I took my vx8 with me today down to derbyshire. This inevitably hits the m6 from my qth. After a couple of stops for some QSO's with SOTA activators I ended up turning the aprs off. Why? Because there was so much activity going down the road it became a distraction.
I never thought I'd be in a position where there was so many barrrps and dings as beacons we sent and received. What a brilliant system and what a god send having the off button. Now the only other thing I could think of whilst spending 4 hours in the road was a 'follow me auto tuning repeater function' that automatically tunes to repeaters in range on any band. Not sure if I have the acumen to execute this idea (unless its been done already)
The Kenwood rigs can almost do that, though you have to press a button to tune to the repeater whose details you received, it isn't completely automatic.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to learn there is somewhere in the UK there is a lot of APRS activity. Most of the places I have been apart from Blackpool during the rally have been dead as a dodo APRS-wise.
It was very busy and very pleasing. I even got a wota spot arrive whilst I was south of Manchester. One activator had a vx8 with him but no aprs which would have been nice seeing as he was using mW power.
ReplyDeleteA new kenwood rig a 4m hand held as well. My xyl will definitely throw the book at me.
[...] aware. Not being a big repeater user I don’t think I’ll use it that often but after my trip down almost all of the M6 the other week I could have done with it instead of blindly tuning about and checking [...]
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