to +180 degrees starting at a line running through Greenwich, England and going east. It runs from 0 to -180 going west across the US. This may be alternatively noted by including the letters E or W. APRS coordinates are expressed in degrees, decimal minutes format (+DD MM.mm). That is, the decimal places of the coordinate value are removed from the degrees and multiplied by 60. In other words, the latitude +32.5000 would be expressed as +32 degrees 30.00 minutes. If you will have a GPS receiver connected to your station, you may not have to enter these manually

17. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 UNPROTO Address Commands WIDE – Should only appear once as first or second entry. Tells a wide digi to transmit your packet WIDEn-n – Should only appear once as first or second entry. Entering a number causes each digipeater to count down the number of times the packet will be digipeated. Never use numbers greater than WIDE3-3. GATE – Means gate packet to HF NOGATE, RFONLY – Means dont gate to Internet TCPIP, TCPXX, qXX – APRS-IS only, not used on RF

18. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 UNPROTO Paths Generally you want your path to be just long enough so that your packet makes it an internet gateway and no further. Fixed Stations – Digi,WIDE – Digi = nearest Digi (W5HTK-5) Mobile Stations – WIDE,WIDE (or Wide2-2) Airmobile Stations – WIDE ONLY -> Propagation! Never use a path like wide7-7. This causes huge amounts of congestion

19. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Beacon Comment The beacon comment is a piece of text that goes out with each beacon Can be anything you want, as long as it is short –Monitoring 145.67 –Howdy from… –Your email –Your web page Having your email or web page here is not a bad idea so people can get in touch with you… And they do!

20. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Status Message The status message is a text message that is transmitted with your beacon, But not necessary every time you beacon Generally you can set your station to transmit your status once every so many beacons Can be used to transmit the status of your station –On duty –On station –DX Info (Automatic on UIView)

21. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 APRS Equipment There are a number of different types of APRS stations you may want to build. Before you can start building, you need to have an idea of what you want to do. The next slide provides some examples of stations

22. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 APRS Hardware Digipeaters A digipeater is a station that retransmits the packets that it hears. There should only be a few digipeaters in a given area. Internet Gateways An internet gateway relays packets from radio to the internet and vice versa. Can be combined with a digipeater and / or a fixed station. Requires a computer and internet connection Fixed Station A fixed station transmits packets, but remains in one place. Can be used to monitor other stations or to transmit local information objects Trackers A tracker is an APRS station that is capable of transmitting a packet containing location information. Usually small and portable for moving between vehicles. Mobile Station Usually a tracker semi-permanently fixed in a vehicle. Can have a computer for display. Passive Stations A passive station only listens to APRS packets, but doesnt transmit anything. Used with a computer to see other stations

23. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Trackers W5DCR Dallas REACT W5ADC Mag- mounted to outside of a vehicle N5OOM Carried in a vehicle WA5KXX Self- contained digipeaters

24. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 TNCs A TNC (Terminal Node Controller) – Packet MODEM. MODEM for a Radio instead of a Phone –One end hooks to a radio, the other to a computer (And or GPS receiver) A Windows software package called AGWPE can replicate the functions of a TNC, reducing the cost of a system There are some dedicated low cost devices that take the place of TNCs. –These include the TinyTrak –OpenTracker, in the $40 range. –Attached to a GPS receiver transmitting location data only Some can receive. The most common hardware TNC is the Kantronics KPC-3+.

25. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 GPS Receivers There are many GPS receivers to choose from, in many shapes and sizes. Must Have NEMA output! Garmin and Magellan are common handheld brands. Prices range from $45 and up. Any GPS receiver used for APRS must have a data connection and must output NMEA format data (most do) Consider if you want to have your GPS receiver powered via external power (vs. internal batteries) NOT REQUIRED TO DO APRS!

26. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Types of GPS receivers Hockey Pucks –Least expensive –No readouts… Data Only Handheld –Mid Priced –Flexible for other uses, hiking backpacking driving etc. –Some models dont have data capability or NEMA Mondo interfacing GPS units –Will actually show APRS activity on screen –Expensive but fun –Large readouts

27. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Radios Mobile –Higher Power Better Coverage –More Expensive –Less Flexible Usually HT –Less Cost –Less Coverage –More Flexibility

28. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Computers You only need a computer if you want to see other stations or you want to run an internet gateway or smart digipeater Older laptops tend to work fine with APRS. Its not a big program Newer laptops may not have RS-232 ports, which you will need to connect to a TNC. If your laptop has a USB port, you can get a USB to Serial adapter which should do the job for @ $20. If you want to run really portable, consider using a palm device or a pocket PC (such as a Compaq iPaq). These are really good if you want to be foot-mobile but still need to see other stations.

29. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Connecting Things GPS to TNC and TNC to Computer connections are generally RS-232 connections (more on this later) These tend to use either 9 pin or 25 pin DB connectors TNC to radio connections are custom depending on both the TNC and Radio

30. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 GPS Tiny Tracker Xmitter 144.39 MHz Satellite Tracking Beacon Transmit only RF * Packets OUT *Std Position Data String Call Sign ICON Position Speed Tagline Altitude (Usually in a moving vehicle)

31. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 RF *Packets IN DIGIPeater (Digital Repeater) Terminal Node Controller (TNC) 2 Meter Transceiver 144.39 Mhz Repeated RF *Packets Out *Any Valid Digital String (Usually located in a high place)

32. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 RF Packets In Terminal Node Controller (TNC) 2 Meter Transceiver 144.39 Mhz Repeated RF *Packets Out to DIGI PC –w- APRS Software Full up APRS Station * Any of the following Data strings E-Mail APRS Message to other Station Std Position Data Weather Data Many More GPS (Optional)

33. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Connecting a GPS to a TNC Most GPS receivers that are useable for APRS use an RS-232 connection. You will need to connect at least 3 wires between your GPS equipment and your APRS station –TX –RX –Ground –See your GPS manual (or maybe download one from the web) The physical connector at the GPS receiver is often proprietary, forcing you to buy from them. Garmin has a range of 3 rd party connectors available (eBay and pFranc). The physical connector at the computer (or TNC) end is usually a DB-9 9 pin connector Other connectors are possible (a stereo mini plug, as used by the Kenwood TM-D700). You will need to take into account what you are trying to connect. You can test your GPS by plugging it into your computers RS-232 port and configure a terminal program (such as Hyper terminal) to look directly at the comm port rather than a modem.

34. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 APRS Software If you want to see APRS stations, youll need some software There are software packages for most operating systems –Dos: AprsDos –Windows: WinAprs, UIView, APRS+SA, APRSPoint –Mac: MacAprs –Unix: Xastir –PocketPC: APRS-CE –Palm: PocketAPRS, PalmAPRS And some internet based services –www.findu.comwww.findu.com –JavAPRS For product comparisons, see WE7Us list at: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer/aprs_capabilities.htm http://www.eskimo.com/~archer/aprs_capabilities.htm

35. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004

36. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Information Resources APRS –Bob Bruningas web site –http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/aprs.html –TAPR –APRS Standards doc and various email discussion lists –http://www.tapr.org/ –NTX APRS Users Group –North Texas (DFW) area APRS Info –http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ntx_aprs_ug/ GPS –Joe Mehaffeys huge web site –http://gpsinformation.net/

37. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Hardware sources TNCs –Kantronics - http://www.kantronics.com/uhfvhf.htmhttp://www.kantronics.com/uhfvhf.htm –TinyTrak, WeatherTrak - http://www.tinytrak.com/http://www.tinytrak.com/ –Opentracker - http://n1vg.net/opentracker/http://n1vg.net/opentracker/ –Tigertronics - http://www.tigertronics.com/http://www.tigertronics.com/ –Rigblaster - http://www.westmountainradio.com/http://www.westmountainradio.com/ –GPS Cables and Connectors –Misc connectors - http://electronics.listings.ebay.com/Gadgets-Other- Electronics_GPS_W0QQfromZR4QQsacategoryZ34288QQsocmdZListingIt emListhttp://electronics.listings.ebay.com/Gadgets-Other- Electronics_GPS_W0QQfromZR4QQsacategoryZ34288QQsocmdZListingIt emList –Bare garmin connectors - http://www.pfranc.com/http://www.pfranc.com/ –Radio to TNC cables - http://www.packetradio.com/wiring.htmhttp://www.packetradio.com/wiring.htm

38. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 Software Sources APRSDosftp://ftp.tapr.org/aprssig/dosstuff/APRSdos/ WinAPRSftp://ftp.tapr.org/aprssig/winstuff/WinAPRS/ MacAPRSftp://ftp.tapr.org/aprssig/macstuff/MacAPRS/ APRS+SAhttp://www.tapr.org/~kh2z/aprsplus/ APRSPointhttp://www.aprspoint.com/ UI-Viewhttp://www.uiview.com/ PocketAPRShttp://www.pocketaprs.com/ PalmAPRSftp://ftp.tapr.org/aprssig/palmstuff/ APRS+CEhttp://www.tapr.org/~aprsce/ JavAPRShttp://www.aprs-is.net/javAPRS/ AGWPEhttp://www.raag.org/sv2agw/index.html

39. APRS is a registered trademark Bob Bruninga, WB4APR Copyright © 2004 – John Beadles, N5OOM All Rights Reserved Hamcom 2004 SUPER EASY ARPS map.findu.com/KC5SII* aprs.he.fi/kc5sii-8