If you haven’t tried APRS, you should take a look.
Here are a few things you can do with APRS
- Short text messages
- Situational awareness
- Location of repeaters / hotspots
- Group messages via ANSRVR (announcement server on the internet)
- Group messages and APRS net via APRSPH — it supports local RF group messaging supported by internet connectivity when available.
- Position reports
- Tracking
- Current weather
- SMS gateway
- SOTA / POTA spotting
- Email via Winlink link WLNK-1
- Much more!
Many radios support APRS and they work very well for tracking, but if you want to do messaging a radio can be a little difficult.
For me I want to be able to do messaging when there is no power or internet. You may think that will never happen. Let me tell you I live Rehoboth and it happens all the time. To make things worse, when I loose internet, I loose cell service.
My strategy is to use my Anytone 878, and Signalink plugged into my laptop. Now I am on battery and I’m good to go. You can skip the Signalink if you have a radio with a built in sound card, like the FT-991A. If you are interested in do RF only APRS, let me know, because you will need some software to make it work.
For you who have reliable internet, you don’t need a radio at all. Below is a partial list of software you can use.
| Application | Operating System | Link |
|---|---|---|
| APRSdroid | Android | http://aprsdroid.org/ |
| APRSIS32 | Windows | http://aprsisce.wikidot.com/start |
| PinPointAPRS | Windows | https://www.pinpointaprs.com/ |
| UI-View | Windows | http://www.ui-view.net/ |
| findU.com | Web | http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/entermsg.cgi |
If you know of another application, send me the info and I will add it to the list.
Ray / KC1RAY