That URL causes BitDefender to have a heart attack. Also it’s not https so the next check isn’t happy either. Then it wants me to log in. All seems a big dodgy!
It’s appears to be using the following open source code:
https://www.aprsdirect.com
Which you can download from here:
https://github.com/qvarforth/trackdirect
It seems quite a few sites are now using it, including
https://aprs-map.info
https://aprsdirect.de
https://www.cwopviewer.com
and it seems it’s also used for Glider tracking - which also uses APRS:
https://www.gliderradar.com
Dave
Mine is in the attic.
An outdoor antenna would be preferable but it’s better than nothing, it manages 50-60 miles range.
He’s not a bad fella, that JKS, is he
arrived today…started in the garden for a little test, but on Saturday it will be under the sun with me in SOTA
I’ve been upgrading my tracker over the last few weeks.
The 600 mAh wasn’t lasting long enough so did some modifications to allow a pair of 18650 cells (from an old Poundworld power bank which is all I could scavenge at the time) to fit in the box that the T beam came in.
The power button has got a bit temperamental so it ended up being left on from Saturday morning until Sunday night, the battery only dropping from 4.2v to 3.6v. My phone doesn’t last that long even in ultra durable mode.
So I think I’ve got too much battery capacity now I’ll have to go wombling at some point and see if I can find some smaller cells with a view to making it slimmer and lighter.
Are there any new developments in the LoRa boards? More compact boards or slightly more power output?
Has the Android/Bluetooth issue on the Heltecs been sorted out yet, or is BLE supported in the latest APRSDroid now?
I think its an APRSDroid problem rather than a Lora APRS tracker problem see Using ESP32 as TNC ( BT classic Works and BLE not) · Issue #370 · ge0rg/aprsdroid · GitHub
Received mine this afternoon. First run out to the local hill and Im impressed. Selected the wrong callsign but packets recived by Richard G3CWI.
Glad you like it Dom. To switch between the three programmed call-signs (e.g. 2EKIO-7, 2W0KIO-7 and 2M0KIO-7) see the paragraph entitled “Switching call-signs using the front panel buttons” on page 11 in the user guide. You can download it here:
https://sota-shop.co.uk/aprs-tracker
Dave
Thanks! I was like a kid at Christmas messing with it. hope to be out with it in a week or two.
I took my tracker to France for a recent trip. M0WIV-6 was my mobile iGate which was connected to the Internet through the WiFi in my campervan. It was just using the stubby antenna that came with the Heltec board. It seemed to have no problem getting a GPS fix through the vehicle windows.
M0WIV-7 was the tracker connected to a mag-mount antenna on the roof. On some days I connected M0WIV-6 to this antenna to see what it would pick up and the bottom section of this screen shot shows we had a few hits. Ignore the reference to M0WIV-10, that’s the fixed iGate at my home QTH. It also shows it was 51 miles from M0WIV-7 when they were both in the same vehicle. I’m guessing it only updates its location when it beacons which is every 60 minutes. This means the ranges shown are not accurate. Sending a beacon message more frequently should improve accuracy but I need to do an experiment to confirm this.
M0WIV-7, the tracker was useful for recording our route but to get an accurate path it needed to be set to pedestrian mode, which is probably frowned upon but in car mode the spots are too far apart. I must try bicycle mode next time. The screen shot below shows what happened when I changed to car from pedestrian.
Once when on the west coast of France I was heard by a station in the mountains in northern Spain. Annoyingly I didn’t take a screenshot but the range was 360 miles I think. The path was over the sea during a period when QRZ was reporting ES on several bands. Alternatively it may perhaps have been low level ducting just above the sea, which I understand can happen.
Took the tracker with me on Saturday for a run up the motorway. Going north i used the rubber duck antenna and left the tracker on the passenger seat.
On the way back swapped out the antenna for a larger onethat came with a DMR MD380 paperweight.
Better track. Really love this aprs stuff. Ive now orderd some boards so I can build an igate as there isnt much coverage near Junction 15 of the M6.
Have a word with the people who have the repeaters close to Ipstone Edge that have good coverage of the Potteries, or have a word with Darrell, M0XDR who runs GB7DZ at Mow Cop