Build an APRS Fill In Digipeater - Ham Radio Q&A

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APRS or the Automated Packet Reporting System can be really handy for tracking vehicles and other assets during events like parades, rides or walkathons. But if you are using a low powered APRS tracker, like a handheld radio, you may not be able to reliably get into the wide area digipeater. In this video I’m going to show you how you can use a spare 2 meter radio and TNC to build a fill in digipeater that can be deployed during special events.
#APRS #EMCOMM #HAMRADIO
Products Mentioned:
USB Serial Adapter with LED Indicators: amzn.to/2D208KE
Links and Resources:
Introduction to APRS: • Introduction to APRS t...
APRS SSIDs, Paths, and Beacons: • APRS: SSIDs, Paths, an...
APRS Wide1-1 Settings: www.aprs.org/ne...
APRS Fill In Digi Settings: www.nwaprs.inf...
My Wide1-1 Fill In Digipeater Settings:
MYCALL KB9VBR-1
MYALIAS Wide1-1
BTEXT !DDMM.mmN1DDDMM.mmW#W1-1 Fill In Digi
BEACON E 60
UNPROTO APN382
HID OFF
DIGI ON
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Lens - Panasonic 12-35 f2.8: amzn.to/2GWC5zU
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Опубликовано:

23 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 43

@tekspeditionplanet9109 2 года назад

Thanks for the video. I found my old KPC3 in a parts bin at the back of my shack, and I think I'll set'er up for APRS. We have very few digipeaters in our area.

@KB9VBRAntennas 2 года назад

Even a fill-in digi is helpful as it gives the mobile and portable stations a better chance of hitting a wide digipeater

@davidm1635 22 дня назад

Got it working?

@COUREURSdesBOIS88 Год назад

More packet videos please!

@EdwardRaybould 4 года назад

After watching this video, I bought the USB serial adapter you are using (it has the FTDI chipset, too; I've had issues with adapters that use the Prolific chipset) and a DB9 to DB25 adapter. I'm going to resurrect a Kantronics KPC-9612+. Southeast Ohio could sure use a fill-in APRS digipeater.

@KB9VBRAntennas 4 года назад

After several years‚ I'm still using that same USB to serial adapter. It's rock solid.

@yaroze 5 лет назад

Great info, especially since my club has been talking about digipeaters at aide station in mountainous ultra-marathons in my area, I was looking into building a few one based on arduino, and forgot That this may work with stuff i already have, 3 mfj tnc2 clones, and a KAM and a kpc3, thank you!

@KB9VBRAntennas 5 лет назад

Fill-ins are a great way to repurpose old equipment.

@JeffSukow 5 лет назад

Great video. It was exactly what I was looking for.

@hamradiox 6 месяцев назад

Great vid! Searched but no luck...Is there a way to beacon an icon since it's a stand-alone tnc??

@LuisPozzi 3 года назад

Thank you for the vídeo. I used Packet Radio in the early '90. I'm back after 25 years to ham radio. Now I have a FT 991A and I can buy a used Kantronics 3 plus. Do I nerd the serial adapter to connect to the PC or I can use the USB cable such as FT8? Thanks in avance. 73de Luis. LU1CBQ.

@N9IBZED 5 лет назад

I would think that it would be great in ARES/RACES situations where a main digi is down due to damage of the antenna or loss of power due to either severe weather or other natural disaster that would cause loss of the main digi

@hehe3301 4 года назад

One of my first thoughts as well

@dj_fission 3 года назад

Thank you for the video!

@AG4QH1 Год назад

I have a KPC-3 (Non-plus) and I have set it up just as you have yours setup. Mine doesn't seem to receive aprs packets like yours does. Mine also is Ver. 6. Do you think Ver. 6 may not work as a digipeater?

@dogsareloud 11 месяцев назад

What commands would I enter if i just wanted this APRS FILL station for just my call sign only ?

@Sparkfly88 Год назад

I live in a rural area where theres only one digipeter withen 25 miles, all the big boys are 60+ miles away. I'm having and issue where my digipeter on the coast, will send off the packets from my HT, but wont return the acks to the HT or any messages for that matter. example, If i send a message from my HT, SSID -7, to the digi owner 20 miles out, the HT sends to my digi SSID -10, which then the message gets forwarded to the recipient, my -10 station receives the ack and message reply, but WONT send it to the HT. So my HT will keep firing off packets thinking the packet didnt get received. I'm using the software modem direwolf.

@davidm1635 22 дня назад

kpc-3 plus, your cmds not working eeprom 9.1

@patricksharimccarthy9495 3 года назад

Outstanding!!!

@matthewtruland 3 года назад

Awesome video! What’s the runtime of this setup? Can you provide those details? Radio wattage, battery capacity, etc?

@hehe3301 4 года назад

Really great video! Cute dog too!

@mgtowdarrelldundee8643 5 лет назад

it would be nice if i could get a aprs software disk many times i tried didnt work

@KY4TRK 5 лет назад

What program did you use. Not listed in comments of the video.

@KB9VBRAntennas 5 лет назад

I used RealTerm. It's an open source terminal program: realterm.sourceforge.io/

@blueberrybute8 2 года назад

thank you!

@user-su5sq5ib3i Год назад

I set my old pk232 up as a wide1-1 aprs but have not seen it digipeate on aprs maps. Why wouldnt mobiles and portables digipeating through it I wonder.

@user-su5sq5ib3i Год назад

@KB9VBR as a follow up, I was having issues with aprs dit fi digitizing my packets but it seems to work now, There were issues with my GPS coordinates and no on in my area so I had to do the old fashioned trial and error, aslo looking at other local repeater and trying what they are doing hihi. I was getting [uncompressed packet], than [uncompressed location] but got it figured out now/ you can see the mess I left my call is ve1qet. So now.....I wait, but still I dont know how I wouldnt have been recieeing and relaying even though my config was a little off, If aprs dot fi was still receiving my packets.

@watchmanmichael2023 3 года назад

Thanks!

@justsomedude4660 4 года назад

What is that radio with the telephone-like connector? How is it connected to a tnc?

@thuff3207 4 года назад

So your digipeater is just a kantronics TNC and a radio. You program the Kantronics with what to do including digipeating its position. Then it and the radio are the fill in digipeater?

@KB9VBRAntennas 4 года назад

Correct. The Kantronics TNC is the digipeater. You only need a computer to program the commands for the TNC. A simple terminal program and a USB to serial adapter is all that's needed for programming.

@jleiben72 2 года назад

I had no idea a tnc could do this without something controlling it.

@RKStripes74 5 лет назад

KB9VBR...GREAT VIDEO! This just might be the solution to the digipeater / Igate problem in our area. We do NOT have an Igate or digipeater in our county (Tyler County, Texas) and I've been wanting to install SOMETHING for a long time that would at least allow APRS tracking within our neighborhood in the nearby town of Woodville. There is a digipeater in Hardin county which I think could be activated from my QTH if I could put up a small beam. The trick would be receiving on an omni and transmitting on a vertically polarized yagi. Any ideas?

@KB9VBRAntennas 5 лет назад

I'd probably look at building a full-blown digipeater If you aren't getting good coverage with a neighboring digi. Fill-ins will only work on the first hop and a true digi has the extra ability of filtering to help reduce congestion and duplicate packets. As for splitting antennas for receive and transmit, that would likely involve two transceivers, one on the omni and another on the beam. That might end up being quite complex.

@bulldogbrower6732 4 года назад

I’d like to use APRS trackers on the two ATVs I own. I’d like to track the kids as the travel in the woods 1-3 miles from the cabin. I have no need to digipeat this info into the network. Do I need to have internet to get this tracking onto the APRS.fi mapping software. I know that you can download google maps for use offline but don’t know if APRS software will work with offline maps.

@KB9VBRAntennas 4 года назад

APRS.fi is an online APRS solution so you'll need Internet connectivity to use it. There are offline APRS applications like APRS Point or UIview. For those‚ all you would need is a radio/TNC combination connected to the computer.

@davidmarquez3895 3 года назад

kp4dmr -Hi I have a Kantronics brand tnc model Kam all mode it can work for me as an aprs digi version 5.0

@jimdarrough1732 5 лет назад

Michael, can you refer me to a site with recommended settings for a full APRS digipeater on a KPC3+?

@KB9VBRAntennas 5 лет назад

I think this is a good breakdown of the KPC3+ digipeater settings: www.nwaprs.info/widen-n.htm. I hope it helps.

@davidm1635 22 дня назад

@@KB9VBRAntennassite gone

@bradleyjohnson452 5 лет назад

Would this be the same setup if used as a fill in Winlink digipeater?

@KB9VBRAntennas 5 лет назад

It would be similar. You can use the same basic commands as a Winlink fill-in digipeater. Of course you will not want to use Wide1-1 for your myalias, but instead could use a callsign with SSID, or a tactical call.

@jyunte 3 года назад

Hi, can you describe the meaning of the BEACON text (BTEXT)? You've written it out as "!DDMM.mmN1DDDMM.mmW#W1-1" plus the custom text. Looking online, where you have a "1" after the N (North), I see others suggesting it should be a "/" to separate the the LAT from LON. My KPC3+ is quite old, it's using older firmware, so maybe the old firmware required a "/" to separate LAT and LON? In other words, it would look like this: BTEXT !DDMM.mmN/DDDMM.mmW#W1-1 MY CUSTOM TEXT Can you confirm that the "1" after the "N" (North) is correct? What does the "#" sign signify? Many thanks!