DARA APRS IGATE

IGATE : 144.39 Mhz

If you didn’t know APRS stands for Automatic Position Reporting System.  Bob Bruninga, WB4APR is credited as being the father and creator of APRS. For details of the APRS  go to:  http://www.aprs.org/ 

To support local APRS DARA has  what is called an Igate. The Igate currently listens on 144.39 MHz. If you go to :  https://aprs.fi/info/W8BI you will see details as to what it is hearing and reporting to the APRS system.  You will note that the APRS system reports 4 other Digis at the same location. That has confused a number of people over the years  as the Digis are not on 144.39 MHz. Keeping in mind it’s Automatic  Position Reporting System, there are a number of ways positions can be reported. There are apps that can do that, but also D-Star, DMR and likely Fusion can also report station positions to APRS. So the Digis at the same site are D-Star repeaters that are sending user position reports to APRS (only if the ham has turned it on).

It also turns out that the Hot Spots you can use in you r house can do the same. So if you have a Hot Spot you might have created a APRS Digi and never knew it.

What was used to build the DARA Igate? it was a Raspberry Pi  model 2b, running a TNC software packaged called Direwolf and APRX digi software. As the default audio on a Raspberry does not have a Microphone input , it also required a USB Audio Dongle. For a Radio I used a Motorola Radius as it can be programmed with no way bumping it will move it off frequency. I also believe in a cellular approach and had it set to 15 watts output. That way it does not create as much QRM to other Digis or Igates.

APRS Introduction: http://www.aprs.org/APRS-docs/APRS.TXT

If you are running a Digi, Igate or are interested in doing so please read: http://www.aprs.org/fix14439.html  as it discusses how to help clear up congestion.  One of the nice things about Direwolf is it runs on Wiindows as well as Linux. Its easy to set it up just to listen. Doing so you can see a number of Hams who need to tweak their settings.

In the USA the frequency used is primarily 144.39 MHz with some cities also using 144.99 MHz along with a standard repeater duplexer, so both can be on the same antenna.

Jim, WB8VSU