[aprssig] APRS vs. SPOT

[Stephen H. Smith]

On 9/7/2011 12:43 PM, Keith VE7GDH wrote:
>
>
> You can go out into the boonies now and beacon every minute and
> sometimes, you will be picked up by the ISS.

Not exactly hand-held, but you CAN go out into the boonies virtually anywhere 
in North America and beacon on 30 meters HF APRS with a nearly 100% change of 
getting igated.

A small HF rig like a Kenwood TS-50 and a 30M Hamstick whip (lightweight enough 
to temporary-mount on a vehicle with a heavy-duty monster mag-mount) works well 
with a sound card "soft TNC" on a cheap netbook PC.      The continent-wide 
system of HF igates pretty much ensures that SOMEONE somewhere will hear you 
and pass your packets to the APRS-IS, regardless of propagation or time of day.

Details here:

. <http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/HF_APRS_Notes.htm>

. <http://wa8lmf.net/APRS_PSK63>


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Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
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