[aprssig] Aprs and Repeater Controllers

[Radio Guy]

Has anyone found a way of connecting an Aprs program to a repeater
controller?
This is what I was thinking; what if we had a list of calls that we wanted
to know when they came close to a certain point, and when they did, have
that call announced on the local VHF repeater.

If there was a client program that would check calls against a list, when
heard, that call would cause a pin to go "high" on a serial port of the Aprs
computer. The port would be interfaced to the input port of the VHF
repeater. A macro could be wrote to respond to the change in input. For
example when pin one goes high execute macro that says " VE3 ABC mobile".
When pin two goes high execute macro that says " VE3 DEF mobile". The macro
on the controller could be wrote to only respond to so many "inputs" or
beacons per hour, and when the message was announced.
I was thinking of interfacing to serial cards, but if the Aprs client
program was written to interface to a USB port then we would need a USB
break out box, that would allow more outputs, more calls to be announced.
We could use this to make the voice repeater users aware of what was
happening on Aprs by hearing different calls, and stations at  certain
coordinates.
The only limiting factors would be how many options the Aprs client could
look for, Ex call-1, call-2, call-1 at lat and long, exclude call-3 if not
moving in "X" minutes AND how many outputs we could get, AND how many inputs
the VHF controller could deal with.
There is probably a better way of interfacing Aprs to voice repeaters, but
this method would be automatic and with a creative macro the voice repeater
could say: " VE3ABC is Aprs mobile."
In my area Vhf repeaters and Aprs are worlds apart.
Just a note that I made up these calls!!!!
Just an idea on a hot afternoon.





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Ken
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