Posted: 12/28/2014 12:12:49 AM EDT
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Ham gurus, I have a VX-8DR that I just got the GPS module for Christmas. I was fooling around with APRS and I'm fairly certain I have everything set up correct. I also see my callsign in the station list on my radio, which means its sent the aprs beacon to the digi and then received the beacon back from the digi, right? So why when I try and track on aprs.fi does it not update? Is there something broken with aprs.fi and/or openaprs.net? Thanks in advance!  |
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If the packet doesn't make it to an i-gate, it won't show up on aprs.fi. Also make sure it's actually transmitting the position (e.g. the GPS is warmed up and got a lock) or the packets sent might not get displayed.
What's your path set up as? Where I'm at, WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 is recommended for mobiles. |
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Quoted: If the packet doesn't make it to an i-gate, it won't show up on aprs.fi. Also make sure it's actually transmitting the position (e.g. the GPS is warmed up and got a lock) or the packets sent might not get displayed. What's your path set up as? Where I'm at, WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 is recommended for mobiles. GPS is locked and reading well/changing as I move. Path is wide1-1,wide2-1. Is it possible for the packet to be repeated back to the radio in the station list without making it to an igate? |
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Quoted:
GPS is locked and reading well/changing as I move. Path is wide1-1,wide2-1. Is it possible for the packet to be repeated back to the radio in the station list without making it to an igate? Quoted:
Quoted:
If the packet doesn't make it to an i-gate, it won't show up on aprs.fi. Also make sure it's actually transmitting the position (e.g. the GPS is warmed up and got a lock) or the packets sent might not get displayed. What's your path set up as? Where I'm at, WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 is recommended for mobiles. GPS is locked and reading well/changing as I move. Path is wide1-1,wide2-1. Is it possible for the packet to be repeated back to the radio in the station list without making it to an igate? Yes |
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Quoted:
GPS is locked and reading well/changing as I move. Path is wide1-1,wide2-1. Is it possible for the packet to be repeated back to the radio in the station list without making it to an igate? Absolutely, quite often the digipeaters are up high on mountains or remote sites and aren't igates themselves as they lack internet. Are you seeing your station get digipeated by any other digis than the one? When you bring up aprs.fi for your area, you should be able to look at the raw data for the stations nearest you and figure out which igate is nearest and then work out if you're hitting it. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If the packet doesn't make it to an i-gate, it won't show up on aprs.fi. Also make sure it's actually transmitting the position (e.g. the GPS is warmed up and got a lock) or the packets sent might not get displayed. What's your path set up as? Where I'm at, WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 is recommended for mobiles. GPS is locked and reading well/changing as I move. Path is wide1-1,wide2-1. Is it possible for the packet to be repeated back to the radio in the station list without making it to an igate? If the radio is setup correctly, and it transmits the beacons, and you dont show up on the APRS server, it means nobody heard you. Set up a second radio nearby on 144.39 and make sure the packet data is being sent. It'll sound similar to a fax machine. Also make sure the tx freq is correct on the radio. No offset. Also make sure you dont have a 'nogate' string in your transmit. Idont think yaesu does this by default though. Also make sure the radio is set to transmit the packet at interval and not manually with the ptt. |
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Quoted:
GPS is locked and reading well/changing as I move. Path is wide1-1,wide2-1. Is it possible for the packet to be repeated back to the radio in the station list without making it to an igate? Quoted:
Quoted:
If the packet doesn't make it to an i-gate, it won't show up on aprs.fi. Also make sure it's actually transmitting the position (e.g. the GPS is warmed up and got a lock) or the packets sent might not get displayed. What's your path set up as? Where I'm at, WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 is recommended for mobiles. GPS is locked and reading well/changing as I move. Path is wide1-1,wide2-1. Is it possible for the packet to be repeated back to the radio in the station list without making it to an igate? Happens more often than not around here, even with 20-50 watts. |
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A little primer on the routing codes which might be helpful.
"Wide1", "Wide2", "Wide3" are routing codes. Digipeaters are set up to respond to particular codes. "Wide1" digipeaters are generally small area "fill in" digipeaters, that someone might operate from their home for example, to provide coverage in an otherwise unserved area. "Wide2" is the most common code for large-coverage digipeaters. In some remote/rural areas, particularly in the western states, some digis are set up for "Wide3", as it may take many hops to get to an Igate. The numbers are in reference to the typical maximum number of hops or digipeats that are allowed, but that's just convention. They are just names. The number after the dash is what determines the number of hops. So, if you transmit a routing code of "Wide2-1", you are asking for a single digipeat from a Wide2 digipeater. When the digipeater sends out the retransmission, it will have reduced the repeat count, so the repeated packet will have a routing code of "Wide2-0" - zero meaning no more repeats. There are users in some areas where they know they have coverage from a local digipeater with an Igate, who use a code like "Wide2-0" - their packets are not digipeated, but they do get Igated. Digipeaters are generally set up to automatically limit the number of hops, so if you set up your tracker with something outrageous like "Wide2-9" for a routing code, the digipeater will probably reduce it to "Wide2-2" or something. If you have multiple routing codes, they are processed in sequence. The commonly recommended routing code sequence of "Wide1-1, Wide2-1" for example, would get you a single digipeat from a fill-in Wide1 digi if one hears you. Once your packet is heard by a "Wide2" digipeater, the Wide1 gets stripped off (whether used or not) and you'll get the number of hops either that you request or possibly that the digipeater will limit you to. There are other routing codes possible besides the "Wide" types. State routing codes are common. "SAR" for search and rescue isn't unknown. You can also use a callsign of a specific digipeater as a routing code if you want to only go to that particular digi - for a fixed station perhaps. If you look at the digipeater info on aprs.fi it will tell you the routing codes in use by that particular digi. Hopefully the preceding has been helpful, it took me a little while to figure out how the routing codes worked. If I've made any sense that will explain why changing to "Wide2-2", to get a second hop on the wide area coverage digis, will significantly increase the distance your packet will make it out to and increase the chances of getting to an igate. Once you actually get some packets that are igated, you can look on aprs.fi and see the route they took. Sometimes just looking at the digipeater info on aprs.fi can be helpful, the nearest digi to me for example has a comment line that says "Use Wide2-2" - a packet needs another hop from there to reach an Igate, so they put that in the comment line. |
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Thanks for those posts. I'm in metro Denver and there's a igate within 10 miles of my location. Every once in a while aprs.fi updates but its not consistent. As far a second radio goes, would that be any different than seeing my callsign on my station list? Its set to automatically beacon, I've played with the intervals anywhere from 30sec to 15 minutes. |
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Quoted:
A little primer on the routing codes which might be helpful. "Wide1", "Wide2", "Wide3" are routing codes. Digipeaters are set up to respond to particular codes. "Wide1" digipeaters are generally small area "fill in" digipeaters, that someone might operate from their home for example, to provide coverage in an otherwise unserved area. "Wide2" is the most common code for large-coverage digipeaters. In some remote/rural areas, particularly in the western states, some digis are set up for "Wide3", as it may take many hops to get to an Igate. The numbers are in reference to the typical maximum number of hops or digipeats that are allowed, but that's just convention. They are just names. The number after the dash is what determines the number of hops. So, if you transmit a routing code of "Wide2-1", you are asking for a single digipeat from a Wide2 digipeater. When the digipeater sends out the retransmission, it will have reduced the repeat count, so the repeated packet will have a routing code of "Wide2-0" - zero meaning no more repeats. There are users in some areas where they know they have coverage from a local digipeater with an Igate, who use a code like "Wide2-0" - their packets are not digipeated, but they do get Igated. Digipeaters are generally set up to automatically limit the number of hops, so if you set up your tracker with something outrageous like "Wide2-9" for a routing code, the digipeater will probably reduce it to "Wide2-2" or something. If you have multiple routing codes, they are processed in sequence. The commonly recommended routing code sequence of "Wide1-1, Wide2-1" for example, would get you a single digipeat from a fill-in Wide1 digi if one hears you. Once your packet is heard by a "Wide2" digipeater, the Wide1 gets stripped off (whether used or not) and you'll get the number of hops either that you request or possibly that the digipeater will limit you to. There are other routing codes possible besides the "Wide" types. State routing codes are common. "SAR" for search and rescue isn't unknown. You can also use a callsign of a specific digipeater as a routing code if you want to only go to that particular digi - for a fixed station perhaps. If you look at the digipeater info on aprs.fi it will tell you the routing codes in use by that particular digi. Hopefully the preceding has been helpful, it took me a little while to figure out how the routing codes worked. If I've made any sense that will explain why changing to "Wide2-2", to get a second hop on the wide area coverage digis, will significantly increase the distance your packet will make it out to and increase the chances of getting to an igate. Once you actually get some packets that are igated, you can look on aprs.fi and see the route they took. Sometimes just looking at the digipeater info on aprs.fi can be helpful, the nearest digi to me for example has a comment line that says "Use Wide2-2" - a packet needs another hop from there to reach an Igate, so they put that in the comment line. This reminds me, I need to add a Wide3 routing code to my Jeep. |
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Quoted: Thanks for those posts. I'm in metro Denver and there's a igate within 10 miles of my location. Every once in a while aprs.fi updates but its not consistent. As far a second radio goes, would that be any different than seeing my callsign on my station list? Its set to automatically beacon, I've played with the intervals anywhere from 30sec to 15 minutes. It may simply be nobody hears it. 10 miles is a long way with a really low gain antenna on packet radio with 5w or less on an HT. It may be your signal is being reflected by buildings/trees and whatnot and it just does not make it to the IGATE. Good solution is to set up your own IGATE at the house, and you can gate your own packets. Problem solved. When I did a lengthly road trip a few years ago, I noticed in urban areas with buildings, even with 10w and a 4db gain antenna, I still didnt get heard in some major cities. |
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Good solution is to set up your own IGATE at the house, and you can gate your own packets. Problem solved. I did this about 5 years ago when I went through my APRS fascination period. Hardware-wise it was trivial. I used a junky discone scanner antenna, junky scanner and junky XP computer I had laying around. Sensitivity wasn't the greatest but more than adequate to fill the coverage hole around my house. All the software you need is here. I used AWG Packet Engine (software TNC), AWGUIDigi to recieve-only Igate, and AWGTracker for local visualization. If memory serves I had to jump through some hoop to get the username and password to upload into the APRS system from my Igate. Setup is non-trivial unless you are a packet/APRS expert, but it was a fun hack to get it all figured out. I say hack because documentation of this stuff is kind of sketchy, so there is a lot of trial and error and Google searching. Sort of like playing with Linux 
I was going to build an miniature APRS tracker unit for my dog, but ultimately I wimped out and bought a Garmin Astro, then lost interest in APRS  Maybe someday I'll get into it again, though!
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Quoted:
It may simply be nobody hears it. 10 miles is a long way with a really low gain antenna on packet radio with 5w or less on an HT. It may be your signal is being reflected by buildings/trees and whatnot and it just does not make it to the IGATE. Good solution is to set up your own IGATE at the house, and you can gate your own packets. Problem solved. When I did a lengthly road trip a few years ago, I noticed in urban areas with buildings, even with 10w and a 4db gain antenna, I still didnt get heard in some major cities. Quoted:
Quoted:
Thanks for those posts. I'm in metro Denver and there's a igate within 10 miles of my location. Every once in a while aprs.fi updates but its not consistent. As far a second radio goes, would that be any different than seeing my callsign on my station list? Its set to automatically beacon, I've played with the intervals anywhere from 30sec to 15 minutes. It may simply be nobody hears it. 10 miles is a long way with a really low gain antenna on packet radio with 5w or less on an HT. It may be your signal is being reflected by buildings/trees and whatnot and it just does not make it to the IGATE. Good solution is to set up your own IGATE at the house, and you can gate your own packets. Problem solved. When I did a lengthly road trip a few years ago, I noticed in urban areas with buildings, even with 10w and a 4db gain antenna, I still didnt get heard in some major cities. I've honestly seen some very weird things. At one point in time I was running a 25W Motorola Maxtrac a 1/4 wave antenna (pretty much equivalent to what you were running). I noticed some of the local digi's couldn't pickup a packet burst 6 miles away but the would constantly digi back and forth with it's i-gate brother 30 miles away. Even attempted using a 5/8 wave antenna and it didn't change anything. Eventually I went back to the 1/4 wave and upgraded to a 45W Motorola SM50. Seems to work much better. One time I was headed north towards Brownfield on 84, 50 miles out of Brownwood it hit a digi in Brownwood. Got closer and it never hit it again. |
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As a good friend of mine used to say, RF is a strange animal.
It's kind of interesting to see how radio waves propagate on VHF based on APRS. I have seen the same kind of thing: you are close to a given igate yet you are heard by a different one. At times it doesn't seem like distance or location matter. They do but it isn't obvious how they matter. |