Argent Data Radio Shield

I'm a bit of an Arduino fan. I'm also interested in APRS. So I was keen to get hold of something that would bring the two together. Enter the Argent Data Radio Shield

I bought one a while ago and used it to make my shack clock. Arduino’s come in a lot of shapes and sizes but the Uno is probably the simplest. You can add bits and bobs to them through stack-able 'shields'. One of these shields is the Argent Data radio Shield. I ordered mine before going on holiday and got a bit done over on the customs charges but have assembled the little thing and put together one of the simple sketches to show the thing working.

 

All ready on the bench

 

All in all the assembly was pretty straightforward with a few parts to put together and not a lot else. You don't get much in the way of guidance but the suppliers website has all the pertinent information and it shouldn't challenge most who are ok with a soldering iron. As shown here as a finished article

Ta Daaaaa

 

Below is a little video clip of the thing running a simple sketch from the website. Instead of the output being to an LCD I've sent it to the Arduino IDE serial monitor. This is easily done by not actually putting an LCD on the headers. All nice and simple.

Radio Shield

[youtuber youtube='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7sPzBRwbl0']

Raspberry Pi APRS

I had a recent email from John, WB2OSZ regarding using the raspberry pi for APRS and he has developed an application that looks like a very slim APRS beacon and digipeater for aprs called Dire Wolf . I have yet to investigate it further but for all those with an interest head over to Johns website and take a look. Here is the address.

From what i can see the application acts as a soundcard modem and tnc for programs like Xastir and APRSIS32. I think this needs some further investigation

Am I missing anything?

I haven't had a chance to put 13.8v to rig for some time now. I'm sure that conditions are improving and one thing is for certain, West Cumbria is pretty much covered by either APRS iGates or digipeaters thanks to the persistence of a few dedicated local amateurs, Colin, Noel and Julian just to mention 3 of the volunteers. There are so many now that there is almost full coverage as well as those further afield in Southern Scotland and the IoM so thank you.

Shame the same can't be said for my trips to Scotland where I didn't a single Baarrp up the M74 to Falkirk.

FT817 + APRS-IS + AWGPE = Better iGate

After trying out a few tweaks and twiddles with AWGTracker I was messaging a friend who suggested that I tried out APRS-ISCE/32 with AWGPE.

 

Not being shy about trying something new I did the honourable thing and gave it a go. It was quicker to set up than I thought but I did find the interface on the AWGTracker better, or rather the look and feel was a bit more up to date.

Colin suggested that I downloaded the developer version which had a few more features such a showing paths and I went for that too, unfortunately having had a successful iGate I now have one that doesn't gate at all. I think I probably broke something in the process of downloading a new copy and starting over. Still its all fun.

I think when its up and running I will try and find a suitable home for it and also direct the antenna to a suitable place where the coverage isn't that great in the local area to try and fill in a few gaps. Plenty of experimenting to be done and maybe some persuation of a friend to see if I can put the gate on his farm.

FT 817+AGWPE+AGWTracker+Signalink = APRS iGate

My FT 817 hasn't been used as much as it ought to and whilst I don't have too much time on my hands at the moment I was looking to add an iGate to my arsenal of ham radio tools. The time aspect put me off.

To my joy  I managed to set up the whole thing in a few hours. A couple one evening to get a handle on AGWPE and an hour to set the ft817 up. I did have an issue with the PTT lighting up and staying on when a beacon was sent but that was resolved by turning down the tx volume on the netbook.

I would love to be able to plonk this on the honister slate mine but for the time being I'm happy just to keep this running at home.

Tour of Britain on APRS

If you've ever wondered who runs the communications on the cycling tours. I know its a little bit niche but even so if you even had just the slightest interest then I may have found the answer to the Tour of Britain at least.

Today I took my son to watch the first stage finish in Dumfries and naturally was in the car with the APRS handheld operational and as I was leaving the town a message popped up so I pulled over to read it. Not really expecting anything but I was surprised to find out that it was SQ4CCR /SQ4INC who run the comms for either a team or the whole of the tour. I didn't manage to find out from Martin as I went over a hill and lost him. Needless to say they are on APRS.fi and the last time I looked were on their way to Kendal for the next start.

Seems that APRS is on the up and I'm glad to hear it.

APRS Wordpress widget

I found a nice little Wordpress widget that displays your current APRS location on the sidebar of your site. You can see it in action on the right. Go to this site to get it on yours

APRS Messaging on the VX8-G

One of the things I find frustrating me more and more is the messaging on the VX-8. The finctionality is definately there and the feature is a massive bonus as I found out recently when trying to activate Burnbank Fell and walking straight past it. Colin 2E0XSD sent me a message asking me in the nicest possible way if I knew what I was doing. Clearly not. For those that don't know Burnbank Fell is a Wainwright Fell and the summit is just a post in the ground that is easily missed if you don't have it fully mapped ouot in GPS and triangulated against other points. I just didn't beleive it was the top as it was so non-desript and slightly higher than I thought and headed off to another summit only a few metres away that looked like a 'proper' summit.

He later went on to send me a help message when I reached Gavel fell which read 'Stop, you're on Gavel fell summit'. I laughed, but secretly wished I didn't have messaging at that point as i couldn't tap out a snappy response quickly enough.

So I've cobbled this together for a quick reference for myself rather than for any completeness but feel free to add in any 'standard' messages I ought to be putting in the memories. There are 7 in total. I don't tend to use them as I haven't got the button presses stuck in my head yet.
1. Find Nearest Fell
To: QRU
Message: ?WOTA

2. Summit as object
To: G4ILO
Message: ?APRSO LDW...(Fell Number)

3. Spots
To:ANSRVR
Messahe: CQ WOTA

In mesasaging menu

To clear text
Press Band
Press A/B
Press V/M

To insert character after standard message
Press A/B
Press V/M
Scroll to - Insert Text

?WOTA to QRU

Fridays trip out was one of those moments that should be best left in the back of your mind. I had decided to activate Burnbank Fell, Blake Fell and Gavel Fell. All of these are close to home and there is a fell race on Blake fell once a year which I might do one day. I parked up where I thought I was going to start, Lamplugh Green, only to find the path scattered with 'no access to open fell' signs all over the place. Ah! this could be bad. I knew there was access onto the fells from another angle via Fangs Brow so scuttled off over there and parked up. Unfortunately my map had detail of where I wanted to go from but not where I was actually going from so there was a bit of detail missing. Suffice to say that in my hast to reach burnbank I walked right past it and had to get Colin, 2E0XSD to give me the benefit of his previous knowledge and APRS to tell me that that rusty metal post in the corner of the fenced area next to a sorry pile of stones was the summit. As I was closer to Blake Fell I went up there, activated that from the comfort of the circle of stones and then onto Gavel before coming back for Burnbank. So a successful outing but one which wasn't helped by a lack of access, missing bit of map and not putting the fell in as an object in my rig. Still as mark, MM1MPB reminded me sending ?WOTA to QRU would give me the closest fell. Time to programme that as a standard message as well.

aprs super highway

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)

2m repeater use

Now that christmas is approaching it was time to make the trip slightly further north to visit the xyl's family home in Troon. naturally I would go with a rig of some description and I managed to slip a magmount and a 2m/70cm whip on the car and my sota MFD in the boot whilst the rest of the family were distracted with the fresh snow. It took a few miles up the M74 before I was busted and out of APRS range from the local stations. Good thing was that with this antenna and a measly 5w I was gated up until just before Dumfries. Bad news was that that was it and APrs.fi noted there wasn't another iGate anywhere near the rest of the journey.

What's all this got to do with reapeaters? Well thinking about this gave me the thought that if the repeaters had an iGate then chances are most of the country would have good coverage. I wonder if this has ever been thought of before? It would certainly add another avenue to APRS and open up the network to more than just the useful volunteers that kind gate me (G4PEW, 2E0XSD, G4ILO, G8WVW, MM1BHO & MM1MPB

The other nice thing was that with my measly 5w and the rubber duck I can just about get access to GB3AY from the house so I at least have an avenue to play with over christmas. I wonder if the mother in law would mind a beam in her back garden...hmmm thought not. Still nice to be able to get into a repeater when away from the house

APRSIS32 and APRS-SCS

This evening whilst the XYL is out and about I thought I'd try and follow something that Julian, G4ILO had done with a software tnc call APRS-SCS connected up to APRSIS. His original post is here and gives all the right places to go to get the software. Well getting the software is the easy part, getting APRS-SCS to decode the few packets I heard locally is ok. APRSIS32 displays the packets. But can I get APRSIS to transmit through APRS-SCS (Too many APRS's here I think)? Not yet. This is going to work if it's the last thing I do before I go to bed early in a sulk ;-)

first qso with new VX8

As is the way nowadays we can take technology for granted. In fact this post is being typed out whilst travelling up the m74. The point is that this afternoon I had a lightning quick qso with Julian, G4ILO with my new my new hand held. The verbal part was accompanied with what is normal for aprs. A conversation between the two rigs to introduce themselves and to say they are in range.

It wasn't until I started to try and explain all the goings on did I realise that this quite a big deal. Its very easy to buy a black box on the internet and use it. Quiet another thing to understand what is going on inside. It reminds me how little I really know about a hobby that just keeps moving.

yaesu vx8

Good news and bad new. First the good news, my new handheld arrived yesterday and only getting a very brief look at it I can safely say its just what I was after.

The bad news for me at least is that I seem to have completely knackered my back. Something I have only ever managed once before about 5 years ago. I think it was less painful breaking my ankle a couple of Christmas's ago. I have renewed my sympathy for those who suffer from back pain.

Back to the good news, I think I will take the weekend to get to know the rig as I'm in Scotland for a family thing. All I can really say is accessing functions seems easier than with the vx-3 but perhaps I'm just more used to them now.