AmateurRadio.com

This transceiver looks like it should be possible to duplicate. A neat design. I think this connects via a USB socket so the PC acts as a node for digital modes like DSTAR.

See http://unsigned.io/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2

The picture on the left, from APRS.fi shows the level of coverage by APRS iGates in Wasdale (A lake district valley that is home to Scafell Pike, England’s tallest mountain). You can see that the coverage is fairly limited to heights above about 400m. That really isn’t very good.

I had walked from the road north of the river Irt and up what was a quite steep hill to Whin Rigg. What makes the lack of gates even more disappointing was that there is a clear view of the Isle of Man as well as southern Scotland as you move up the ascent.

So why is it so bad? Well the geography doesn’t help. Like many hilly areas the western lakes is a series of valley that lead out to sea so when you are low there is not much scope for RF to go anywhere. this also explains the patchy mobile phone coverage. Another aspect was the stock antenna on my vx-8. It really isn’t that good compared to other larger aftermarket options.

So what? well first off we hams aren’t the only people to us APRS or a similar protocol. The mountain rescue also use a proprietary system. They must suffer with the same lack of coverage despite a sizeable array at the head of the valley.

So what do other areas use? do they use APRS in hilly areas? are there low cost self powered digipeaters or iGates about? is APRS out-dated now that digital modes are so popular (not here mind you)? I’d like to know simply because I like APRS and think its a under utilised system here in IO84, perhaps elsewhere.

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73 de The LHS Guys

I’ve had a little play about whilst avoiding the household viewing of ‘Strictly come dancing’ aka ‘celebrity showing off’ with the APRS maps you can embed through APRS.fi

I’ve added a little map to the site here

Just a bit of fun but I do like APRS. Great for the fells.

Trouble is it seems to default to Helsinki regardless of the lat / long you put in the script

Everyone is talking about where the hobby is going in this “Second Century” of amateur radio and big ideas are falling like rain. Here’s something fairly simple that I’d like to see come to fruition. It should go without saying that these are fictional press releases…

#PRESS RELEASE
January 3, 2015

Chinese electronics manufacturer WunDuko announed today the immediate availability of a new VHF/UHF handheld transceiver for the amateur radio market. The device supports a thousand memory channels with alphanumeric display. The advanced communications device includes low-power Bluetooth communication permitting it to be programmed and upgraded via Bluetooth from a smartphone or personal computer. The handheld is expected to retail for $159 US.

END

#PRESS RELEASE
January 4, 2015

Internet Labs today announced the availability of a suite of Android applications intended to work with the new dual-band amateur handheld from WunDuko. The software enables Bluetooth communications between a smartphone and the transceiver. One of the apps included provides easy access to the full menu of options in the handheld, including the ability to program the memory channels, via the phone interface.

One of the other apps provided in the suite enables GPS data from a capable smartphone to be transmitted periodically via the handeld transceiver while position data from the radio appears on the phone via Google Maps. A company spokeman said, “it’s the perfect mobile APRS solution. There’s no klutzy hardware interface required between the devices and no reason at all to carry multiple GPS receivers.”

He also noted that the GPS in the smartphone works regardless of having a cellular connection. “Pairing the smartphone that you carry everywhere you go with the new handheld transceiver is the kind of sensible innovation we’ve been waiting on from the Japanese manufacturers for years”.

The Android app suite is available now in the Google Play Store for $9.99 US. Look for it to also be available on iOS in the coming months.

END

I have taken down my HFAPRS gates. The reason is they all use my MFJ magnetic loop antenna. At this time of the year it needs constant retuning due to temperature variations in the loft. So it is not practical to use it when I can not be in the shack to tweak the turning .