[aprssig] YOTREPS and AIS

[Dave Skolnick]

> Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:11:37 -0700
> From: Scott Miller

> I've been looking at ship tracking data here...
>
> http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shiplocations.phtml
>
> And I was surprised to see a bunch of ham callsigns in there as well.
> If you filter it to show only yachts, they're the majority.  Apparently
> they're using something called YOTREPS over HF email.  I'd heard that
> Winlink can carry position data, but this is a new one to me.
>
> Seems like HF APRS would be a more efficient way to send position
> reports than sending text files through Winlink, but apparently it
> works.  Does anyone know any more about this system?

Winlink position reports end up in the findu database. YOTREPS is just
another database. Airmail supports dual position reporting that feeds
into both findu and YOTREPS with a single message. YOTREPS is also fed
by manual entry from marine SSB voice nets. There are several display
applications on the web that draw from one or the other or both of
findu and YOTREPS, including shiptrak.org.

For a sailing vessel with power conservation concerns there is a lot
of appeal to a system like PACTOR that acknowledges receipt. You may
not always get through but you know for sure if you did. A commercial
ship or motoryacht could afford to run an HF APRS transmitter all the
time with some statistical assurance of getting through, but that is
impractical on most sailing boats.

sail fast, dave / KO4MI
S/V Auspicious