This past weekend I was working on the shack and trying to get APRS going with my MFJ TNC. The only software I had was WinAPRS and I was getting frustrated because it wasn’t saving the settings. So when I had to restart the PC, like you seem to have to do a lot with PCs, I had to re-enter all my info. That’s when I “crowd sourced” for another solution.
Screenshot of KC0MMY's Tweet to KB2MOB
I asked what others were using on PCs for APRS. I only got 2 replies, but both said UI-View. I had looked at it and it does look great, but the last couple times I tried to get it registered, I never got a response. So I gave up. Now I’m trying again, and it looks like it’s the same deal. So I’m getting frustrated again. But then Andre, KC0MMY, brought up kind of an interesting point in his reply to me. If it’s just on your home station, what else is there use for of APRS? And it got me thinking, I have no clue really.
Now, I’m not saying that APRS from the home shack is bad, stupid, useless, etc. I’m just not sure, and I’m hoping others can enlighten me to it. It looks like a fun mode, and I tried to get it working before, but failed due to limited time, and this go around, I can do it. But what is there aside from showing everyone where the shack is? I don’t have a weather station to plug into it. What other info could I share?
Any insight would be great from the community at large.
73.
Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, The Rock of Albany’s website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday here on AmiZed Studios.
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I was running APRS (UI-View) for quite a while from home. One use of it for me was that my wife could just go into the shack and see where I was. I had a tracker in my vehicle, so if she wondered where I was while I was running around in the high desert, she could just go into the shack and see where I was. That relieved her worry, wondering if I was OK out there.
It also was fun watching where friends were that were running APRS. It’s also a way to help with balloon tracking. Sometimes the home stations are able to track the balloon when the mobile chasers can’t, and so you can feed them information via voice. Local events are often adding APRS and again, various home stations can help out there, if they have better reception than the command center.
The thing is, you don’t necessarily need to provide any outgoing information unless you want to. It’s the incoming information that’s often so interesting.
@Bill
Oh yeah, I agree that incoming is fun to watch. Maybe just something for monitoring is good enough.
Although, the YL may want me to have something setup in the mobile so she can keep an eye on me. LOL
HEY, she may get interested enough to get a license. :p
[...] couple days ago, I posted a question about APRS in the home shack and the reason for having it. I guess I wasn’t seeing [...]