APRS TRacking today in Reg 12, So-Cal

Folks:

Many pilots have Spot tracking systems. There has been conversation
about the awkward access to pilot's flight tracks, antenna
sensitivity
to placement/orintation, drop outs in tracks.

If you would like to see a more mature system, with public display,
real time access, user selection of ID messaging, self selected
reporting intervals, nationwide/worldwide coverage, historial
archiving of
tracking, try APRS on amateur radio bands.

The huge differences between APRS and Spot a
no subscription fees and
public access to tracks and
Altitude readout in track.

To see our neighborhood of pilots, browse to www.aprs.fi.
In the track call sign window enter: KI6RFR-7, KM6TS-7 and NPAZ-7.
Choose a Show Last: time of three hours or so.
You can also enter any one call sign, slide over to the Select Date
window,
and enter any year, and then date select under that for the archives.

You can see the natiowide coverage of digi-peaters at this page:
http://wa8lmf.net/APRSmaps/NorthAmericaSmall.htm

You can find out about amateur licensing at:
www.arrl.org/

Some cool, low-cost hardware, for the solder-gun talented:
http://www.byonics.com/microtrak/

A history and background of APRS development at:
http://aprs.org/

My guys flew today, yesterday, and now....
and shouldhave tracks fro you to follow tomorrow also.
I'm going out to help park a few on the ramp.

Best wishes,

Cindy B
www.caracolesoaring.com

On Sep 20, 10:55*am, CindyB wrote:
Folks:

Many pilots have Spot tracking systems. There has been conversation
about the awkward access to pilot's flight tracks, antenna
sensitivity
to placement/orintation, drop outs in tracks.

If you would like to see a more mature system, with public display,
real time access, user selection of ID messaging, self selected
reporting intervals, nationwide/worldwide coverage, historial
archiving of
tracking, try APRS on amateur radio bands.

The huge differences between APRS and Spot a
no subscription fees and
public access to tracks and
Altitude readout in track.

The Spot is far from perfect, but it uses satellites, so has better
coverage than APRS, which requires radio contact. If you have radio
contact, you don't _need_ Spot. Similar story with GPRS based
trackers. Works great when there's cell network coverage, sucks when
you need it.

Spot also have the 911 system giving similar functionality to the
cospas sarsat system.

The public display and archiving are easy to arrange. The rest of the
things you mention are not so easy to do with Spot.
--
Philip Plane

Call sign NPAZ-7 should be N6PAZ-7

On Sep 19, 3:55*pm, CindyB wrote:
Folks:

Many pilots have Spot tracking systems. There has been conversation
about the awkward access to pilot's flight tracks, antenna
sensitivity
to placement/orintation, drop outs in tracks.

If you would like to see a more mature system, with public display,
real time access, user selection of ID messaging, self selected
reporting intervals, nationwide/worldwide coverage, historial
archiving of
tracking, try APRS on amateur radio bands.

The huge differences between APRS and Spot a
no subscription fees and
public access to tracks and
Altitude readout in track.

To see our neighborhood of pilots, browse towww.aprs.fi.
In the track call sign window enter: *KI6RFR-7, KM6TS-7 and NPAZ-7.
Choose a Show Last: *time of three hours or so.
You can also enter any one call sign, slide over to the Select Date
window,
and enter any year, and then date select under that for the archives.

You can see the natiowide coverage of digi-peaters at this page:http://wa8lmf.net/APRSmaps/NorthAmericaSmall.htm

You can find out about amateur licensing at:www.arrl.org/

Some cool, low-cost hardware, for the solder-gun talented:http://www.byonics.com/microtrak/

A history and background of APRS development at:http://aprs.org/

My guys flew today, yesterday, and now....
and shouldhave tracks fro you to follow tomorrow also.
I'm going out to help park a few on the ramp.

Best wishes,

Cindy Bwww.caracolesoaring.com

On Sep 19, 4:55*pm, CindyB wrote:
Folks:

Many pilots have Spot tracking systems. There has been conversation
about the awkward access to pilot's flight tracks, antenna
sensitivity
to placement/orintation, drop outs in tracks.

If you would like to see a more mature system, with public display,
real time access, user selection of ID messaging, self selected
reporting intervals, nationwide/worldwide coverage, historial
archiving of
tracking, try APRS on amateur radio bands.

The huge differences between APRS and Spot a
no subscription fees and
public access to tracks and
Altitude readout in track.

To see our neighborhood of pilots, browse towww.aprs.fi.
In the track call sign window enter: *KI6RFR-7, KM6TS-7 and NPAZ-7.
Choose a Show Last: *time of three hours or so.
You can also enter any one call sign, slide over to the Select Date
window,
and enter any year, and then date select under that for the archives.

You can see the natiowide coverage of digi-peaters at this page:http://wa8lmf.net/APRSmaps/NorthAmericaSmall.htm

You can find out about amateur licensing at:www.arrl.org/

Some cool, low-cost hardware, for the solder-gun talented:http://www.byonics.com/microtrak/

A history and background of APRS development at:http://aprs.org/

My guys flew today, yesterday, and now....
and shouldhave tracks fro you to follow tomorrow also.
I'm going out to help park a few on the ramp.

Best wishes,

Cindy Bwww.caracolesoaring.com

Good stuff, Cindy.

While Spot will work in extremely remote areas where APRS wouldn't, in
fact there are few areas where APRS isn't available.

The better update frequency with altitude information plus far lower
cost make APRS very attractive for operations where gliders rarely, if
ever, fly beyond APRS coverage.

Given the extremely low cost for APRS, there's no reason not to use
both. APRS could be the standard for real-time tracking with Spot as
the emergency backup or when flying really remote areas.

The real knock against APRS is it isn't a 100% 'checkbook' solution -
you have to invest some intellectual currency to get the technical
license and get the equipment. With Spot, you just spend the money
and turn it on.

On Sep 20, 8:54*am, bildan wrote:

My APRS tracker is flying again today, for those who wish to watch a
304
enjoy his Sunday afternoon. KI6RFR-7
Sorry Oscar, for listing your call sign incorrectly yesterday.

APRS tracking followed me from Cal City to Elko, and Cal City to
Carson Valley
each of the last two Dust Devil Dashes. I had coverage down to about
1300 ft agl
on the back side of the Whites, using Lida Jct. Dry Lake as an
alternate headed
toward Tonopah in 2007. My crew loved having the ability to follow me
real time on his handy-talkie unit that displayed my lat-long and let
him know
which way to turn, US Hwy 6 or continue on Hwy 395. The friends at
home got to
follow those flights also. Now, you can find/build tracking map
displays,
but I haven't investigated that portion of hardware.

Philip may not understand that with our basin and range style flying,
there is a lot of territory, even within 30 miles of home, where we do
not have
line of sight for VHF radio aircraft transmissions.
Using the APRS digi-peaters ( shown on the US map link), you can
see that the relaying feature of digipeaters gives us quite excellent
coverage, even in the remote western portions of the US.
Ranchers, agri-business, mining operations have used amateur radio
contacts to contact the 'urban' world for many years. Hence, the
network
is already in place.

You can choose the 'lower-cost' techno-dweeb build-it-yourself
packages, or you can find the Kenwood and Yaesu handheld talkies
with APRS add-on features as a buy-and-play style option.
I went with the Yaesu-VX-8 as a complete package. It offers the
option to 'talk', send data and APRS and monitor aviation bands
all in one (not cheap) unit. The top of the line cost ~the same as a
Spot and two-years of subscription, for more utility.

The Amateur radio written test is not much tougher than the
Private glider written, with the same access to the questions
and answer bank from which to study. The test is only $14, and no,
you do not need to learn Morse Code. Hey - I passed it!

I will trust that my flying friends will give faster 911 response to
my
halted APRS signal than any public agency ever will . . . . to any
request for service. (Smile.)

Does anyone think this would be a fun way to allow other club
pilots to 'watch' cross-country from the clubhouse? It could be used
as a tool to promote a glider event's public access through local
media. Fly a bunch of Boy Scouts, or rides for a donations
campaign, or a contest day, and have the local newspaper tell folks
they can watch this happen on the website, with a call sign list.
Tracking is a cheap alternative to allow the public to witness local
flight activity, as an alternate function to the flight search and
rescue
or retrieve simplicity function.

Best wishes,
Cindy B




In the track call sign window enter: *KI6RFR-7, KM6TS-7 and N6PAZ-7..
Choose a Show Last: *time of three hours or so.
You can also enter any one call sign, slide over to the Select Date
window,
and enter any year, and then date select under that for the archives.

You can see the natiowide coverage of digi-peaters at this page:http://wa8lmf.net/APRSmaps/NorthAmericaSmall.htm


Good stuff, Cindy.

While Spot will work in extremely remote areas where APRS wouldn't, in
fact there are few areas where APRS isn't available.

The better update frequency with altitude information plus far lower
cost make APRS very attractive for operations where gliders rarely, if
ever, fly beyond APRS coverage.

Given the extremely low cost for APRS, there's no reason not to use
both. *APRS could be the standard for real-time tracking, with Spot as
the emergency backup or when flying really remote areas.

The real knock against APRS is it isn't a 100% 'checkbook' solution -
you have to invest some intellectual currency to get the technical
license and get the equipment. *With Spot, you just spend the money
and turn it on.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In article
CindyB writes:

Does anyone think this would be a fun way to allow other club
pilots to 'watch' cross-country from the clubhouse? It could be used
as a tool to promote a glider event's public access through local
media. Fly a bunch of Boy Scouts, or rides for a donations
campaign, or a contest day, and have the local newspaper tell folks
they can watch this happen on the website, with a call sign list.
Tracking is a cheap alternative to allow the public to witness local
flight activity, as an alternate function to the flight search and
rescue
or retrieve simplicity function.


Be careful, though of 97.113, particularly:

97.113 Prohibited transmissions.
(a) No amateur station shall transmit:
(2) Communications for hire or for material compensation, direct
or indirect, paid or promised, except as otherwise provided in
these rules;
(3) Communications in which the station licensee or control operator
has a pecuniary interest, including communications on behalf of
an employer. . . .
(5) Communications, on a regular basis, which could reasonably be
furnished alternatively through other radio services.
(b) An amateur station shall not engage in any form of broadcasting,
nor may an amateur station transmit one-way communications except
as specifically provided in these rules; . . .

97.3 Definitions.
(a) The definitions of terms used in Part 97 a
(10) Broadcasting. Transmissions intended for reception by the
general public, either direct or relayed.


97.113(a)(2) means you can't be paid to do it.
97.113(a)(3) means you can't otherwise attempt to profit from doing it,
do it on behalf of an employer.

If it is advertising to the public, that would be a benefit to a club
or employer.


97.113(b) says you can't do it for display to the public, direct or
by relay (as through the internet).


So, it seems you can show it to other amateur radio operatiors in your
group, or even to me, but it looks like sending it out for the general public
to follow would not be allowed under these rules.


Alan
wa6azp

On Sep 20, 8:54*am, bildan wrote:
On Sep 19, 4:55*pm, CindyB wrote:


To see our neighborhood of pilots, browse towww.aprs.fi.
In the track call sign window enter: *KI6RFR-7, KM6TS-7 and NPAZ-7.
Choose a Show Last: *time of three hours or so.
You can also enter any one call sign, slide over to the Select Date
window,
and enter any year, and then date select under that for the archives.

You can see the natiowide coverage of digi-peaters at this page:http://wa8lmf.net/APRSmaps/NorthAmericaSmall.htm

You can find out about amateur licensing at:www.arrl.org/


Flying again today.

Cindy

For what it's worth, see http://www.hawketracking.com for the
aggregate mapping solution. This is specialized for SPOT trackers at
the moment, but can easily be adapted for any device for which there
is a web-based API. Mark Hawkins and I have provided this service for
free at a number of contests & clubs this year, and we are planning to
offer an enhanced version next year on a yearly subscription or or per-
contest basis next season (2010). Rates will be very attractive, as
we aren't looking to get (too) rich on this ;-).

Full Disclosure - I have a financial interest in this service, so I'm
certainly NOT an un-biased source.

Regards,

Frank (TA)