APRS Air Mobile: Difference between revisions
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The easy way to do this is using an APRS capable handheld radio. I have been using my Yaesu VX8 for this lately and it really works well. This has the extended battery pack on it and can easily run all day. I have it set to beacon every 2 minutes. | The easy way to do this is using an APRS capable handheld radio. I have been using my Yaesu VX8 for this lately and it really works well. This has the extended battery pack on it and can easily run all day. I have it set to beacon every 2 minutes. | ||
== Standalone Trackers == | |||
Another option is a standalone tracker such as this: https://www.tindie.com/products/ballooner/2m-aprs-arduino-818-12v-uno/ | Another option is a standalone tracker such as this: https://www.tindie.com/products/ballooner/2m-aprs-arduino-818-12v-uno/ | ||
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[[File:Arduino_aprs.jpg|600px]] | [[File:Arduino_aprs.jpg|600px]] | ||
Above is my instance of | Above is my instance of that. | ||
Pros: | |||
* It's standalone, plugs into the cigarette lighter and never needs charging. Set and forget. | |||
* Relatively inexpensive. | |||
Cons: | |||
* It's only 1 watt output which in sparsely populated areas doesn't always get out real well. | |||
== Digipeaters == | |||
The conventional wisdom is don't use digipeaters from airborn transmitters. This makes sense, as a transmitter up high might get into multiple digis at once, causing unnecessary congestion. Remember all APRS shares a single channel and when packets are being digipeated, no one else can send. So, minimizing congestion is important. | |||
I have tried that though, and didn't have very good luck. Here in the sparsely populated area of northern AZ, Utah, and Wyoming, packets just do not get out to iGates without using digipeaters. At least not from the altitudes I fly (usually under 10,000 ft) and the antenna setups I'm using. The best compromise I have been able to come up with is use WIDE2-1 for the digi path. Not WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1 which is what my VX8 defaults to. The idea is to only trigger WIDE2 digis, which theoretically should be a smaller number and farther apart than WIDE1 digis. I also only beacon once every two minutes. | |||
Latest revision as of 04:54, 29 November 2025
Running APRS while flying is a fun and semi-useful project. APRS often has much better aerial coverage than cellular networks, allowing friends and family to see your location as you fly across the country. And yes ADSB does this too but practically, only if you have a 1090 (mode S) ADSB solution. The UAT solutions I have do not have much coverage on sites like flightaware due to fewer 978 ground receivers and the fact that the airborn transmitter is very low power (fractions of a watt vs hundreds of watts for a mode S transponder).
The easy way to do this is using an APRS capable handheld radio. I have been using my Yaesu VX8 for this lately and it really works well. This has the extended battery pack on it and can easily run all day. I have it set to beacon every 2 minutes.
Standalone Trackers
Another option is a standalone tracker such as this: https://www.tindie.com/products/ballooner/2m-aprs-arduino-818-12v-uno/
Above is my instance of that.
Pros:
- It's standalone, plugs into the cigarette lighter and never needs charging. Set and forget.
- Relatively inexpensive.
Cons:
- It's only 1 watt output which in sparsely populated areas doesn't always get out real well.
Digipeaters
The conventional wisdom is don't use digipeaters from airborn transmitters. This makes sense, as a transmitter up high might get into multiple digis at once, causing unnecessary congestion. Remember all APRS shares a single channel and when packets are being digipeated, no one else can send. So, minimizing congestion is important.
I have tried that though, and didn't have very good luck. Here in the sparsely populated area of northern AZ, Utah, and Wyoming, packets just do not get out to iGates without using digipeaters. At least not from the altitudes I fly (usually under 10,000 ft) and the antenna setups I'm using. The best compromise I have been able to come up with is use WIDE2-1 for the digi path. Not WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1 which is what my VX8 defaults to. The idea is to only trigger WIDE2 digis, which theoretically should be a smaller number and farther apart than WIDE1 digis. I also only beacon once every two minutes.