What is APRS?

• APRS stands for Automatic Packet Reporting System or Automatic Position Reporting System.

• APRS was developed in the early 1990's by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, for tracking and digital communications with mobile GPS equipped stations utilizing Amateur two-way radio.

APRS is not a vehicle tracking system.

• It is a two-way tactical real-time digital communications system between all assets in a network sharing information about everything going on in the local area. On ham radio, this means if something is happening now, or there is information that could be valuable to you, then it should show up on your APRS radio in your mobile.

How It Works

• APRS uses a simplex 2 meter frequency

• Operates at 1200 baud

• APRS is on 144.39 throughout the North American Continent

• Can be used on other frequencies for events

Basic Capabilities

• Position Reports

• Weather Reports

• Telemetry Data

• Messages, Bulletins and Announcements

Uses of APRS

• Public Service Events

• Emergency Operations

• Weather Station Reporting

• SKYWARN

Public Service Events

• Coordinate Volunteers

• Information Gathering

• Graphical Representation of Event Coverage

Emergency Operations

• Coordinate & Organize help

• Gather Information– Quickly– Graphically

• Decrease response times to location

• Increase efficient deployment to location

APRS Stations

• There are a variety of APRS Station types, just like a voice ham station:– Home– Mobile (trackers)– Portable– Weather– Repeater (digipeaters)– IGate

Station Basics

• Transceiver

• TNC

• Display

• GPS

Various Mobile Setups

TNC

Mobile Radio

144.390

Mobile Radio

144.390

Mobile Radio

144.390

GPS

GPS

TinyTrak

144.390

GPS

GPS

Laptop Kenw oodTM-D700

Mobile Tracking Installations utilize a GPS connected to the radio through the TNC interface,Although the new “APRS Ready” transceivers like Kenwood’s TM- D700 have their own built in TNC.

Various Portable Setups

GPSTinyTrak

TNC

GPS

PalmPilot

StandardH T

144.390

144.390

StandardH T

GPS Kenw oodTHD-7A

Battery

144.390

A Portable Tracker is usually low powered and may need a nearby digipeater.

These units work well with bike-a-thons, parades and other community events, along with search & rescue operations and weather nets.

Weather Station Setups

TNC

VHF Transceiver

144.390

VHF Transceiver

144.390

VHF Transceiver

144.390TinyTrak

Laptop

TNC

Weather station setups with APRS are similar to the normal setups, but the GPS unit is usually replaced by outside Weather Monitoring Equipment.

APRS-IS

• IGATEs are stations that feed data to and from the internet

• APRServers are stations that IGATES send data to and redistribute them to the IGATEs

• www.Findu.com is a database archiving weather, position, telemetry, and message data. The primary source of data is APRS. This database is constantly updated and is accessed via a number of dynamic web pages.

Definitions

• A tracker is a mobile station

• Posits are position reports

• Digipeaters are stations that act as a simplex repeater except in a digital format

• GATES are stations that take the HF APRS data and retransmits them on VHF and possible the internet.

Resources

• APRS Overview by WB4APR:http://www.aprs.org

• FindU.com:http://www.findu.com

• Tucson Amateur Packet Radiohttp://www.tapr.org/

• APRS SIG mailing listhttps://lists.tapr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aprssig

• 2003 North Texas APRS Workshophttp://www.n5oom.org/2004_hamcom/presentations.htm

Software• Xastir (an open-source APRS-compatible system under development for Linux and

other X-capable systems)http://www.xastir.org

• APRS for DOS (original, requires 8088 or better, 640K RAM, VGA)ftp://ftp.tapr.org/aprssig/dosstuff/APRSdos/

• WinAPRS (32-bit Windows program, needs Win95/98 or Win 3.1 plus Win32s extensions)ftp://ftp.tapr.org/aprssig/winstuff/WinAPRS/

• MacAPRS (available for 68K or Power PC Macintosh computers)ftp://ftp.tapr.org/aprssig/macstuff/MacAPRS/

• APRS Plus SA (allows you to run Win95/98 Delorme Street Atlas 4 or later with as an APRS station)http://www.tapr.org/~kh2z/aprsplus/Download.htm

• UI-View (A Win 3.1/95/98 APRS-compatible system that supports BPQ- and AGW-compatible devices)

• AGW Packet Engine for Windows 9x adds support for Baycom modems, KISS TNCs and even sound cards to WinAPRS, APRS Plus SA, and other programs.http://www.soundcardpacket.info

Projects/Kits

• HamHUD (APRS-Compatible Display/Control Unit for TNC-based Trackers)http://www.hamhud.net/

• TinyTrak3 (GPS position encoder which, when connected to a serial GPS and a radio, will transmit its location at an adjustable rate)http://www.byonics.com/tinytrak/