1. APRS BCARS presentation 20120202 By KB3DFZ (with many things stolen from http://aprs.org/)

2. Automatic Packet Reporting System  Developed in early 80s by WB4APR/Bob Bruniga  “It is a two-way tactical real-time digital communications system between all assets in a network sharing information about everything going on in the local area.” In plain English, this means if something is happening now, or there is information that could be valuable to you, then it should show up on your APRS radio in your mobile.  144.390 Mhz Nationwide  Yes, there is aprs traffic in Bedford County

3. APRS “Network” Aa Multiple Hops And to the Internet Gateway Digipeaters

4. APRS Local Resources  Local NET “On-Air” objects – report a net in progress  Hamfest Objects “HFEST-dd”  Talk In Frequency  Location  VE Testing/Raffle alerts  Shuttle retransmission  Voice Frequency Identification  Repeaters  Operators voice frequency  Club meeting notification

5. 5 Kenwood TM-D700A  Built-in APRS Displays and messaging.  Other APRS stations show on attached GPS map Dual band 144/440 MHz 50/35 Watts Dual band 144/440 MHz 50/35 Watts Built-in 1200/9600 bps TNC including digipeater Built-in 1200/9600 bps TNC including digipeater Kenwood D7 Yaesu VX8R TM-D710 Mobile/Portable APRS Terminals Adds operation Freq to every posit ! Adds operation Freq to every posit ! Auto tunes to others with Freq! Auto tunes to others with Freq! Shows local Voice Repeaters ! Shows local Voice Repeaters !

6. Beacon Objects BEACON EVERY 10.......(every 10 minutes) UNPROTO APN383....... (For a KPC-3+ version 8.3. Note, no hops!) BTEXT ;FFF.FFxyz*111111zDDMM.hhN/DDDMM.hhWrTnnn RXXm NETxxxxxx MTGxxxxx.........  Where ;FFF.FFxyz is the frequency, and "xyz" are optional local unique characters  or ;FFF.FF5yz for 5 KHz repeaters and "yz" is one of over 3600 unique characters A-z, 0-9  or Example "xyz"s might be -IA for Iowa, -A for Atlanta, *SD for SanDiego, etc  Where *111111z is the pseudo default null Date-Time field for the OBJECT format  Where DDMM.hhN/DDDMM.hhWr is the LAT/LONG and "r" symbol for a voice repeater  Where Tnnn is the tone in Hz (without tenths) and RXXm is the range in Miles  Where Netxxxxxx is the local weekly net time (if any)  Where MTGyyyyy is the monthly club meeting time (if any)  Where... are 9 more bytes of optional text that will not be displayed on most mobiles but are visible on other clients

7. Messages  Messages can be sent “HAM to HAM” (but are not private)  Messages can be sent to all HAMs as BULLETINS  Could be placed on large display in EOC

8. MESSAGE ROUTING  Messages are repeated by digipeaters and nodes  Because of the prevalance of APRS, messages could be repeated nationally, causing lots of noise for “local” messaging.  APRS messages have a WIDE-n “message decay” feature built in to limit how far a message is repeated.  Most messages are between WIDE-1 through WIDE-3 for 1-3 hops. WIDE-2 is most recommended.  If sending to a specific Dx station, messages may be sent WIDE-9.

9. Voice Call on APRS  VHF APRS packets use 144.39 Mhz, no PL  APRS radios and data ports ignore PL tones during Rx and Tx  Adding carrier squelch of PL 100Hz “silences” packet audio and allows for short voice calls on APRS frequencies  Voice calls should be short to avoid interfering with data transmissions  APRS recommends two memory channels:  144.39 “no tone” for troubleshooting  144.39 “PL 100” for enabling voice call  Once voice contact is made, operators should pick an alternate frequency (either simplex or repeater) for talk

10. GPS and Postion Reporting  Manually enter GPS coordinates  Automatic with GPS receiver  View with PC or Dedicated GPS (AVMap5/6)

11. Email APRS Style  Satellite EMAIL via packet using PCSAT-1, ISS, or GO32  Set UNPROTO to CQ VIA ARISS  Set Beacon every 2 minutes  Set BTEXT as: BT :EMAIL :email@example.com message goes hereemail@example.com  Set your TNC+Radio outside on 145.825  You will receive an email once email goes through  APRS Email  Send an APRS message TO: EMAIL  * First word must be a complete EMAIL address TO: EMAIL MSG: kb3dfz@arrl.net I am at the hamfest

12.  APRSLink/Winlink  http://www.winlink.org/aprslink http://www.winlink.org/aprslink  Can receive email via callsign@winlink.org through APRScallsign@winlink.org  Must establish account through winlink system first.  Get notifications via APRS of waiting Winlink emails.  Send APRS messages to WLNK-1 to request/send messages

13. APRS-IS Internet Service  Operators can connect feed APRS traffic into APRS-IS using a Radio, PC, and Internet connection  APRS-IS “Tier-2” Network has 83 servers in 29 countries  Services such as findu.com, aprs.fi and more read this data and present it using web pages and map data.  Some operators run Internet to APRS gateways, allowing specitic traffic to be sent from the Internet to APRS users.

14. http://APRS.FI/http://APRS.FI/ Map view

15. PC Software  APRSDos – original and still most popular, runs on most anything – http://aprs.org/  WinAPRS/MacAPRS/X-APRS – Windows, MAC, and Linux ports of DOSAprs allowing multiple windows and more detailed maps – http://www.winaprs.org/http://www.winaprs.org/  Xastir – Advanced APRS client for Linux, also can work under Windows using cygwin  UI-View – Considered one of the more advanced and user-friendly APRS Clients – http://www.ui-view.org/  Full list at http://info.aprs.net/index.php?title=Software

16. Additional uses  Vehicle tracking – put an APRS tracker in a vehicle. Position will show up on aprs websites  Several APRS Satellites in service for digipeating and Internet email  Experimental devices – lots of kits online for APRS only style radios (KISS TNC + 144.39 Tx on one board)  Ballooning – 3-dimensional locating and tracking. Hams place a cheap/homemade tracker in a balloon, sometimes as a weather station nd track it via APRS.

17. APRSDOS – East Coast Traffic

18. aprsDOS Power-Height-Gain

19. APRSDOS – Hops View

20. APRSDOS Path Tracing

21. APRSDOS Positions Page

22. APRSDos Dead Reckoning  Create mobile object without APRS and “dead reckon” their location automatically.