[SJRA-Members] Question about APRS

[Bob Beyer]

Hi Holden, 
That sounds like an interesting project.  I don't know how much
experimenting you've done with the subsystems already.  Although not rocket
science,  you'll need to get familiar with at least 3 different disciplines.


Namely:
- SDR in general and specifically the RTL dongle type receivers.
- RaspberryPi computer.  Cool but quirky little computers.
- APRS specifically and packet in general.

My suggestion would be for you to get as comfortable as possible with the
RasPi and RTL first if haven't already mastered them.  If you can, get it
going with some free software on a Windows computer such as HDSDR. Learn to
tune it to 145.39 and listen to what kind of APRS packet traffic you can
hear from your QTH and with your antenna.  I'm assuming by now that you know
what packet sounds like and will recognize it.

You may have already found these in your travels but I saw these web pages
(the first led me to the second).

http://www.rtl-sdr.com/setting-up-a-raspberry-pi-based-aprs-rx-igate-with-an
-rtl-sdr/

https://github.com/wb2osz/direwolf/blob/master/doc/Raspberry-Pi-SDR-IGate.pd
f

One thing I noticed is that you'll need to be comfortable on the RasPi
issuing commands via the Bash prompt in the shell (terminal) on the RasPi.
If you're Linux savvy you already know what this is.  If not, you can start
here:

https://learn.pimoroni.com/tutorial/bash/getting-started-with-bash

Once you become fluent on the RasPi and comfortable with the RTL dongle,
read a little about APRS so you'll understand it's approach to packet radio.
A general understanding of packet radio may be useful too:

https://www.tapr.org/pr_intro.html

Sorry I don't have any direct experience with what you're trying to
accomplish.  I just know from experience that trying to pull everything
together at once can be intimidating if you're still mastering the
components.

Good luck,
Bob Beyer - KE2D



-----Original Message-----
From: SJRA-Members [mailto:sjra-members-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf
Of Holden
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2017 1:51 AM
To: SJRA LIST
Subject: [SJRA-Members] Question about APRS

Dear all,
For the holidays I got a Raspberry Pi Linux computer. Since then, I have
found out what I want to do with it. I would like to turn it into an APRS
iGate relayer using a RTL SDR. I have followed numerous online directions on
how to do it but can't seem to figure it all out to work. I was wondering if
anyone had any experience or advice on this matter. Thank you very much for
your input.

Please private email me for more details...

Holden Correia-Fisher
KD2JPV
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