[aprssig] Re: parked cars

[Stephen H. Smith]

.

>
> I dislike the simple tnc type trackers (D700's, KPC's, TNC2, 
> PicoPacket, Alinco 135) that beacon every minute, parked or moving.
>
> My own vehicle, I try and remember to shut it all down when leaving.. 
> two commercial radios (Micor in particular) will suck the battery dry 
> if I forget!
>
> I know.. auto-power-off.. it's "on the list".
>
I have my D700 set for beacons every 30 minutes.   When I am in the car, 
I have the D700 under control of a laptop running UIview with smart 
beaconing enabled.  I have the exit de-init routine of UI-view set to 
put the D700 in standalone "APRS" mode instead of shuting down the TNC 
completely as it normally does.   The TNC is set with the 30-minute 
beacon intervals, panel lamps off,  and the canned "Out-Of-Service" 
status message.   

This way, when I park, I just shut down the laptop, and the D700 reverts 
to the low-power-consumption  slow-beaconing  mode automatically.    
When I return to the car and start up the laptop, UI-view automatically 
takes the TNC back into "TNC" mode with smart beaconing.   No need to 
fiddle with PMs set to different beacon rates  at all!

A modified UI-view init file for the D700 that does this is on my 
website at:
    http://webs.lanset.com/wa8lmf/miscinfo   

Look for the file    UIview_CMD_Files.zip    



Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
EchoLink Node:      14400    [Think bottom of the 2M band]
Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.com

APRS Symbol Chart
  http://webs.lanset.com/wa8lmf/miscinfo/APRS_Symbol_Chart.pdf   

New/Updated "Rev G" APRS     http://webs.lanset.com/wa8lmf/aprs
Symbols Set for UI-View,
UIpoint and APRSplus: