APRS Is Awesome
By Natasha L. - http://www.lupinia.net/
Posted:  September 29, 2007  0:51:19 | 552 words
========================

Wee, radio nerd time! If you're completely out of the loop, I'm an amateur radio operator, and APRS is a digital radio system that you can read more about [here](http://web.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs.html).

Last February, I wanted to get a new handheld, with my focus being furry con usage (which, sadly, was where I used my radio gear the most). I'm a huge fan of Kenwood's HAM gear, so I picked up a TH-D7AG (I wrote a review of it [here](d7review.htm)), their cutting-edge handheld with, among other things, built-in support for digital communications and APRS. I mostly got it for its dual-receive capabilities, but after reading the manual, APRS sounded kinda cool. I turned on the TNC (think radio-modem), and listened, and found that there was a very large amount of activity in this area. Without a GPS handy, I couldn't readily see where the other stations were, so I figured I'd wait until I got a GPS unit to play with it more.

Well, this week, after saving up for it for quite awhile, I purchased the companion to my radio, the [AvMap Geosat 5](http://www.avmap.it/index.php?swt=01&sec=1&ipr=260) navigation system. It's extraordinarily hard to find in the US, but it's designed to be an out-of-the-box counterpart to Kenwood's APRS-ready radios, in addition to being a very high-quality GPS unit by itself. I've been practically drooling over this thing since before I bought my HT, and last month, I discovered that my HAM radio outlet of choice, [AES](http://www.aesham.com), carries Avmap products!

When the GPS arrived, I was thrilled to see that it even included a serial cable pre-made to connect to my radio, and instructions detailing the specific settings for optimal operation. No guesswork involved, I had the APRS functionality up and running almost instantaneously (I mis-read a step, which delayed me a bit).

Not only does the GPS relay position data to the radio, but it receives the location of other stations and maps them as a special class of saved address. And, unlike the radio, which caps the memorized data at 40 stations, the GPS's memory is seemingly unlimited!

Today, I set up my APRS gear while driving around for work, and left it running pretty much all day. In the process, I found out that the digital repeater tower ("digipeater") in this area is connected to a massive APRS network spanning the entire mid-atlantic region! I recorded over 140 unique stations in 10 hours, from states including PA, VA, MD, DC, NJ, DE, WV, NC, and TN. I even had a few text-message conversations with users both near and far. And all of this was over a free, open-ended, completely user-built network.

This, my friends, is the essence of amateur radio, and I think this is the most excitement I've gotten from the hobby since I had my first conversation on a local repeater. I've heard old-school hams say that packet radio isn't "real" amateur radio, but after my experience today, I strongly disagree. I simply couldn't contain how much fun I had with this today, so I had to share :-)

For those who are attending the [Western PA Furry Weekend](http://www.wpafw.org), if you come to the Radiofurs panel, I'm one of the four panelists, and I'll be talking more about APRS and packet radio, with a live APRS demo.


========================
(c) 2007 Natasha L.
Original version and further downloads available at https://sl.lupinia.net/personal/radio/aprs-awesome.htm