aprs questions

[masterkeymaster]

I am new to looking at aprs and I ahve a couple of questions. 1. Can I use an old scaner a bearcat 560 xlt as a report station it would only receive incoming signals. 2. Is aprs the same thing if I were to use the disstress button on my marine radio, it does have wiring on the back for both remote mic and a GPS unit. 3. If I want to can I use a motorola m10 and tune it to 144.39 Mhz and use it to report my position. 4. is there a ledger for the icons displayed on the web suit aprs.fi avialable?

The marine radio I have is a standard Harizon INTERPID.

I purchased two new Garmin GPS receicers but they clearly don't have any displays you connect them they have rs232 cables plus a standard cig power supply. (Cheep $7.50 for 2)

 

[kb0nly]

1. Can I use an old scaner a bearcat 560 xlt as a report station it would only receive incoming signals.

No, if your going to set up a home station, igate/digi, it needs to transmit as well to send out acknowledgement packets to the tracker its receiving. If you wanted to just monitor local activity a receiver only would work, say using UI-View with a TNC and a scanner to just watch whats going on.


2. Is aprs the same thing if I were to use the disstress button on my marine radio, it does have wiring on the back for both remote mic and a GPS unit.

Not even close. It takes the NMEA gps data and transmits that to report the location, and does so a set amount of times per minute, depending on how the tracker is set up to report.

3. If I want to can I use a motorola m10 and tune it to 144.39 Mhz and use it to report my position.

Yes, easily accomplished with an Opentracker + and GPS unit connected to it.

4. is there a ledger for the icons displayed on the web suit aprs.fi avialable?

There is some charts showing what each item is, i don't remember the exact website, but google should turn it up.

The Garmin GPS receivers being serial, DB9 connector, will work great with a Opentracker + or a TinyTrak. In my opinion the Opentracker + is the better value for what it can do, kit cost is about $30 if your handy with a soldering iron.

Argent Data Systems

 

[kg4icg]

Also if you want to see how aprs is implemented in your area you can go to Google Maps APRS . I will be back up on aprs in a few weeks. Picking up new equipment.

 

[masterkeymaster]

1. Can I use an old scaner a bearcat 560 xlt as a report station it would only receive incoming signals.

No, if your going to set up a home station, igate/digi, it needs to transmit as well to send out acknowledgement packets to the tracker its receiving. If you wanted to just monitor local activity a receiver only would work, say using UI-View with a TNC and a scanner to just watch whats going on.


2. Is aprs the same thing if I were to use the disstress button on my marine radio, it does have wiring on the back for both remote mic and a GPS unit.

Not even close. It takes the NMEA gps data and transmits that to report the location, and does so a set amount of times per minute, depending on how the tracker is set up to report.

3. If I want to can I use a motorola m10 and tune it to 144.39 Mhz and use it to report my position.

Yes, easily accomplished with an Opentracker + and GPS unit connected to it.

4. is there a ledger for the icons displayed on the web suit aprs.fi avialable?

There is some charts showing what each item is, i don't remember the exact website, but google should turn it up.

The Garmin GPS receivers being serial, DB9 connector, will work great with a Opentracker + or a TinyTrak. In my opinion the Opentracker + is the better value for what it can do, kit cost is about $30 if your handy with a soldering iron.

Argent Data Systems

1. ok I did not know that it give back a receive transmittion, I assume that the digi systems is only symplex?

2. since I have the two garmins gps 35-pc will I need an open tracker for the marine radio?

 

[AK9R]

At the very basic user level, APRS stations transmit their position and other information. This is known as a "dumb tracker" and it's really only good for reporting your position so others can see it. There are trackers available from Argent Data, Byonics, and others. Some of these trackers are available with a radio for transmitting, but most of them require a connection to a transmitter.

The next level of user station has the ability to receive and decode the APRS packets that it hears as well as encode and transmit APRS packets. For this, you will need a full-featured TNC such as the Argent Data Tracker2, Byonics TinyTrak 4, or Kantronics KPC-3 and a radio to receive and transmit the packets. An APRS client program running on a computer, such as APRSpoint, UI-View, or APRSIS32 will let you see what's going on around you.

The APRS network is dependent on digipeaters, which retransmit in-coming packets to extend the range of the users within the footprint of the digi, and I-Gates, which port the packets to the APRS-IS database on the Internet.

A complete chart of APRS symbols is available at: http://wa8lmf.net/miscinfo/APRS_Symbol_Chart.pdf