[aprssig] APRS Multi-Mode Tracker

[Curt, WE7U]

On Sun, 4 Mar 2007, Scott Drumm wrote:

> Alternatively, I just read a writeup about the
> PacComm<http://www.paccomm.com/>dual-port PicoPacket...
>
> It looks like the PicoPacket will do all of the above, w/o the need for a
> second TNC or strange cabling, yes?

I'd steer clear of this one.  I have one of these and have had
nothing but problems with it.  Admittedly it's an early model so
perhaps they eventually fixed the design flaws.  Mine tends to lose
it's configs all the time even with a fresh lithium battery in it.
Seems to be a design problem in the battery backup system.

I plan to use a Tracker2 for my mobile, but they're not in
production yet.  I have some beta-test models.  With this unit I can
run it standalone or hook it up to a PC when I wish.  As far as the
GPS I should be able to snag the GPS data out of the TNC via an APRS
program.  If I wished to run a separate non-APRS mapping program I
could wire the GPS data out over to a separate serial port on the
laptop or else run two GPS'es.

The Tracker2 will let me run Base-91 compressed packets which have
higher precision than standard APRS packets yet the packets are
still quite short.  Of course SmartBeaconing(tm) is nice as well.
You can't get this stuff with the Kenwoods.

Other almost-as-good possibilities:

    TinyTrak4 (also in beta-test)
    uTNC+ (in production)

--
Curt, WE7U.   APRS Client Comparisons: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
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