Advocate III
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- Michael
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- Rose
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20990
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Icom 2730a and Mobilinkd are OTW, who is ready for APRS?
- Thread starter KM4DWS
- Start date
Explorer I
Thank you! TestFlight is Apple's way of distributing pre-release software. Will see if I can get on the beta to check it out.While I like Android and would not say don't go get an Android device.... The Backcountry Navigator XE seems to have plans to be on iOS. Their website claims they are in early beta and can get it from "TestFlight" seems like beta testing sight
TestFlight - Apple
Using TestFlight is a great way to help developers test beta versions of their apps.testflight.apple.com
See Back Country Navi website here:
BackCountry Navigator XE
www.bcnavxe.com
Pathfinder III
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- Marchiando
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- KI7POE
I'll jump in on this thread too.
I've been playing with sms and email via APRS and it is tooooo fun.
The FTM-400 does it stock out of the box, and I am getting a cable to run APRD on the Boufeng handhelds. Super cheap and easy solution.
-Steve
I've been playing with sms and email via APRS and it is tooooo fun.
The FTM-400 does it stock out of the box, and I am getting a cable to run APRD on the Boufeng handhelds. Super cheap and easy solution.
-Steve
I currently have that same cable and use it with my cheap HT and it seems to work well enough.
I am hoping to make an adaptor to go from that cable to other radios. Attempting to allow almost any 2m radio with VOX to work with APRSDroid. Also looking to see if I can trigger PTT with some sort of automated switch making it work with even more radios.
The Icom finally showed up! :)
I will get some pictures at some point. I did not realize how small the head unit actually is. I was able to put it on the sunglass holder.
Damn KM4ACK guy has me building a Ham PI right now. I am in the middle of running his build a pi script. I "Need this" to program the radio in the car!
I will get some pictures at some point. I did not realize how small the head unit actually is. I was able to put it on the sunglass holder.
Damn KM4ACK guy has me building a Ham PI right now. I am in the middle of running his build a pi script. I "Need this" to program the radio in the car!
Advocate III
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That build-a-pi script is so ingenious. I love it... I have my pi running 24-7
Trail Blazer III
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Now y'all have me thinking I might need a pi - do not know what I would do with it, but don't think I want to be left out..lol
Advocate III
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- Michael
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- Rose
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20990
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KM4ACK Build-A-Pi does almost all digital radio protocols from winlink packet, to ft-8 to JS8CAL and so so much more... search KM4ACK on YouTube and select his Raspberry Pi videos series in the play list to see what all you can do... and that’s just the tip of the iceberg... you can also use the pi to make a DMR Hotspot (look up OpenSpot), make a Software Defined Radio (SDR), an APRS digipeter.... and so so much more... I need to order about 4 more Raspberry Pi’s for all these other projects.
Explorer I
What can’t you do with a pi? :) The pi 4 is almost powerful enough to be a “desktop PC”, cheap and small. Search the web and you will be blown away by the myriad of things people are doing with them. You can get the pi camera and that opens up even more opportunities. I have one running in the truck that has a GPS puck and hands off location data to my APRS radio as well as running iridium goop. They will satisfy for many “low cost computing” projects. While you can run some form of windoze mostly folks run Linux and that is a great place to be.
If you get a pi also get a cheap USB SDR (software defined radio) for RX fun. You can have an APRS “listener” with graphical interface (Xastir) up and running pretty easily. You can build a high altitude NOAA ballon tracker too! Though our area does not have many, if any, launches to track. I had some fun with this down in Palm Springs monitoring balloons launched from over on the coast.
Speak up if you need questions answered, etc.
Yes, you need one! I programmed my new radio in the car using the Pi and tablet, no mouse, no keyboard. It is nice to have that little box, a tablet, and a battery pack to make a 'Laptop' and use CHRIP.
Just a note on KM4ACK's Build a Pi series, the series went through several evolutions in a very short period of time so the instructions/details on several of the videos might be outdated until you get to the very end series. KM4ACK put in a lot of effort to get it where it is and after running the script, I am going to have to find a couple of extra bucks to support his time and effort.
The script takes several hours (plan on up to 4) to get everything installed. For my Pi, I picked up an 8GB model, used a 128GB card for it, and put it in a FLRIC case.
I found several places on the internet that had extra steps and old/bad information on the PI. First was that the microSD card could not be over 32GB but my 128GB worked out fine
A note on the FLRIC case, it uses passive cooling and does a really good job of it, without having the problems of a fan unit. Fans make noise, they use additional power, and they can fail. The FLRIC case looks great and feels like a very premium product when I picked it up it was only $10 (only a week ago) they are now $15 so the price is very fluid.
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Trail Blazer III
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@M Rose @Greg Eigsti @KM4DWS - Thank you all for the information, it has sufficiently peaked my interest to investigate further. Have never played with Linux but have always wanted to. Now just need to set aside some time to watch some u tubes
Explorer I
I have this SDR kit and it reviews well for the price ($25). Has some cheap starter bits as well (antenna, etc.) to get you up and running. Have used this one for RX APRS and balloons
If you want to play HF with your SDR then loot at the Ham It Up for the conversion
Influencer III
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Still looking at this. What I can’t decipher from the website is how the gps signal is introduced into the system.
Advocate III
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The signal is introduced in the app.... and then converted from binary to digital audio tones and sent out to the TNC to the radio to be pushed to the air
Influencer III
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Advocate III
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- Rose
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20990
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The other option is a raspberry pi with a gps dongle running Xaster
Influencer III
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How would you do a display and keyboard for the packet side of things?
Advocate III
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- Michael
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- Rose
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20990
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A touch screen... or do like I do and use KM4ACK Build A Pi script, then set the pi up as a hot spot and use VNC viewer from my phone, tablet, or pc to control the pi... this also gives you the option to use WinLink to send packet mail, and do a whole lot more with your packet radio.
Explorer I
If you use a tablet, etc., you can VNC into the pi for graphical goodness. I love and have used Xastir for years but it’s map redraw is not the fastest. Upgraded my iGate from a beagle bone black to a Pi 4 this weekend and while much faster Xastir’s map redraw is not stellar. Totally possible I did not pick the correct maps, borked config, etc.
