APRS....

[KE7TXQ]

I'm going to bite the bullet and setup my Kenwood V71-A with an OpenTracker+ and Garmin Nuvi 350. :bacon: Is anyone using the Voice Alert on APRS Freq?

I am picking up the Garmin today and then have to order some cables and the tracker from Argent Data Systems.

Can't wait to get it up and running!

[KJ6APX]

Thanks for prodding me into researching Voice Alert. In the few years I have been running APRS, I have not heard anyone call out. Although, I have TX’ed several times, by mistake.

I will have to test VA with my radio.

I have a similar set-up, Ft-8900, OT2, Garmin 350. The Garmin was hard to find a few years ago, your lucky you are able to find one now.

The system works great. However, I think an APRS dedicated radio, such as the Kenwood 710, or FT-350 would be a better route.

Having a display of where everyone is at – isn’t as useful as I thought it would be.

When you order the OT2, have them set the protocol to Garmin and you won’t need a computer to set anything up.

It’s a great system, enjoy it.

[KE7TXQ]

Thanks for prodding me into researching Voice Alert. In the few years I have been running APRS, I have not heard anyone call out. Although, I have TX’ed several times, by mistake.

I will have to test VA with my radio.

I have a similar set-up, Ft-8900, OT2, Garmin 350. The Garmin was hard to find a few years ago, your lucky you are able to find one now.

The system works great. However, I think an APRS dedicated radio, such as the Kenwood 710, or FT-350 would be a better route.

Having a display of where everyone is at – isn’t as useful as I thought it would be.

When you order the OT2, have them set the protocol to Garmin and you won’t need a computer to set anything up.

It’s a great system, enjoy it.

Thanks for the suggestion on having them pre-program. I am getting the opentracker+. Hoping that model will be all that I will need.

[KC0NNT]

Jonathon, What about ur 25 year old radio? :-)

[KE7TXQ]

Jonathon, What about ur 25 year old radio? :-)

I still have it and it still works! Can I use that with the opentracker+ and the Garmin to do aprs? That would be great if I could.

[KE7TXQ]

Slight change... I spoke with Scott from Argent and he said I need the OT2 not the OT+. But he also said that they are shipping the OT3 now and that is what I will be getting. I guess sames as OT2 but has USB for programming.

[AC0VH]

So the OT3 is just OT2 with USB instead of RS232?

[AC0VH]

Does anyone know about APRS on UHF? At least the equivalent of 144.390 on 70cm. Near as I can tell there is no agreed frequency or standard. It complicates the matter that packet on UHF is usually 9600 baud but inexpensive and easily found TNCs are rare. I have a TT4 and TNC-X, but neither at the moment supports 9600 baud.

[KE7TXQ]

So the OT3 is just OT2 with USB instead of RS232?
I believe so but not sure as I did not see the specs for the ot3.

[K7VZ]

I think the USB is for programming only. RS232 is still for connecting devices.

[AC0VH]

I think the USB is for programming only. RS232 is still for connecting devices.
The TNC-X uses a USB virtual port on the computer. It also has a serial port for connection to a GPS, old computer or the like. USB is nice because it also powers the TNC.

[N7IYT]

Does anyone know about APRS on UHF? At least the equivalent of 144.390 on 70cm. Near as I can tell there is no agreed frequency or standard. It complicates the matter that packet on UHF is usually 9600 baud but inexpensive and easily found TNCs are rare. I have a TT4 and TNC-X, but neither at the moment supports 9600 baud.
Here in the Phoenix area the standard UHF APRS frequency is 445.925 MHz. The baud rate is 1200 just like VHF. I believe these settings are standard in most parts of the country.

[AC0VH]

Here in the Phoenix area the standard UHF APRS frequency is 445.925 MHz. The baud rate is 1200 just like VHF. I believe these settings are standard in most parts of the country.
I'd read that 445.925 was a quasi standard. Quiet as a mouse here in Denver. Do you guys have any IGATES on UHF down there?

[N7IYT]

I'd read that 445.925 was a quasi standard. Quiet as a mouse here in Denver. Do you guys have any IGATES on UHF down there?

I use it almost all the time for beaconing, especially when I am in town. Check N7IYT-9 to see how well UHF I-Gates work here in the Phoenix Area. For off-road use, VHF is usually better. Although I have found a few spots where UHF works better.

I find a lot of digipeaters and I-Gates in my stations heard list, but not a lot of other users, VHF gets much more use.

[N5MUD]

I'd read that 445.925 was a quasi standard. Quiet as a mouse here in Denver. Do you guys have any IGATES on UHF down there?

UHF is as quiet as the grave in my part of Tejas. Never even tried beaconing on it.

[KE7TXQ]

Update.... still waiting for Argent to ship my OT3.... they said next week. I'm hoping to have it setup prior to RAGNAR.

[KD8IUS]

This post has spurred me into wanting to hook my APRS gear back up.

My original set up was:
Yaesu FT2500
Byonics TinyTrak3+
Garmin Puck GPS

Of course it's own antenna, and the needed cables. Ran that setup for about 3 years. Pulled it all and sold the Yaesu to a buddy that had just gotten his Tech, and needed a mobile rig. I had actually nabbed a Nuvi 350 in anticipation of reinstalling some APRS gear, and having the messaging capability.

I'm planning on getting the Alinco DR-135T, and the Argent Data T2-135 internal board for it, as well as the cable to connect it to the Nuvi. Will be a much simpler, and cleaner install.

[AC0VH]

The post by KD8IUS got me thinking, how many of you guys are running a dedicated APRS radio? I was dinking with an old FT-1500 and have two antenna holes punched in my cab roof but they're very close (about a foot apart). When the APRS would beacon it would blank the other radio, which didn't really surprise me. But the article in QST last November got me to thinking about how strong that signal was.

According to Joel Hallas, W1ZR, a reasonable distant between two VHF antennas at 50W was more like 16 feet. Even then the signal was had 30dBm of isolation due to distance, so a 50W signal with even modest gain is going to be +10dBm and most receivers are just barely OK there. At a few feet the received signal could be +30dBm, which is almost guaranteed to blow out your front end.

Now in town an APRS beacon only needs to be 5W or 10W, but out away from the city (e.g the middle of Kansas or off the grid in Colorado) having a 50W TX seems to be more important. I'm moving the APRS antenna to a different spot, but it's still only gonna be maybe 7 or so feet from the regular VHF antenna.

So anyone thought about this?

[KD8IUS]

I never gave the antenna placement much though. I had them set the cab width apart, of course where I live I don't have much in the way of wide open spaces, and only needed to run at 5 watts. I don't remember it blanking the radio out when the APRS rig would beacon.

[KI6JFU]

The post by KD8IUS got me thinking, how many of you guys are running a dedicated APRS radio?
[snip]

I have a Yaesu FT-8800 in my Tacoma for voice comms and a Kenwood TM-271 installed as a dedicated APRS unit (and back-up 2m radio). Both are mounted under the driver and passenger seats with the FT-8800 head unit mounted centerline below the A/C controls.

In a stand-alone APRS configuration I provide a GPS signal to an Argent Data Systems OT2m (http://www.argentdata.com/products/tracker2.html) tracker by tapping the NMEA serial output of my Garmin GPSMap 60Csx, which is mounted up where I can see it when I'm driving. The GPSMAP 60 displays APRS contacts, although it does not do a good job of erasing old positions.

When I'm using OziExplorer on my navigation laptop as a moving map/APRS contact display, I get the GPS signal from a GlobalSat MR-350 (http://www.globalsat.com.tw/products-page.php?menu=2&gs_en_product_id=2&gs_en_product_cnt_id=31) which is mounted on my roof. The GPS signal is connected to OziExplorer and the APRS contacts and GPS signal are passed to/from the OT2m via some custom software. Sounds like a kludge, but it easy to set up and it's wired so that almost nothing is visible. Both the radio and the tracker are turned on with a single switch mounted on the side of the center console.

When I'm in the boonies, I set up an Elk log-periodic 2m/70cm antenna for help hitting distant digipeaters for APRS messaging and voice comms. I use a solar panel to recharge my aux battery via a DC/DC smartcharger when I'm camped.

The Kenwood TM-271 is no longer made, but if you can get a used unit, they work great as a dedicated APRS unit. There is a pad on the motherboard that can be wired for a data output port (the port was not installed on the U.S. model). Solid radio, and with the addition of a data port, it is real bargain.