Posts Tagged ‘APRS’

Am I missing anything?

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Posted 28 Nov 2011 — by Alex
Category Radio

I haven’t had a chance to put 13.8v to rig for some time now. I’m sure that conditions are improving and one thing is for certain, West Cumbria is pretty much covered by either APRS iGates or digipeaters thanks to the persistence of a few dedicated local amateurs, Colin, Noel and Julian just to mention 3 of the volunteers. There are so many now that there is almost full coverage as well as those further afield in Southern Scotland and the IoM so thank you.

Shame the same can’t be said for my trips to Scotland where I didn’t a single Baarrp up the M74 to Falkirk.

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FT817 + APRS-IS + AWGPE = Better iGate

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Posted 04 Nov 2011 — by Alex
Category Radio

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After trying out a few tweaks and twiddles with AWGTracker I was messaging a friend who suggested that I tried out APRS-ISCE/32 with AWGPE.

 

Not being shy about trying something new I did the honourable thing and gave it a go. It was quicker to set up than I thought but I did find the interface on the AWGTracker better, or rather the look and feel was a bit more up to date.

Colin suggested that I downloaded the developer version which had a few more features such a showing paths and I went for that too, unfortunately having had a successful iGate I now have one that doesn’t gate at all. I think I probably broke something in the process of downloading a new copy and starting over. Still its all fun.

I think when its up and running I will try and find a suitable home for it and also direct the antenna to a suitable place where the coverage isn’t that great in the local area to try and fill in a few gaps. Plenty of experimenting to be done and maybe some persuation of a friend to see if I can put the gate on his farm.

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FT 817+AGWPE+AGWTracker+Signalink = APRS iGate

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Posted 01 Nov 2011 — by Alex
Category Radio

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My FT 817 hasn’t been used as much as it ought to and whilst I don’t have too much time on my hands at the moment I was looking to add an iGate to my arsenal of ham radio tools. The time aspect put me off.

To my joy  I managed to set up the whole thing in a few hours. A couple one evening to get a handle on AGWPE and an hour to set the ft817 up. I did have an issue with the PTT lighting up and staying on when a beacon was sent but that was resolved by turning down the tx volume on the netbook.

I would love to be able to plonk this on the honister slate mine but for the time being I’m happy just to keep this running at home.

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Tour of Britain on APRS

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Posted 11 Sep 2011 — by Alex
Category Radio

If you’ve ever wondered who runs the communications on the cycling tours. I know its a little bit niche but even so if you even had just the slightest interest then I may have found the answer to the Tour of Britain at least.

Today I took my son to watch the first stage finish in Dumfries and naturally was in the car with the APRS handheld operational and as I was leaving the town a message popped up so I pulled over to read it. Not really expecting anything but I was surprised to find out that it was SQ4CCR /SQ4INC who run the comms for either a team or the whole of the tour. I didn’t manage to find out from Martin as I went over a hill and lost him. Needless to say they are on APRS.fi and the last time I looked were on their way to Kendal for the next start.

Seems that APRS is on the up and I’m glad to hear it.

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APRS WordPress widget

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Posted 23 Aug 2011 — by Alex
Category Radio

I found a nice little WordPress widget that displays your current APRS location on the sidebar of your site. You can see it in action on the right. Go to this site to get it on yours

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