Do any of you have your 2meter or Dual Band hooked up to your GPS via NMEA to transmit and recieve coordinates?
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GPS Radio Transmissions via NMEA connection
- Thread starter Brian McVickers
- Start date
Thanks,
Well in researching radios I noticed this function and thought it could be pretty useful. It is on one of the more expensive radios, in my range, so I am trying to determine if I would ever need it or if it's just a cool feature.
I can certainly see the safety issues behind in and like it for that reason. Although if the people you are talking to are not transmiting or able to recieve via APRS then it's not much use.
Well in researching radios I noticed this function and thought it could be pretty useful. It is on one of the more expensive radios, in my range, so I am trying to determine if I would ever need it or if it's just a cool feature.
I can certainly see the safety issues behind in and like it for that reason. Although if the people you are talking to are not transmiting or able to recieve via APRS then it's not much use.
Oh, hey, asteffes,
Check your PM and let me know!
Check your PM and let me know!
k6uk
Adventurer
mcvickoffroad said:
Well this is not exactly true. Many digipeaters are linked to the internet, so that anyone with an internet connection could look up your location. So if you were in trouble as long as a digipeater can get your signal you can be located.
Worried about not being able to hit a digipeater? The ISS space station runs in APRS digipeat mode when it is not in use by the astronaughts. So you can get your location transmited to it during its flyby and it will repeat out to anyone listening.
You can also send messages via APRS. So an SOS will get someone's attention. I've heard a few stories where someone was saved because of it.
-Mike
That is slick
asteffes
Explorer
It's a fun toy and also a useful tool for a limited audience (mainly search and rescue folks.) Don't buy it expecting to use it with every group you roam with, as most of them will not be APRS-equipped. It's sort of like cross-band repeat capability... everyone really wants it, very few use it and even fewer really need it. Of course, I have both capabilities and fall into that boat... I don't need them, but they're kinda fun once in awhile.
The Kenwood TM-D700A does it natively, without an external TNC (the radio has one built in, as well as its own APRS software.) It is not a cheap radio but it is an excellent one. It does everything, plenty of power, great UI and Kenwood quality. It is a great choice if you just want to "get 'r done" by buying one radio that does it all, including APRS.
Keep in mind that APRS is much less fun if you don't have a GPS that will/can plot other stations as waypoints on a decent screen. I don't have a list of GPS units that will do this; I just know the Garmin 276c/376c will do it for sure. You're looking at a $1200 investment between radio, antenna and GPS.
If you're buying both of these tools (radio and GPS) and want quality, might as well go for the APRS-capable stuff as they are also excellent quality tools in their respective fields. But don't lose sleep over buying a setup that doesn't offer APRS. It's not that big a deal.
The Kenwood TM-D700A does it natively, without an external TNC (the radio has one built in, as well as its own APRS software.) It is not a cheap radio but it is an excellent one. It does everything, plenty of power, great UI and Kenwood quality. It is a great choice if you just want to "get 'r done" by buying one radio that does it all, including APRS.
Keep in mind that APRS is much less fun if you don't have a GPS that will/can plot other stations as waypoints on a decent screen. I don't have a list of GPS units that will do this; I just know the Garmin 276c/376c will do it for sure. You're looking at a $1200 investment between radio, antenna and GPS.
If you're buying both of these tools (radio and GPS) and want quality, might as well go for the APRS-capable stuff as they are also excellent quality tools in their respective fields. But don't lose sleep over buying a setup that doesn't offer APRS. It's not that big a deal.
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