APRS Article 4

January-February 2000

 

More APRS Software Choices

By Jeff Robbins

VE3JTR (Voice Call)

VA3JTR (APRS Call)

EMAIL: va3jtr@rac.ca

WEB:  http://www.qsl.net/va3jtr

 

Hello again APRS hams!  Last time I promised an APRS related review of the Kenwood D7A, however, there are some more software choices out there for APRS that I would like to introduce to you.   I will get to the D7A next time.  To start off, I want to share an email I received from David VE5DGD.  He corrects some Windows information from my September-October article, and also shares an excellent example of APRS in action on the prairies during a community service event:

 

Hello Jeff,

 

My name is David Dunster, VE5DGD, and I am an APRS user.  I just received my TCA for Sept/Oct and noticed your second article on APRS. On reading through it, I see that you forgot to mention that there are actually two flavors of APRS for Windows, the other one being APRS+SA. APRS+SA needs Windows 95/98/NT to operate and will not run on any Windows version prior to Win95.

 

Although one may think that APRS+SA is more US based it is in fact, very useable in Canada. APRS+SA has support for bitmaps, as does WinAPRS, which one can easily create for their local area by getting the maps from www.mapblast.com. The maps I use for APRS+SA can be found at http://www.qsl.net/ve5dgd. Unfortunately, APRS+SA does not use dosAPRS maps.

 

I am pleased to see your article and hope that it will increase interest in this area of amateur radio. In Regina we have about 10 registered dosAPRS users with one registered WinAPRS and one registered APRS+SA. I am the only active APRS user at this time. I run APRS+SA at home and use dosAPRS when I am mobile on civic events. My mobile APRS station is configured with an old 386sx 16 with 4 meg ram and a 40 meg HD laptop. The TNC is an MFJ1274, GPS is an Eagle AccuNav Sport and the radio is a Kenwood TM241A.

 

Our latest use of APRS involved the MS 150K Bike Tour this August. There were only two APRS stations, one using APRS+SA with a bitmap of the route and the other using dosAPRS in a van. It went over well on the second day where we were able to track the tail end of the bike tour for the entire 75K ride. In the middle of the tour we had our Comm Truck which was equipped with a digipeater. Bob, VE5BBZ, brought along an LCD projector to display APRS on a wall at the finish point and it was well received by many individuals.

 

Awaiting your next article ...

 

73s.

 

signed,

David Dunster, VE5DGD

RARA President, ARES Regina, SAR Regina, CANWARN Regina

 

Thanks for the great email, David!  During your bike race, I thought the idea of using a projector to place the APRS maps on a wall for the crowd to see was a fabulous idea.  Imagine how impressed the organizers of the event were to look up and see the current location of the tail of the bike race.  Talk about putting Amateur Radio front and center for all to see!  Now, if only we could put a Kenwood D7A and GPS on each bike rider, hmmm.

 

APRS+SA

 

So now we have another choice for Windows users:  APRS+SA, Automatic Position Reporting System plus Street Atlas.  Written by Brent Hildebrand, KH2Z, this particular APRS software was designed with a close interface with Delorme Street Atlas in mind.  Unfortunately, while Delorme has created extensive mapping of the United States, their mapping of Canada has not nearly been so complete.  However, as David reported above, creative hams can easily circumvent that limitation.  But who knows, if enough of us email and write to Delorme expressing an interest in detailed Canadian mapping, perhaps they will invest the necessary time and money to create such!

 

Linux users now have a couple of choices as well.  In a past article, I hinted that Mark and Keith Sproul are working on XAPRS for Linux and other X-windows based operating systems.  I have since learned that another soon to be fully functional APRS like program exists as well.

 

XASTIR

 

Frank Giannandrea, KC0DGE, has written his Linux application called XASTIR, X Amateur Station Tracking and Information Reporting. XASTIR is an APRS like program that is Open Source and free to use and pass out to others.  He started his project in July 1998, and finally came up with an initial version which was released to the ham community last May.  He has been making regular updates and bug fixes ever since, and the latest version, as of Oct 22, is V0.1.2. Currently this program is in development and should not be seen as a finished product!  Your help would be most welcome to make XASTIR a better program, if you have programming skills and/or can write documentation, the author welcomes your help!  At this stage, a rookie would not want to choose XASTIR as a final APRS choice.  However, if you enjoy working with beta testing of software, I am sure Frank would appreciate your involvement.

 

POCKETAPRS

 

Now this is portable!  How about using your 3Com Palm III personal organizer for APRS?

While the author admits that pocketAPRS was never intended to be a full replacement for PC based APRS programs, his software still manages to capture the major APRS system functions, in a package which comfortably fits in a shirt pocket. Don’t let the small size fool you, the Palm's 16MHz 68000-class CPU gives pocketAPRS comparable performance results to the original dosAPRS running on a 386-type CPU.  The main attraction of pocketAPRS is, of course, ultimate portability in a fully functional APRS system.  Now I can see great things coming up here.  Imagine plugging Kenwood’s D7A with the built-in TNC into a Palm III.  That would be one of the smallest APRS packages available!

 

Don’t forget that more information and links for all of this software and documentation can be found on my website at http://www.qsl.net/va3jtr.

 

OK, I did promise to talk about the new Kenwood D7A radio, and I will in the next issue.  There are also rumblings on the internet about Kenwood building a mobile version of this radio.  Early prototypes appear to be build on a V7A frame, with similar built-in TNC and APRS features.  While a mobile APRS radio is still a rumor right now, by the time you read this; it may be a reality!  We shall soon see!

 

Happy New Year everyone, and I hope to see some more new stations on APRS!