March 5,
2003
March 5,
2003
  
    
   
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(or: Now that I've got it set up, how do I make it work for me?) by Arte Booten N2ZRC (packet: N2ZRC@KB2VLX.#BRONX.NY.USA.NA) (E-mail: n2zrc@weca.org) In other articles I've described what The Automatic Position Reporting System is and how to get it set up on your computer and radio. So you're now probably telling yourself "OK, great. I've got these sta- tions appearing on my screen. Now what do I do?"
One of the features in APRS is the ability to send what we call one-
liners; that is, one-line messages from station to station either direct
or by using digipeaters. From the main APRS screen press S(end), type
the station's call and
When you send a message in this manner it will be sent via the same di-
gipeater path as your position and ID packets. If your intended recipi-
ent is someplace else you can STILL send it there by specifying an al-
ternate digipeater path, which the program can store for you. If you
press O(perations) D(igipath) S(ave), you'll be prompted to enter a two-
letter code for that path via whatever path you choose, such as:
to get to Southern New Jersey from Northern Westchester. To see which
paths you've stored, press O(perations) D(igipath) L(ist). The main
purpose of these alternate paths is to keep the QRM to a minimum and to
use the most direct and, sometimes, the only feasible path.
The weather systems feature of APRS allows you to see various weather
information in real-time which is transmitted by stations with a Peet
Bros. or Davis Weather Station. Depending on which version of APRS
you're using (as of now, August 1999, it's 8.42) and the options the
weather station has, you can get different kinds of information inclu-
ding temperature, rainfall amounts (to the 1/100th inch) in the past
hour and 24 hour periods, wind speed, direction and gusts and barometric
pressure. By pressing W(eather) I(cons), or W(eather) D(isplay), you'll
see a list of options to choose from. These have changed for the better)
in the last few versions, so I can't be specific.
If at any time you wish to cease transmitting without actually shutting
down the program, simply touch C(ommands) X(mit). This will disable the
timer within APRS. When you want to send a specific packet (most often
your position) you can do so by pressing X(mit) P(osition) [or S(tatus),
M(essage), O(bject) or A(ll), as the case may be.]
In order to find a station on the screen, you can always use the O(pera-
tions) F(ind) (what else!) command. If you want to see something really
neat, try O(perations) R(eplay), and type in the callsign of a mobile
station. What you'll see the station's track being replayed. To access
your TNC you'd use O(perations) C(omms) T(NC) which leads you to a very
basic terminal screen. To get stations to appear on your screen faster
(within two or three minutes) use O(perations) Q(uery), followed by a
radius in miles from you.
Now that you've been on the air with APRS for a few hours, you don't
necessarily want to wait for all those stations to reappear if, for some
reason, you have to exit the program. No problem. When you shut down
APRS by pressing Q(uit) Q(uit)
One thing to remember when playing with APRS is that the best way to
learn, as with anything else, is by doing. You can play with the com-
mands as much as you want. You're not going to BREAK anything! About
the worst thing that can happen is a lockup, and this is a rare thing.
Usually the three-fingered-salute (Ctrl-Alt-Del) will get you out of it
and you'll have to start over. So play with the thing. I mean, how do
you think I learned all this about APRS stuff, by reading about it?
Speaking of reading about it, yes I did. It's all right there in the
APRS distribution zip file. You can always read those files by pressing
F1 F(iles) and typing in the name of the file you want to see. One sug-
gestion: if you're a slow reader, press the down-arrow button once in a
while as APRS seems to get impatient with you when it just sits there
while you re-read that paragraph for the umpty-umph time and shoves you
back into the program.
There are dozens of these readme files in the "README" folder. You can
also see them (at your leisure and there for the printing) by using any
old text editor. Many of the answers to your questions can be found
there, sometimes buried deep and not quite as visible as you'd like.
You can also purchase "Getting On Track with APRS", which was written by
none other than Stan Horzepa (WA1LOU). It's available at many ham radio
shops as well as your local hamfest. Or you can order it directly from
the ARRL. Stan's book will walk you through much of what you'd like to
know, in somewhat more detail than I can here. Mr. Horzepa is the au-
author of the "Digital Dimensions" column in QST magazine, and also runs
the WA1LOU-15 digipeater in Wolcott, CT.
I hope you enjoyed this series on APRS and hope to see you on the map in
the near future. Whenever I see a new station on the screen I try to
send them a one-liner welcoming them to APRS and offering live assist-
ance and advice. Feel free to take advantage of this, or ask questions
of any station on the air at that time. We're all very excited about
this program and think that "the more, the merrier" is the way to go.
We've gotten a lot of "converts" in the last few years and this situa-
tion can only improve, so come and join us on 144.390!
73
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