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I have operated an APRS beacon on several occasions. APRS stands for the Automatic Position Reporting System. Developed by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, APRS is a system by which a beacon transmits a "packet" of data at regular intervals. This packet includes a position report. If the transmitter is wired to a GPS receiver, the beacon can transmit its location (and be tracked by properly-equipped receiving stations) with very high precision. My APRS equipment includes a Radio Shack HTX-202 transceiver (the beacon transmitter), an AEA PK-88 TNC, a Garmin eTrex GPS receiver, and my laptop computer. Output is about one watt on the Texas APRS frequency (144.390MHz). When I am on the air, I use WinAPRS software. Bill Dunlap, KA5KTH, has developed a Web site which displays all of the APRS beacons heard from his station in North Austin. You can use this site to locate KC5WXX when my APRS beacon is on the air! The site backlogs several hours worth of data, so even if my beacon is down, you may possibly find a logged position report by using the "search" form.
You can also use the APRS World site to find the most recent packet sent by my APRS beacon (it may be a little behind, though, as my packet must be "bounced" from station to station many times before it is picked up by the APRSworld.net system).
Click here to search for KC5WXX on APRS World.
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