REFLECTOR: APRS amateur radio tracking

[David Staten]

Go to www.hamtestonline.com and see for yourself. Free test banks. All 
you need to operate APRS or the more popular communication bands is a 
technician level (no morse code) license. That covers VHF (2m/144 mhz) 
and UHF (70 cm/444 mhz)

You can get a very cheap APRS setup from www.byonics.com. For under 100 
bucks you can get the brain box (called a TNC) and a puck GPS. If you 
are flying you really dont need much power output to hit every 
digipeater or I-gate in a 3 county area, so you could get a small low 
power xmitter and hook it up to an extra airband com antenna, or take an 
ELT antenna and shorten it a hair to make it more tuned.

The test is $14. It goes to the ARRL (www.arrl.net). The test sessions 
are run by volunteer examiners who are HAMS from your area. A list of 
tests in your area can be found at the ARRL site.

I've not done airborne APRS, but I've used it extensively on a 
motorcycle I use for escorting special events and bicycle events. Got my 
ham ticket SOLELY for that reason.

Dave
> Chuck Jensen wrote:
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>> Dave,
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>> The APRS is an excellent idea.  Some on the RV list have been doing this and seems to work very well.  FlightAwares is fine as long as a person is filed and flying IFR, but there's no tracking for VFR.  I'd intended to install a system but getting around to getting the ham license was what had slowed me up. Where does one take a ham test? Keep us posted on how things go and share whatever details you can.
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>> Chuck Jensen
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