Please visit the OARC sponsored APRS web site http://ontario.aprs.net/. Besides plenty of APRS info, this site offers a list server to exchange views on local APRS issues. To subscribe to the list: aprs-list-subscribe@ontario.aprs.net
It is really exciting to see the Ottawa map light up with APRS stations. This has all taken place over a short time. The efforts by WCARC to find some low cost GPS20's has resulted in several trackers being introduced. Also, several people have MIMs now. Many of these will become "blind" trackers. By this I mean that they don't listen before they transmit. If the channel is busy, there will be a lot of collisions, resulting in some eroneous packets. To help in minimizing congestion, please put ignition control on your tracker. I have my GPS wired on full time and my radio on ignition control, and it works just fine. The unproto path on trackers should be set to APRS VIA RELAY,WIDE or APRS VIA RELAY,WIDE,WIDE. Also the time on these can be set to 2 minutes or 1 minute and they work fine. Please don't set it for less except for special occasions.
Not everyone wants 2 radios in the car and all the associated problems. The MIC-E which is available from TAPR permits you to send a 300ms APRS burst at the end of each transmission when you are chatting with your buddies via a 2M (or whatever) repeater. Of course the repeater has to be equipped to receive the APRS packets into a TNC (for buffering), block them from the transmit side of the repeater, and communicate them to the APRS channel by either direct wiring or via a conventional low power APRS station co-located with the repeater. If you equip the TNC at the repeater receiver site with a new, special EPROM, the TNC can be set up to substitute the repeater's call sign for the RELAY wildcard in the original APRS packet.
Now personally, I think it would be ok to hear that 300ms packet burst at the end of every transmission, it would be just like a 'pong', but I guess that most avid repeater users wouldn't care for that too much, so the best idea is to block it from the transmit side.
Incidentally, the MIM is also capable of working with a radio to insert your APRS burst at the end of your transmissions, and it costs a lot less than the MIC-E which is very nicely packaged and all but not inexpensive after conversion to Canadian currency. The MIM has a 'hold-off' lead which will sense when your microphone PTT button is pressed, and send its transmission as soon as you let go. PLEASE ask your repeater committee to seriously consider putting APRS over your repeater.
On the June 7/98 weekend, Eric (VE3EI) turned up VE3BAT in the Prescott area. You'll notice that its DIGI symbol has the T (for TRACE) in the middle of the star. This is an indicator that the DIGI is running the new non-looping firmware. VE3BAT provides excellent coverage well along the way to Kingston. WCARC also has a new DIGI on the air, but I have not seen it yet. The Ottawa area is nearly saturated with DIGIs and I would urge you to get your ham buddies to set up home stations to fill in the gaps. Remember that every station should have its alias set to RELAY, guaranteeing that it will relay mobiles that have their path set to RELAY,WIDE or RELAY,WIDE,WIDE. Home stations should normally have their path set to 'nearest digipeater',WIDE or 'nearest digipeater','next digipeater',WIDE or something similar. If anyone has corrections or additional info on this topic, please drop me an email.
Richard (VE3UNW) and OARC have successfully established a permanent TCP/IP gate/connection to the internet (called an IGate). If you check the following servers, you can monitor Ottawa activity from anywhere in the world.
To look up an APRS station on the internet try http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?ve3mpc - you can substitute whatever call you want to check. Remember, most mobiles have a -9 or something similar, in their call (no spaces). This will give you three map views: street detail, bigger picture, and major highway view.
To look up weather from an APRS wx station on the internet try http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?VE3TEN - you can substitute whatever call you want to check.
Here's Bob VE3ADJ's wx station at Janetville http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?VE3ADJ also http://www.canaprs.net/wx/ve3adj.html
TAPR recently minted their PIC-E beta kit and I was lucky enough to get one of the 50 evaluation units. The package was a very clearly documented kit which included all needed components. The PIC-E uses a 16F84 PIC which has a complete processor, flash memory, and RAM on a single chip. The PIC-E also has a MX614 modem chip. Together this combination provides you with similar capability to the MIM (by Will Clements) and the MIC-E (also a TAPR kit), but the PIC-E outperforms its cousins because it can receive as well as transmit.
While the PIC-E is not limited to APRS, that is a natural application. There are literally hundreds of other applications for these devices.
To make it easier to program the 16F84 chip, the PIC-E has an on-board programmer. As a result, to reprogram the chip, it is only necessary to connect a short serial cable between the PIC-E and a PC serial port and run the appropriate programming software. There is a ton of free information and software for PICs at http://www.microchips.com site. The free software includes very sophisticated software development tools, assemblers, etc. Application software is downloadable from the TAPR SIG.
Here's one I got from a tech at Garmin. If your surplus GPS-20 is outputting data but refusing to lock when equipped with a good antenna outdoors, try shorting the on-board battery and counting to 5 slowly. This forces a reset and a "search the sky" function. Its worked for me for 3 GPS-20s. You should get a lock within 20 minutes. Leave the GPS in place for about another 1/2 hour to download a new table.
Be sure to turn each of your GPS's on at least once every 6 months (make it 5 to be safe). And leave it on long enough for it to update itself (1 hour).
Note that Garmin will repair a GPS-20 for a flat $40 USD. I'm told by Garmin that this rate will soon go up. Please don't hold me responsible for this, I'm just passing along what I was told.
When playing tracks:
Please click this icon to forward your comments or suggestions.