GPS scanning?

[KE0GXN]

Why is there not a 2/70 meter radio out there yet that works along the lines of the Uniden GPS scanners?

In other words, using radio with GPS already in it and a RF finder type database to scan for repeaters within a set radius as you drive down the road, much like my HP-2. It could add and drop repeaters from the scan, when you are within or out of range, just like HP does with the 0-30 mile range limit settings.

If not, why has this not become a reality yet?

I would think this would be awesome for folks driving down the road when traveling through various States, etc. There would be no need to look-up and pre-program travel lists and the range setting would add and drop repeaters as you drive automatically....

 

[jwt873]

This is a standard D-star thing. My ID-51 and TH-D74 both have 'search for nearby D-Star repeaters.

The ID-51 Plus will also search for nearby FM repeaters: ID-51A PLUS VHF/UHF Digital Transceiver - Features - Icom America

"DV and FM Repeater Search Function
The repeater search function searches for nearby analog FM repeaters as well as DV repeaters using the repeater memories and the integrated GPS."

I guess we'll see more of this as manufacturers come on board.

 

[K5MPH]

Like jwt873 has said the Id51 and 31a have search mode in them already....

 

[KE0GXN]

Thats cool, I was not aware of that.

I was more referring to a full blown mobile radio that can do that by GPS just like the Uniden scanners do. Plug and play...no operater memory programming required, just a weekly update to the radio, ala a Sentinel type database or something like that, i.e. RF Finder...

Of course I would also want to the option to create a personalized scan/memory list too, what I would want the aforementioned capability would be for traveling through or to far away unknown areas, like road trips, etc..

 

[jwt873]

Yea, there are no ham radios yet with the sophistication of scanners like the Home Patrol..

For the amateur rigs, you have to manually download the repeater lists and install them in the radio using the supplied programming software. You also have to keep an eye out for updates to the repeater lists and update them manually.

But still... It's better than nuthin'

 

[KE0GXN]

The first manufacturer that does is going to be raking in the dough...I would save my pennies in a heartbeat for one.

The technology is there.

 

[ko6jw_2]

There are some assumptions here that don't play out in the real world of ham radio. The first is that there is a database of repeaters and their GPS coordinates available. There isn't. Unlike public safety radio where a license will contain location information, ham radio repeaters are not required to provide this information. Yes, frequency coordinators have this information, but some of them don't make it public at the request of the repeater owner. The other factor is that, especially in the 70cm band, many repeaters are closed. I belong to such a group. We are happy to accept new members, but we are not open to general use. Finally, looking at the RR ham radio database, only a small fraction of repeaters in this area are listed. Even the ARRL repeater directory contains many listings that give only vague information about repeater locations and say helpful things like "covers area."

I suggest looking into wide area repeater linking associations. D-Star and Fusion linking and networking are probably going to fill in these gaps in the future.

 

[wrath]

Not to be offensive but radio manufacturers probably believe as amateurs we have the skills to figure this out on our own , so even if a list did exist why include that as feature, it would just drive up the cost of purchasing a new rig.


Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[KE0GXN]

Well, I know my Repeater Book app lists repeaters based on a range setting at current my location on my phone, so the GPS coordinates are listed somewhere.....or at least there is some method of finding them through software anyway.

Not really looking for an exhaustive/exact listing just enough that a guy could travel down the highway and get some local repeaters inputted/deleted automatically to a scan list as he drives. If some don't get added so be it, usually you throw your call out and someone either comes back or not anyway.

As far as the skills, yeah, we all have those, but why not make things easier? I certainly don't miss buying the old Radio Shack Police Call books every year and manually entering frequencies into my scanner and hoping they stayed the same till the next edition came out at the beginning of the year.

I broke out my phone on a summer vacation drive last year, used the RB app and manually programmed repeaters in the area I was passing through on the Interstate and had QSOs with folks while I was traveling down the Interstate on local repeaters, but heck, how much easier would it have been if my amateur radio would have worked like my HP-2 I had running with my GPS attached listening to PS agencies the whole way to Florida and not having to worry about programming a thing as I traveled through several different States.

At the end of the day its just a thought guys...like most everything else in amateur radio, CW, digital, analog, HF, contesting or for some, even pressing the PTT and talking to strangers....may not be for everybody.

I personally would like and use the technology if it were made available....

 

[AK9R]

Well, I know my Repeater Book app lists repeaters based on a range setting at current my location on my phone, so the GPS coordinates are listed somewhere.

I suspect that they are guessing based on the geographic location associated with the repeater. There are databases which provide the lat/lon based on ZIP Code or city name, so it would be pretty easy to link that database to a repeater database resulting in a lat/lon encoded repeater database.

I am chairman of the Indiana Repeater Council. We do not release the lat/lon of the repeaters we've coordinated and I believe most of the coordinators in my area have the same policy.

One of the problems with the scanner databases that you refer to is the range data. Scanners, like the Uniden Home Patrol 1 use the lat/lon and range to determine whether or not you might be in range of the transmitter in the database. There are scientific ways to determine the range of a LMR transmitter, but I don't believe that any of our DB admins are using that technology. So, whether or not you can actually hear a transmitter that's in the HP-1 database is a bit of a crapshoot.

An amateur radio repeater database would have the same problem. RepeaterBook might list a dozen 2m repeaters for Indianapolis, let's say, but it gives you no indication which ones are high profile (greater range) and which ones are not. If you are right in Indianapolis, it might not matter. But, if you are 20 miles down the road, you aren't likely to hear the lower-profile repeaters. If the repeater database lists all repeaters with a range of 25 miles, well, you can see the problem.

Part of the issue here is that there is no unified database of amateur radio repeaters. The coordinators all have their databases and some of them publish repeater lists on-line. Web sites such as RepeaterBook and RFinder have their databases, but their data is mostly crowd-sourced and accuracy is spotty. The ARRL Repeater Directory is old-school technology that is out of date the day it is printed. The coordinators have talked about a nationwide database, but getting there brings a new definition to herding cats.

 

[KE0GXN]

I suspect that they are guessing based on the geographic location associated with the repeater. There are databases which provide the lat/lon based on ZIP Code or city name, so it would be pretty easy to link that database to a repeater database resulting in a lat/lon encoded repeater database.

I am chairman of the Indiana Repeater Council. We do not release the lat/lon of the repeaters we've coordinated and I believe most of the coordinators in my area have the same policy.

One of the problems with the scanner databases that you refer to is the range data. Scanners, like the Uniden Home Patrol 1 use the lat/lon and range to determine whether or not you might be in range of the transmitter in the database. There are scientific ways to determine the range of a LMR transmitter, but I don't believe that any of our DB admins are using that technology. So, whether or not you can actually hear a transmitter that's in the HP-1 database is a bit of a crapshoot.

An amateur radio repeater database would have the same problem. RepeaterBook might list a dozen 2m repeaters for Indianapolis, let's say, but it gives you no indication which ones are high profile (greater range) and which ones are not. If you are right in Indianapolis, it might not matter. But, if you are 20 miles down the road, you aren't likely to hear the lower-profile repeaters. If the repeater database lists all repeaters with a range of 25 miles, well, you can see the problem.

Part of the issue here is that there is no unified database of amateur radio repeaters. The coordinators all have their databases and some of them publish repeater lists on-line. Web sites such as RepeaterBook and RFinder have their databases, but their data is mostly crowd-sourced and accuracy is spotty. The ARRL Repeater Directory is old-school technology that is out of date the day it is printed. The coordinators have talked about a nationwide database, but getting there brings a new definition to herding cats.

Thanks for the info!

I actually suspect RB uses your grid square and just provides you listings within the specified range you set within your grid square or adjacent grid squares...GPS may not even be a factor. I could be wrong, but based on what my app looks like I am thinking that is how they do it, since you mentioned most don't release lat/long.

I guess all I can do is wait and hope I live long enough to see them cats herded one day...

Thanks again for the "inside" info.

 

[robertmac]

There are ways to do this with APRS if the repeater uses this mode.