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 Previous: The Amateur Amateur: The HF Chronicles--A New Mode of Thinking |  Next: Amateurs to Remember September 11; President Haynie to Address Global Linkup |
By Stan Horzepa,
WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
September 7, 2002
This week, we visit a Web site that reveals why APRS and the Internet are as inseparable as Frick and Frack.
Find out how APRS and the Internet are intertwined at the APRS-IS Web site. |
APRS-IS (Automatic Packet Reporting System-Internet Service) is the common name given to the Internet-based network that interconnects the various APRS radio networks throughout the world (and outer space). Pete Loveall, AE5PL, (pete@ae5pl.net) built the APRS-IS Web site to serve as a common locale for finding information regarding APRS-IS.
In a nutshell, the initial APRS software was developed by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, for tracking and digital communications with mobile GPS-equipped ham radio stations. Since its introduction over a decade ago, APRS has grown to encompass many aspects of Amateur Radio and includes a variety of interfaces and applications that are related to the Internet.
The links on the APRS-IS Web site home page summarize what the Web site is all about. For example, on the Overview link to read a general description of APRS-IS or click on the Live link to view actual current APRS-IS data (displayed on a map and as a data stream of text). It is fascinating to watch the data stream while trying to imagine the activity that is generating all the information that is flying by there. To decipher all those q call signs that you see in the data stream, click on the click here link near the bottom of the home page.
By the way, if you are just starting out in APRS or APRS-IS, this site's Software link will help you obtain most current versions of APRS software.
Until next time, keep on surfin'
Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, resides in downtown Wolcott, Connecticut, and is a member of the QQCC (QST quarter century club), ie, he has been a QST writer for 25 years. Since getting his ticket in 1969, Stan has sampled nearly every entrée in the Amateur Radio menu (including a stint as Connecticut Section Manager), but he keeps coming back to his favorite preoccupations--VHF and packet radio. As a result, he runs a 2-meter APRS digipeater and weather station (WA1LOU-15) from his mountaintop location in central Connecticut. Stan has been a long time advocate of using computers with Amateur Radio and wrote programs to dupe contests and calculate antenna bearings way back in 1978. Today, he uses his Mac to surf the Internet searching for that perfect ham radio web page. To contact Stan, send e-mail to wa1lou@arrl.net.
| Previous: The Amateur Amateur: The HF Chronicles--A New Mode of Thinking | Next: Amateurs to Remember September 11; President Haynie to Address Global Linkup |
