In a recent video, Mike @hamradiotube made the claim that "APRS (is) the most worthless mode in ham radio". Really Mike? His description lead-in goes on to say, "APRS is touted as this life saving mode of communication". Who is touting that? Mike never tells us. K8MRD's channel is one of the more popular ham radio RU-vid channels and for good reason - he's funny, educational, and generally does a good job. I subscribe to Mike's channel and generally enjoy his content, but I feel the need to address his unsubstantiated assertions regarding APRS.
In this video, I'm going to tackle Mike's comments head-on and offer an alternative viewpoint. Contrary to Mike, I feel that APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) is a fun and useful amateur radio mode. I'm not aware of anyone who's made the claim it's a "life saving mode." Mike himself doesn't really backup his statements other than to say he's not used the mode that much and that you can't use it in areas where there's no coverage (duh). Nothing personal Mike, my feathers aren't ruffled but I am scratching my head wondering about the basis for your video. Regardless, we hope to see you at the Huntsville (AL) Hamfest again this August.
After addressing some of the his comments, I'll offer some of my own experiences with APRS and how I've used it over the past 20 years. One thing we can all agree on is that amateur (ham) radio is a big hobby with room enough for folks to pursue what they enjoy most. Share what you think in the comments below.
Fun & Useful Things You Can Do With APRS (presentation PDF)
kk4gq.org/pdf/...
Equipment shown - Kenwood TH-D74
73, Joe KI4ASK
PS - Unlike Mike, our channel is small. We don't monetize it, nor do we really promote it. We do it for fun. Consider subscribing, liking, following, commenting so that the algorithms might show our videos to more people. This video was shot on my iPhone (in my car) and edited using iMovie on my iPhone.
28 сен 2024
