January, 2011
#1The APRS Adventure Begins...
After receiving a TH-D7A from a friend during the winter of 2010-11, I thought I would dabble with a little bit of APRS. I purchased a Byonics GPS2 along with the D7 power adapter and started tracking myself (well, you guys track me. I usually know where I am... ;-D).
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| Byonics GPS2 for TH-D7A |
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| FTM-350AR Head on dash |
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| Radio under pass. seat |
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| Station listing |
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Here are the current SSIDs that I run:
KD8KSN-7: TH-D7A HT
KD8KSN-1: My digi (see blog on digipeater setup)
Useful APRS links:
APRS Homepage: http://www.aprs.org/
Real Time ARPS Tracking: http://aprs.fi/
#2
APRS Digipeater Installation
January, 2011
After I received the TH-D7A and got into APRS, I began to notice a void in the APRS network in my area. In all of Licking County, Ohio, there were a total of 3 digipeaters, in a 688 square mile county. The terrain is very rolling/mountainous (we call anything over 1,000 ft a mountain) which doesn't help. Along with my good friend and elmer, KB8TZE, we installed a digi on my 1,100ft hill - I mean - mountain. Equipment is a Kenwood TM-271 w/ 25w output, Kantronics Packet Communicator 3 Plus (KPC3+) TNC, a Jetstream PSU, a Diamond F22A ground plane 6.7db antenna, and the setup also has a battery backup.
Stage #1 - Jan 19
After I received the TH-D7A and got into APRS, I began to notice a void in the APRS network in my area. In all of Licking County, Ohio, there were a total of 3 digipeaters, in a 688 square mile county. The terrain is very rolling/mountainous (we call anything over 1,000 ft a mountain) which doesn't help. Along with my good friend and elmer, KB8TZE, we installed a digi on my 1,100ft hill - I mean - mountain. Equipment is a Kenwood TM-271 w/ 25w output, Kantronics Packet Communicator 3 Plus (KPC3+) TNC, a Jetstream PSU, a Diamond F22A ground plane 6.7db antenna, and the setup also has a battery backup.
Stage #1 - Jan 19
I began ground breaking yesterday (1/18), and dug the hole for the 4x4 (pic #3) and the trench (pic #2) for the Bury Flex 400 coax (direct bury and very low loss). The coax runs about 50ft. to an outbuilding (pic #1), and the box with the radio, TNC and PSU will be inside. You can see a couple pictures below of the digging.
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| Pic #1 |
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Pic #2
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| Pic#3 |
Stage #2 - Jan 20
The Diamond antenna went up today (1/20), and the receive capabilities were amazing on top of the hill! The coax is laid (pic #1), antenna up (pic #2&3), now the fun part - hook everything up! I am waiting on the radio to get here, so it may be a couple weeks before it is all ready to go.
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| Pic #1 |
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| Pic #2 |
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| Pic #3 |
Stage #3 - Jan 28
Here are a few pics of the radio, TNC and PSU all hooked up and ready to go. Just a few minor hookups and it should be on the air!
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| Kenwood TM-271 |
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| Radio, TNC, PSU in box, battery for backup power behind. The PSU keeps the battery at full charge via the current limiting posts on the back of the PSU. |
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| Jetstream PSU, TM-271, KPC3+ TNC |
