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APRS On Rubicon

13K views 50 replies 18 participants last post by  1MAC 
#1 · (Edited)
Turned on the beacon neat south lake tahoe and got a good fix in a number of locations-- a few along 50 and ice house, but between loon and observation point, lots of hits. Turned it off just after Truckee so it works. Had it in and off several times, but got a good solid hit from the end of trail when we hiked north over the ridge to Long Lake and were treated to a large, mature rattler in the heavy brush.

Move over a red dot for travel data. Or zoom in for more details.


http://aprs.fi/#!mt=roadmap&z=9&ts=1346889600&te=1346976000&call=a/KA7BAD-9
 
#5 ·
Almost stepped on this guy-- scared the @~#$&$%out of me and made him very mad. Encountered on hike thru dense brush between here




and north over the ridge to Long Lake.

Nasty critter.


We also spied several sage grouse scampering about 200 yards below Observation Point.

APRS is a cool tool. We're working on a series of pre-packaged messages to send in case of emergency, kind of like the SPOT transmitters.
 
#7 ·
I've used APRS up there many times, so I know that it works. In fact, it work in that whole area. Here's a Link to one of my tracks around the Hell Hole area. Not too far, as a crow flies, from the Rubicon. By the way, I was also able to hit the Spider repeater from Hell Hole. And here's one to another Link to another well known trail in the area that shall remain nameless.
 
#8 ·
sweet. i look often but see little activity on aprs in that area. Just before the snows hit we went from Auburn up Forresthill Divide, then on the 'rough' road to the Cedars and hit 80 at Soda Springs. Did that in a Subaru-- fun times and solid packet tx all the way. Need to get up there and do more exploring. Beautiful country. Nice to have confirmed full coverage on Rubicon-- this way the XYL can monitor progress.
 
#12 ·
Back to the top :)

I just picked this up for a very specific reason. That being APRS. Need/want to be able to text message and email. We are in the area a lot and this will be a very handy option if I can figure it all out. Getting way deeper into Ham Radio than I ever thought I would.

 
#15 ·
Curly, that Yaesu is a nice looking set up and seems to be the best buy for all in one set up thru AES at the moment. Hit the road and let's see the coverage! How do you like it so far, ie: ease of programming, use and such. Lay down a track so I can login and have a look.... Thanks, Dave
 
#17 ·
Next weekend I will lay down the track. Jeep will be on the trailer on the way up but I will turn the radio on anyway ;)

Haven't messed with digital mode yet. As I said, we got into this for a very specific reason and getting that working first and reliably was the first objective. Now moving on to other parts of the radio :)

So far so good and I love it. Programming seems simple enough manually and the SD card function for the computer programming is awesome. My favorite feature so far is the touch screen and the ability to use the on screen keyboard, no more messing around with the mic trying to enter letters. :smokin:
 
#18 ·
Success! Was able to lay down a track all the way from Sacramento to camp near Loon Lake. Was also able to send and receive APRS, Email, Text, and update the group Facebook page all from camp without issue.
 
#25 ·
Couple of updates:

Installed new battery in the digipeater so we are now running through the night. Got the weather station calibrated and TX'ing on a five to ten minute interval and things look to be working very well. Hoping for a little rain this week so we can check rain gauge but all looks well at this point.

The Digi is set to repeat "wide 1-1" and "wide" packets so this should help with messaging and beacons in and around the trail. I'm sure we will see as traffic ramps up this summer. All in all this has been a fun project and should be helpful with APRS coverage in the area.

WX:
Google Maps APRS

Digi:
Google Maps APRS
 
#28 ·
Agreed, this goes back to 2012. For what its worth and just a little side caveat. When we first started messing with APRS messaging we had great coverage through most of the area. We noticed shortly after our initial testing that things started to go south.

Further investigation showed that the WARD digipeater/igate (Ward Peak almost 9000ft)went down. I actually took the time to contact the owner and he informed me that most likely snow took it down and due to such had no idea when he would fix it. That was almost two years ago and it aint up yet. He did also state "It's just ham radio, calm down" lmao. Hence the need for more digi's.

In my experience this is one of the down sides to APRS. For the most part you are not in control of all the factors so hence in remote areas with limited coverage if something goes down you can get hosed.

Hope that all makes sense.
 
#29 · (Edited)
I'm interested and have been looking at APRS capable radios. Do the 5 watt handhelds have enough power to hit the repeaters on the trail for these purposes or would you guys recommend a more powerful vehicle mounted radio?
 
#30 ·
I would always recommend a mobile mounted unit, it just gives you the possibilities for more power, better antenna etc etc. But with that said, now we have multiple digis in the area the hand held coverage is excellent. The picture below shows a track from a FT2DR and you can see how well it worked. I am also able to message from inside my cabin on the FT2DR at 5watts and hit the digis with no issue.

 
#33 ·
Also running the FTM-400. Like Tim said, very intuitive and works well. I kept my 8800 in the rig so I can listen to JJ RPT and the RUBI on that while still running APRS and a trail freq in the FTM400.

Recent upgrades and adjustment to the GAP digi have made both of the Rubicon digi's more effective. Texting is working very consistently now. Sent and received a text yesterday with Barb...in Pittsburg.

BTW, I think that's gonna be her track^^^
 
#35 ·
I run a FTM-350 in my runner and a FT2DR handheld. The FTM-350 is an older model before the 400 came out so it's not as fancy and dosnt have the fancy color screen, but it is a solid proven APRS capable radio that can still be found used for a decent price.

It's great to know you can get a txt message out to someone back home if you break something or need anything(or just ran out of beer!).
 

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