The Ham Radio Thread

[gary78bronco]

If your down in Orem. I could help you.

 

[nnnnnate]

I was going to try Lowes at lunch but then while thinking of nut and bolt remembered Ray Fasteners off 13th south and 7th west and went there. They found them quick and only charged me a buck for two of them. Now I've got a spare in my ash tray.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[moab_cj5]

So while up on scout camp a couple weekends ago one of the two set screws rattled out of the base of my NMO 2/70 antenna. I know they had been on there really tight when I first got them because I cinched them down but when I got home I realized the antenna was leaning to the side and checked it and I was able to pull the mast out easily. I'm not sure how I didn't lose it on the freeway but it somehow made it all the way home. I'll be adding a little lock tight to them when I re install it.

The bigger question is where can I find a replacement lock screw? Is this something that a big box store will have? Ace? I'm heading to Colorado Monday and don't know that I've got time to order one online.

I will take one of mine to Ace tomorrow and see if they have it, if you don't resolve it today. I have found that the small stuff is hit and miss at Lowes and Home Depot. I usually have to go to ACE for all the specialty stuff i have needed.

 

[nnnnnate]

Something interesting that popped up in an email yesterday from Backcountry Navigator. BCN is an android mapping app similar to Gaia that I've had installed for years. The dev is local (Utah) and sends out emails fairly regularly about new updates and things going on with the software. I typically just delete the emails but when I opened the most recent one yesterday I caught a buzzword and left it for later. Basically the app has integrated data from APRSdroid and is able to drop pins on the BCN map where APRS users are currently stationed. You have to have APRSdroid installed and configured and then check a beta button in BCN but it works. I don't know how useful this will actually be, but I think its neat to have the integration of APRS and offroad maps.

APRS is a system to share your GPS location through ham radio frequencies. There are ham radios with this system integrated but you can also build or buy modules to add this functionality to any ham radio, including the cheap baofeng handhelds. My mobile (Yaesu FTM-400) has this built in and while I've tinkered with it its not something I've used extensively. I do believe that Kurt Williams and Ryan Davis have and do use it a lot, especially with Kangaroo Racing.

APRSdroid is $5 from the android app store but if you go to their website (aprsdroid.org) you can download and install it for free. Before you're able to use the functionality you need to register and request a passcode connected to your callsign which takes a day or two. I did this a while back before I changed to my vanity sign but it still works and thats what I entered to check functionality. I'm going to get back in and request a new passcode with my current sign.

Finally, for the big nerds out there here is a link to the BCN forum where this is being discussed. I only scanned it but figured I'd drop the link in here anyway in case someone was curious.

Here is a quick screenshot of my phone with BCN and the APRSdroid pin overlay from this morning.

 

[sixstringsteve]

That's pretty awesome, thanks for letting us know!

 

[DAA]

Thanks Nate, that's timely. I was wondering how I was going to do almost exactly that.

Don't have a mobile penciled in to the budget until spring, so still a ways off for me. But starting to try and get things figured out and make a decision. As of now, if the budget holds up, I'll be choosing between the FTM-400XDR and the TM-D710GA. Love the big color screen of the Yaesu. But the fully accessible TNC in the Kenwood seems like it would be a better choice if I really want to geek out on packet stuff. Really good to see you have this working on the 400 though, as that's really about as far as I'd probably ever actually want to geek out on packet, really. The rest would be just for fun and being geeky.

- DAA

 

[nnnnnate]

I guess the question is how this will work out in the stick where data isn't available. APRSdroid uses and gets its info from your phone or tablets data connection. I'm guessing that you'll need to retain that data for this to work on BCN.

 

[Kevin B.]

I guess the question is how this will work out in the stick where data isn't available. APRSdroid uses and gets its info from your phone or tablets data connection. I'm guessing that you'll need to retain that data for this to work on BCN.

It's designed to work with this: https://store.mobilinkd.com/products/mobilinkd-tnc2-2. I think it ties up your radio and prevents voice comm (unless you have more than one TNC? Dunno.), but if everybody you're with is APRS equipped you can still text.

 

[DAA]

I guess the question is how this will work out in the stick where data isn't available. APRSdroid uses and gets its info from your phone or tablets data connection. I'm guessing that you'll need to retain that data for this to work on BCN.

Ahhhh! I misunderstood. Thought this was using your 400's built in TNC and pushing the APRS data to BCN. But, I guess what it's actually doing, is grabbing the data online and pushing it to BCN. Yeah, that would be pretty useless to me... But for a second there, I thought it was using the TCN in the 400, which I had been thinking probably wasn't possible or at least not straightforward to to.

It's designed to work with this: https://store.mobilinkd.com/products/mobilinkd-tnc2-2. I think it ties up your radio and prevents voice comm (unless you have more than one TNC? Dunno.), but if everybody you're with is APRS equipped you can still text.

I don't think you need more than one TNC, just true dual band with more than one VFO? But I might be on glue again... But here is where I wonder if the fully accessible TNC on the Kenwood 710GA (which is true dual VFO), could work in place of the mobilinkd TNC?

I surely do not know. But eventually I'll dig in and figure it all out. Before I decide which mobile to get. This is exactly the kind of geeking out on packet I was talking about.

- DAA

 

[nnnnnate]

APRS does tie up one band. My mobile is dual so if I am running it (I always do) then it uses the second band and I have the first on whatever frequency I'm trying to communicate on. APRSdroid, the phone app, needs a way to get its data out of your phone to the rest of the APRS network. That thing you linked is what you can use to turn a non-GPS/APRS equipped ham radio into one that will transmit APRS data. Kurt has something like that plugged into his older Kenwood 710 which at the time didn't come with APRS built in. That unit still ties up one band for transmission though so if you run it on a single band handheld that radio becomes a dedicated APRS rig.

This is all getting a little away from my initial post though with APRSdroid becoming integrated into Backcountry Navigator, which is totally fine. What seemed neat to me about the combining of the two capabilities was being able to see a beacon on an actual map with someone elses actual position. As it is now when I get an APRS beacon on my mobile it gives me their speed, heading, and distance from my location which is fine but I'm not versed enough to know and visualize where that puts someone in a manner that is useful. No doubt others can but regardless having pins on a map would be much more beneficial to me.

 

[Kevin B.]

This is all getting a little away from my initial post though with APRSdroid becoming integrated into Backcountry Navigator, which is totally fine. What seemed neat to me about the combining of the two capabilities was being able to see a beacon on an actual map with someone elses actual position.

That was how I found APRSDroid, the little "beta" button in BCN. I too am stoked to have APRS data on my Topo or Accuterra maps.

 

[DAA]

This is all getting a little away from my initial post though with APRSdroid becoming integrated into Backcountry Navigator, which is totally fine.

No, I'm right on point with that. It's precisely what I'm talking about. Well, okay, I'm talking more about what I thought and wished the APRSdroid and BCN integration looked like. What I now realize it actually is, eh, of no use to me. But of interest!

What seemed neat to me about the combining of the two capabilities was being able to see a beacon on an actual map with someone elses actual position.

Exactly. That IS neat. But, for me and I suspect most of the users on this site, totally worthless if it relies on having a data connection. What I thought for a second you were showing, were the beacons being received on the APRS frequency on your radio and being sent up by your built in TNC to APRSdroid, which was then using it's hook into BCN to display those beacons on the map. Now THAT would be useful!

Basically, bring the Yaesu Group Monitor idea to full fruition on a map.

It's obviously possible. BCN has the hook, APRSdroid is using it to send and have displayed precisely that data. The only problem is APRSdroid is getting that data off the 'net. Well, it got to the 'net from radios. The packets contain that data. The TNC can read it and be manipulated to repacket it and output it.

That's where I'm sort of leaning towards the Kenwood over the Yaesu. I'm still not 100% certain, but so far what I'm reading in the manuals for both radios, it looks like the TNC in the Yaesu isn't really accessible or useable for anything except that already built-in APRS and GM functions of the radio. Whereas the 710GA has a "real" TNC that can be used just like any other external TNC to do all sort of stuff with packet radio.

All that needs to happen though, is to capture that data you are seeing on your screen for stations you are receiving and send it up to the Android device/BCN using exactly the same hooks that APRSdroid is using to send the data it's getting from the 'net.

Somebody is going to do it one of these days! Wonder how much it would cost to offshore it? Probably not enough interest to break even on it no matter how cheap you could get the coding done though.

- DAA

 

[moab_cj5]

No, I'm right on point with that. It's precisely what I'm talking about. Well, okay, I'm talking more about what I thought and wished the APRSdroid and BCN integration looked like. What I now realize it actually is, eh, of no use to me. But of interest!



Exactly. That IS neat. But, for me and I suspect most of the users on this site, totally worthless if it relies on having a data connection. What I thought for a second you were showing, were the beacons being received on the APRS frequency on your radio and being sent up by your built in TNC to APRSdroid, which was then using it's hook into BCN to display those beacons on the map. Now THAT would be useful!

Basically, bring the Yaesu Group Monitor idea to full fruition on a map.

It's obviously possible. BCN has the hook, APRSdroid is using it to send and have displayed precisely that data. The only problem is APRSdroid is getting that data off the 'net. Well, it got to the 'net from radios. The packets contain that data. The TNC can read it and be manipulated to repacket it and output it.

That's where I'm sort of leaning towards the Kenwood over the Yaesu. I'm still not 100% certain, but so far what I'm reading in the manuals for both radios, it looks like the TNC in the Yaesu isn't really accessible or useable for anything except that already built-in APRS and GM functions of the radio. Whereas the 710GA has a "real" TNC that can be used just like any other external TNC to do all sort of stuff with packet radio.

All that needs to happen though, is to capture that data you are seeing on your screen for stations you are receiving and send it up to the Android device/BCN using exactly the same hooks that APRSdroid is using to send the data it's getting from the 'net.

Somebody is going to do it one of these days! Wonder how much it would cost to offshore it? Probably not enough interest to break even on it no matter how cheap you could get the coding done though.

- DAA

I'd love to see you make this happen so I can see my group on my map without having data. I download a ton of map tiles for use offline, and I am leaning toward the Kenwood myself. Just trying to save some pennies...

 

[gahi]

APRS Droid works well offline. I use it all the time. I have a TT4 with bluetooth paired with a second dedicated aprs 2m radio. The TT4 does its thing all the time, then when I want to, I can link my phone, and use aprs droid to view other stations, maps, and send text messages over the APRS network

 

[moab_cj5]

APRS Droid works well offline. I use it all the time. I have a TT4 with bluetooth paired with a second dedicated aprs 2m radio. The TT4 does its thing all the time, then when I want to, I can link my phone, and use aprs droid to view other stations, maps, and send text messages over the APRS network

Id love to see a demo of this.

 

[gahi]

Another thing to remember for APRS Droid. If you are using it only thru data connection the aprs system will not transmit you packet on any repeater. So you location will not be heard by any other stations

- - - Updated - - -

Id love to see a demo of this.

Sure! but you'll have to come to Moab.

 

[nnnnnate]

The tt4 can only be connected to one device at a time?

I wasn't aware that aprsdroid didn't broadcast over cell data but really hadn't thought about it. So essentially you can't use aprsdroid to see others on bcn and broadcast your position at the same time. At least right now. Is that right gahi?

 

[gahi]

If you have it connected to a radio either with a cable or bluetooth, it will work to send and receive packets. You will be able to see other stations, view them on the native aprsdroid map, or one of the supported 3rd party maps. When viewing on the 3rd party maps, the stations will be shown as a static waypoint. They will not move without going back into aprsdroid, and refreshing the map that way.

If you are running aprsdroid solely over cell network with no radio. You will see stations that are being heard by a digipeater, and others will be able to view your location on websites like aprs.fi

I'm not sure how many bluetooth connections the TT4 can support. I really like that it will work as a regular aprs tracker, then when I want I can expand the capabilities.

I have a mobilinkd that I hardly ever use because it requires me turning on my phone. For the next vehicle I set up, I will go with an all in one tt4bt that has a built in radio. These were not available when I set up my system

 

[moab_cj5]

Sure! but you'll have to come to Moab.

Ill let you know before I head down the next time.

 

[stimmie]

Took my technician test today and got a 35/35! Now we'll see if the gov't shut down slows down issuing a call sign. Tried the general, and got 16/35... Guess I'll need to study up on that one!