One of the fun things to do with gadgets is to link them up to do something different, and one of my favourites is APRS.  This consists of connecting a GPS receiver (Garmin GPSmap 60CS) to a VHF transceiver (Kenwood TH-D7E) and transmitting positional data (which requires an amateur radio transmitting licence).  This setup is referred to as APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System).

In Europe this positional data is transmitted on 144.800MHz in the VHF band.  Other radio amateurs with  an APRS-capable radio will see my callsign, lat/long location, speed & direction of travel blip up on their radio's display (as text).  

Any user with their receiving radio connected to a PC can run an APRS program like UI-View which displays my callsign (GJ7LJJ) and location on-screen on a map.

Some computer-connected users also send the APRS data they receive to Internet APRS servers, which allows users all around the world to access this information.

One such server runs the Findu service.  If you click on the following link it will show my last known location. 

If you receive a message saying "Sorry, no position known for GJ7LJJ" it's because the server hasn't received an updated position for me during the last 10 days (I'm not perfectly positioned here in Jersey to have my signals picked up by a an Internet-connected APRS station.)  So here's a map I saved earlier (acknowledgements & thanks to the Findu website and Google Maps).

 

This link shows a UI-View screen (in the United States) with a large number of APRS stations.  Those callsigns with a car icon are mobile stations, those with a house icon are home stations, and those with a 'WX' icon are stations also transmitting weather data.

If you enjoyed this entry, send me a Comment. Nigel.