APRS? Why?

[newsphotog]

I'm a huge fan of APRS. One of the reasons I bought the new Kenwood HT. Used it on my trip to Florida. I was able to track my position. Set my Depature and Destination as waypoints to show me distances. Able to track course, speed, and altitude. Also able to get info on local nets and repeaters along my route. I also use APRS to text message and get other information. In Jacksonville, FL someone had it setup so that you can receive area info just by sending a text message . It's also a good source for weather reports from other stations.

I appreciate you guys out there that have your systems running all the time just so I can enjoy my gadget infused hobby.

+1. I love the ability to see which repeaters are nearest to me when traveling, and then tune to that freq instantly including PL and offset, with the touch of a single button. The messaging feature is really nice too (when parked). I also use Voice Alert to let me know when other stations are in simplex range. It's a shame more people don't use APRS to its full potential.

 

[alamo5000]

It's what WB4APR calls "voice alert". When you are in simplex range of another station, you can call that station on 144.39 voice using 100.0 hz ctcss to make contact (APRS doesn't use ctcss), then QSY to another to continue the voice QSO.

Yes, and its one cool feature!

 

[N0BDW]

If someone steals my car, I know where it is.

 

[KC2YTC]

I've found myself running APRS a lot more since I got my P.O. Box. So far, APRS hasn't been feeding Please Rob Me but that's probably because they don't know it exists

It's kind of like lazy DXing for me... I live near Lake Ontario, and I get all excited when I see beacons from "the other side".

 

[VK5ZEA]

Why would anyone want to use APRS on a continous basis? I can understand the use for public service events (keeping track of operators during a marathon or parade) but many have it enabled all the time. I would not want anyone knowing if I am home or not.

I use the telemetry side of APRS to monitor my repeater sites. I use an Australian designed board that connects to an APRS digipeater running the UI-DIGI firmware. It broadcasts the inside temperature, battery volts, #PTT/hour, date, time every 30 minutes. It also alerts me to power failures with an APRS object and an APRS message to my office computer.

Telemetry from VK5RAC-1
Telemetry from VK5RPL-1

Michael.
VK5ZEA

 

[ka7cse]

..

Why would anyone want to use APRS on a continous basis? I can understand the use for public service events (keeping track of operators during a marathon or parade) but many have it enabled all the time. I would not want anyone knowing if I am home or not.

You can control your location information by the beacon setting on your equipment. If you don't want others to know you are away from home just turn the beacon off. You can still observe all the received data with out giving away your location. It would be a very boring system if everybody did that but I can understand a person not wanting to share that information 100% of the time.... Just throw the others a bone once in awhile and beacon when you are at a safe distance from your residence Hi HI

 

[w2xq]

I don't know. I just don't like the idea that anyone via the web can know if I am home or not.

Amen. I just don't see the need to publicize whether home or away unless actively participating in an emergency or ARES activity. A good alternate, assuming one has a smartphone and cellphone coverage, is the free mobile app Glympse. I used it on a train trip to/from DEN to keep my daughter and a ham radio friend apprised of our progress. No social memberships needed; send text messages or email with a link to a map automatically for periods up to 4 hours (I suggested a 24 hr expiration option). The app just paused for the tunnels in WV and MD, picked back up upon exiting. Marvelous app IMHO. So far as weather info is concerned, Weather Underground has something called "Wondermaps" with many persons' home weather stations continually updating the maps.

 

[aaron315]

Add NOGATE and RFONLY to the end of your path, and the information stays off the Internet. This is my typical daily configuration, and still allows me to communicate with other APRS users via the RF network without making my location and messages available on the APRS-IS network.

 

[jhooten]

Unless it's another ham most people don't know about APRS or the sites that show who's transmitting a becon. Unless you're moving around why would anyone want to transmit an APRS beacon anyway?

Weather Station.

 

[AK9R]

Local info.

APRS Local Info Initiative

 

[Jay911]

I'm just starting to get into APRS myself (about 30-45 days messing around with it) and can see a ton of potential for it here. There are a few igates here, but my particular home location seems to be out of range of everything. I'm trying to explore how to put a digipeater at my house now.

One of the things I can see this really helping with is the local rally races I help do comms for. The last one we covered, there was a period where timing & scoring was at one end of the "course" (>30km long) and the people needing the info were back at the start, at the other end. They tried to fit dozens of long transmissions about time scores around the comms needed to run the actual stage. IMO that is a problem for which APRS messaging is a perfect solution. (Absolutely zero cell coverage in this area, btw.) I definitely wouldn't want to try to type in 36 cars and times using the scroll knob on my D710, so I would imagine a couple of laptops with the necessary connections would be required.

 

[AK9R]

The problem with serious messaging over APRS is that it's an unconnected mode. Your message is transmitted somewhat blindly on the hope that the recipient gets it. Yes, some APRS client apps and some APRS-enabled radios will acknowledge receipt of a message, but it's still not as robust as connected-mode packet.

WB4APR has a collection of various message ideas at:

Global APRS Messaging Initiative

and

APRS Event Data

 

[nd5y]

The problem with serious messaging over APRS is that it's an unconnected mode. Your message is transmitted somewhat blindly on the hope that the recipient gets it. Yes, some APRS client apps and some APRS-enabled radios will acknowledge receipt of a message, but it's still not as robust as connected-mode packet.

Even when connected AX.25 packet can suck becuase of the way it uses a checksum instead of forward error correction. If one bit is corrupted the entire packet is discarded and sent again until it is received intact. It is only good when you have strong stable signals.

 

[exkalibur]

To answer the question more directly:

Why do you post updates on Twitter or Facebook?
Why do you do chat on the radio with people you'll never meet?

The simple answer? Because people want to. I don't run APRS and I don't "get it", but doesn't mean I can't understand why others enjoy it.