[NLRS] Any APRS experts in NLRS land ?

[Stephen Hicks, N5AC]

See below....

Steve, N5AC 

-----Original Message-----
From: nlrs-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:nlrs-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of w0zq at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 11:06
To: nlrs at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [NLRS] Any APRS experts in NLRS land ?



OK guys. As you may be aware, the rover rules are once again being discussed
by the VUAC. One aspect (of many) is the use of APRS (not HamIM which is
already allowed).

Here are my question to those who are knowledgeable in APRS. Most of you
know what our rover range and rover conditions are like here in the Upper
Midwest.

Question # 1. What kind of station would a rover need to have to 
support APRS in his/her rover ?   Power, equippment, and antenna ?
Generally, ARPS is run off of sub-standard equipment ... An old VHF radio
with 10W or so of FM and a quarter-wave antenna.  Personally I run a
5/8-wave vertical and a 40W transmitter and a "Tiny Tracker" with a GPS.

Question # 2. From EN22 to EN37, from EN04 to EN55 (etc), what kind of
coverage can we expect ? 100%, 80%, 50 % ? Just a rough idea would be
helpful.
Can answer this sice I'm a 5-lander, but I would encourage you to look at
the maps on findu.com for some folks in your area that run it and see how
they have been received.

Question # 3. What equipment does a fixed station need to have to use the
rover's APRS info ?
No equipment is required if the signal is received off of the Internet.  You
go to the website (http://map.findu.com/n5ac*) for example and look at the
location on the map.  If you receive it directly, then you need a similar
receive only setup on the fixed station side: 2m FM radio, vertical antenna
and a TNC (not just a tiny tracker).

The network of receiving stations (called I-Gates) all ship their received
calls/locations to the Internet where they are stored in a database and then
can be seen online.  The coverage is phenomenal in my experience, but if
ARPS with Internet viewing is not allowed, none of this can be used.  Then
you are back to a roughly 75-mile circle around a fixed station.  


Any other insight and comments are welcome.

73, Jon
W0ZQ
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