Introduction to APRS

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Introduction to APRS

• Ken Adkisson, WB4FAY
• www.wb4fay.com
• wb4fay_at_wb4fay.com

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Topics to be covered

• What is APRS?
• Why do I want APRS?
• How do I view APRS?
• OK, now how do I go mobile?
• Current software
• The internet piece of the puzzle
• Upcoming goodies

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What is APRS

• Automatic
• Position
• Reporting
• System
• By Bob Bruninga, WB4APR
• Brief history

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History of APRS

• Initial use as we know it in 1990 to track boats
  during summer cruises. The following flavors
  followed.
• MacAPRS
• WinAPRS
• APRS
• pocketAPRS
• PerlAPRS
• XAPRS
• www.findu.com

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Why do I want APRS?

• For Starters.
• Ok, Joe Ham tells me he has a bike rider down but
  has no clue were he is.
• Or, Joe Ham has hail coming down and still has no
  clue were he is.
• Joe Ham is part of a disaster evaluation team.

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How do I view APRS?
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Software

• There are many flavors to APRS
• DOS APRS
• WinAPRS and APRSSA
• XAPRS for Linux
• pocket APRS (Palm Pilot)
• APRSdigi and Uidigi (digi software)
• PerlAPRS

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OK, now how do I go mobile?

• TNC route
• Mic-E route
• Soundcard as TNC
• GPS receiver
• Do I have/want to use a laptop ?
• Use Sound Card for TNC ?

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Mobile Equipment
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TNC Verses Mic-E

• TNC route requires a separate radio
• Mic-E can go in-between radio and microphone
• Either route can be run on separate radio
• Either route is referred to as a TRACKER

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Definitions

• A tracker is a mobile station
• Posits are position reports
• UI Frames are frames that do not employ error
  correction techniques, entirely that is.
• Digipeaters are stations that act as a simplex
  repeater except in a digital format
• IGATES are stations that feed data to and from
  the internet

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Definitions

• GATES are stations that take the HF APRS data and
  retransmits them on VHF and possible the
  internet.
• IGATES are stations that take the APRS data and
  retransmits it between an RF channel and the
  internet.
• APRServers are stations that IGATES send data to
  and redistribute them to the IGATEs

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How does it work, basically?

• A tracker or fixed stations sends out a UI frame
  that has lat/long and possibly other data (e.g.
  altitude, course, speed, wx info, etc.)
• If the packet burst passes the checksum, the info
  is then displayed on the screen.
• If the checksum fails, the packet is lost. This
  is not a big deal since the posit will be
  transmitted again soon.

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The Next Level

• IGATES, why would I want to do this?
• IGATES provide a feed to the net so everyone can
  see what is going on and allows for messaging on
  a world level
• Balloons, mobile stations, weather events you
  want to track, using automated watch/warning data
  to transmit in your area.

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What else can I do with APRS

• Connect your weather station
• DF abilities
• track vehicles (balloons, trucks, space vehicles,
  hurricanes)
• messages

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Guy Story W8XF balloon launch on 8-3-97. The X
indicates max altitude achieved.
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Digipeater does and donts
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Other station tips

• What is my tnc deviation?
• The target is 3 kHz deviation
• Greatly improves channel throughput.
• Go to http//www.febo.com/packet/layer-one/index.h
  tml for more data.
• Open squelch??????
• Hidden and deaf transmitters

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