[CVRC] SIERA General Meeting

[John E. Abrott]

The Sierra Intermountain Emergency Radio Association (SIERA) General meeting will take place on Thursday the 19th of October at 7:00 P.M. at the Carson Valley United Methodist Church building, 1375 Centerville Lane, Gardnerville, NV.  The topic for this month is APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System).  Tony Ustica KB7NV is giving the presentation on APRS. Tony is very knowledgeable about APRS, and has demonstrated APRS to students earning their Amateur Radio License. Tony will show us how APRS works, and what you can do with it after you get it up and running.  APRS was developed by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, as a real-time local tactical communications system for rapidly exchanging digital data of immediate value to operations. This really took off when GPS became available and MAPS were integrated into the system for tactical situational awareness of everything in the net. In the 15 years since its introduction it has grown to encompass just about every aspect of Amateur Radio.  APRS provides universal connectivity to all stations by avoiding the complexity and limitations of a connected network.  It permits any number of stations to exchange data just like voice users would on a voice net.  Any station that has information to contribute simply sends it, and all stations receive it and log it.  Secondly, APRS recognizes that one of the greatest real-time needs at any special event or emergency is the tracking of key assets.  Where is the Event Leader?  Where are the emergency vehicles?  What is the Weather at various points in the County? To answer these questions, APRS is a full featured automatic vehicle location and status reporting system too. There is even a nationwide LIVE APRS tracking network on the Internet!   All interested are invited to attend.  Come on over, meet fellow "Hams": have a cup of coffee, and learn about APRS.

 

 

KD7NHC  John