Amateur Radio And GPS

[JASII]

I know that the APRS hobby uses amateur radio and GPS already, but I am wondering if anybody has tried taking the concept of the Uniden Home Patrol HP-1 to VHF/UHF ham radios? I think it would be handy for the traveling ham or even the newer hams. The GPS determines the location and the radio then downloads repeater pairs from a database that gets updated frequently. Presumably it would have the correct offset, PL/DPL tones, etc. I know the ARRL already has the TravelPlus Mobile GPS download. so why not have Yaesu, etc. take the next step, add GPS to amateur radio, and let users travel around the country letting their rig tune the correct frequencies for that area.

I have also wondered when wifi will be coming to ham radio. It might be nice to wirelessly update some things on you rig via wifi rather than having to connect a cable. Does anybody think we will see that soon or is ham radio still stuck in the last century?




ARRL :: Operating :: TravelPlus Mobile GPS (downloadable)

 

[n9mxq]

As a former OTR truck driver I can say if you program the top 20-30 repeaters in your area you'll have just about all you need.. Just change the PL tone if needed. I never used a repeater directory even though I have one, and also have iHam Locate on my iPhone.

What you're proposing would be neat, but I doubt it will be anywhere on the horizon.

 

[AK9R]

Icom's new D-Star handheld, the ID-31A, has a built-in GPS receiver and a database of every D-Star repeater in the country. Based on the lat/lon coming from the GPS receiver, the radio can look up the D-Star repeaters that are near you and program them into the radio's memories.

As inexpensive as memory is, it would certainly be doable to build this same functionality into an analog ham radio with a database of every repeater. It just takes a manufacturer with the vision to do it.

 

[N8OHU]

Wi-Fi, not likely, as part of those frequencies are in the 13 cm ham band; now, I could see Bluetooth being used instead.

Matthew Pitts
N8OHU

 

[brownalan]

Great idea.

I do have a custom POI file loaded into my Garmin Nuvi GPS with all the repeaters for the U.S. Wherever I am, a few taps on the screen and I can see the nearest ones. Still have to tune to them manually.

 

[n5ims]

Wi-Fi, not likely, as part of those frequencies are in the 13 cm ham band; now, I could see Bluetooth being used instead.

Matthew Pitts
N8OHU

Bluetooth uses the same 2.4 GHz frequency range as WiFi. The Bluetooth Standard

Bluetooth uses Gaussian frequency shift keying (GFSK) to modulate the data to frequencies around 2.4 GHz. The frequency spectrum is divided up into 79 channels spaced 1 MHz apart. Data is transmitted at 1 Mbps. For security benefits and noise reduction, a Bluetooth transmitter employs frequency hopping, switching channels up to 1600 times a second.

 

[n9mxq]

Icom's new D-Star handheld, the ID-31A, has a built-in GPS receiver and a database of every D-Star repeater in the country. Based on the lat/lon coming from the GPS receiver, the radio can look up the D-Star repeaters that are near you and program them into the radio's memories.

As inexpensive as memory is, it would certainly be doable to build this same functionality into an analog ham radio with a database of every repeater. It just takes a manufacturer with the vision to do it.

Didn't know about that one.. But since I've no interest in DSTAR I guess that explains that.. Is the database easily updated?

 

[AK9R]

Is the database easily updated?

I don't know. My guess is that the programming software for the radio has a function which taps into the D-Star repeater database (D-StarUsers.org Your Source for D-Star Digital Amateur Radio Information!) so you can update the data in the radio.

 

[LtDoc]

It's been my experience that databases for repeaters (no matter who'z they are) are very seldom updated to stay current. There are just too many 'in progress' changes, break downs, and such. The only sure way I've found if a repeater was operative was to try it and see.
Most of the newer radios have enough memory 'slots' to hold most, if not all, of an areas repeaters. The only hard part is finding the ones you want. Or selectively scanning for the usable ones. From experience, I have removed most repeaters I don't regularly use or hear. I haven't 'lost' a thing.
I don't know about you, but if I need any particular 'up-dating' of my radio, ~I~ will do it! Who knows what would be changed if it does it 'automatically'?
Does that make me, or my radio, a "stuck in the last century" old fogy? Beats me, I'm happy with it. Change for the sake of change is kind'a stupid... in my opinion, of course.
- 'Doc

 

[n9mxq]

I'm an old fogy and

It's been my experience that databases for repeaters (no matter who'z they are) are very seldom updated to stay current. There are just too many 'in progress' changes, break downs, and such. The only sure way I've found if a repeater was operative was to try it and see.
Most of the newer radios have enough memory 'slots' to hold most, if not all, of an areas repeaters. The only hard part is finding the ones you want. Or selectively scanning for the usable ones. From experience, I have removed most repeaters I don't regularly use or hear. I haven't 'lost' a thing.
I don't know about you, but if I need any particular 'up-dating' of my radio, ~I~ will do it! Who knows what would be changed if it does it 'automatically'?
Does that make me, or my radio, a "stuck in the last century" old fogy? Beats me, I'm happy with it. Change for the sake of change is kind'a stupid... in my opinion, of course.
- 'Doc

I agree, I just went through and imported the repeaters in a 50 mile radius of my house into my d710 (Spent 6 hours editing the proper file) and am now in the process of locking out the ones that are A: a shade out of range, or B: Digital (quite a few)..

I'll keep control myself..

 

[newsphotog]

Many APRS digipeaters send out objects with local repeater recommendations, which can be sorted by distance by radios such as the D710 and FT-350.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[mm]

The wifi method of remotely reprogramming radios wirelessly was described in detail in the Sept./Oct. 2011issue of QEX magazine.

Try to google the following "VSC-X: Using ZigBee to implement a virtual serial cable for remote programming of mobile radios" by John Hansen, W2FS.

He describes a method to remotely reprogram various radios via ZigBee, this is similar to what you asked for.

There was also a similar document on how to wirelessly reprogram a basic stamp module wirelessly but I don't have the info on this computer just right now but I am using the same method to wirelessly reprogram a repeater controller based on a basic stamp module so no not everyone is stuck in the cabled PC world.

Mike