[aprssig] How about DSC? was: Global FRS radio like AVRS

[Mark Fellhauer]

Since we've broached the subject of Non-Ham Non-APRS location services and 
soundcard vs. hardware packet...

I find myself living less than 10 miles from the Pacific shores and out of 
curiosity tuned my scanner to Marine VHF channel 70 (156.525 MHz) and heard 
almost immediately the unmistakable squawks of some form of packet.  I 
Googled DSC soundcard and found this:

http://www.coaa.co.uk/dscdecoder.htm

I then downloaded and installed DSCdecoder to my PC, ran a cable to the 
soundcard line-in jack from the IF jack on my scanner, and was rewarded 
with this:

538070070-MHL;(routine);from;998877666;Position N33° 12' W117° 23' 
EOS;06-02-27 01:09:18

The software even has rudimentary charting built-in (as well as MMSI 
Lookup), but I wanted to see more detail so I dropped the Lat/Lon into 
Google Maps - copy/paste doesn't work with DSCdecoder for some reason.

The noted LAT/LON doesn't quite put that boat in the ocean, but about 2000 
feet inland, and the MMSI is not valid either.  But hey, the boat could be 
sitting on a trailer on Windward Way in Oceanside, I guess.

And I believe DSC has an AVRS-like capability for Marine VHF.


Anyhow, I would be nice to see some APRS software able to track/display 
other formats of position indicating packets like ACARS, DSC, Garmin RINO, 
ATIS, etc.


Regards,

Mark
KC7BXS