[aprssig] APRS BEACON MTG INFO

Mon Mar 7 12:11:19 EST 2011

Pulling the latest from APRS.fi, here's my current beacon:
;147.15NGA*111111z3414.21N/08409.60Wr147.150MHz T143 - R60m NET2000TU 
Cumming,GA

;147.15NGA*111111z3414.21N/08409.60Wr145.150MHZ T143 + R60m NET2000TU
Cumming,GA

Which is nearly identical to yours.  We're actually BOTH wrong:  I have the 
incorrect offsest (- instead of +) and you've got 145.150 instead of 147.150, 
which is probably just a typo.  I've been running this beacon for about a 
week, and it shows up nicely, it just doesn't my the Kenwood's QSY.  I think 
Guido's explanation for this makes sense, and I also think it's a flaw on 
Kenwood's part.  Also, I changed my MHz to MHZ.

As for the weekly items, etc, see my last Rant about why I won't use 
"intelligent" TNCs as digipeaters anymore.  I have a simple web interface on 
our digi that allows you to log in and set up beacons, using cron to schedule 
them.  Since the digi is only a week old, there's some glitches in it still 
(i.e. the Thursday lunch-bunch meeting is getting beaconed right now, for 
reasons I don't understand).

The key idea is that, if I were to beacon the meeting, lunch bunch, etc from 
my home station, I'm taking two transmission slots:  one to get it up to the 
digi, and a second for the digi to broadcast it.  When the digi is the 
originator, you get better channel loading.

Thanks for looking at this, though.  It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma and 
shrouded in questions.

John Gorkos

On Monday, March 07, 2011 11:41:34 David Dobbins wrote:
> Hi John, info the groups. Coincidentally, I've been playing with these
> settings using the BT and LT beacons in my KPC-3+ digipeater, and also from
> within UI-View Object Editor.
> 
> For reference, see these objects on findu.com:
> My D72: http://map.findu.com/k7gps-7
> UI-View Object editor: http://map.findu.com/ieclubmtg
> UI-View Object editor: http://map.findu.com/karsmtg
> 
> Your format:
> ;147.15NGA*111111z3414.21N/08409.60WrT143 R60m NET2000TU Cumming,GA
> as written, this will create the OBJECT 147.15NGA but the data format at
> the end should be this in order to include the QSY format:
> and note the SPACE between MHZ and T143, and again on either side of the
> "+" offset indicator
> 
> I believe the reason why your radio won't QSY is because it doesn't
> recognize 147.15NGA as a valid entry. If you had 147.150 or 147.150+ it
> would have included the QSY info on the OBJECT list...... I think.
> 
> It's good to make the OBJECT name unique as you have done, so it won't be
> duplicated on the APRS-IS.
> 
> I prefer to enter short term info, like club meeting or general interest
> info, from within UI-View here at the house and just broadcast it out until
> the event is completed, then DELETE it. This is easier to do rather than
> logging into a remote WIDEn-N KPC-3 to change the LT settings. I reserve
> those for the ECHOLINK and IRLP node info per recommendations already
> published, as those remain rather constant.
> 
> For those with IRLP nodes, I suggest installing the script in your Linux
> IRLP box that sends the activity indicator to the APRS-IS (C for Connected,
> I for Idle), then go into the UI-View application and modify the FILE, EDIT
> INIGATE.INI gate then enter the IRLP-#### in the INET to RF box. This will
> transmit the IRLP location and status, C or I, over the air so others who
> are not connected to the APRS-IS can see it.
> 
> Check findu.com for IECLUBBTG and KARSMTG for two objects I'm announcing as
> OBJECTS in UI-View:
> 
> For example:
> K7GPS-13>APU25N,TCPIP*,qAC,T2USANW-B:;IECLUBMTG*022207z4740.44N/11721.40WK1
> 46.880MHz T123 - Mtg Mar10 1830hr @SCC
> In UI-View click on the location where you want the OBJECT to appear
> In UI-View menu item select ACTION then select OBJECT EDITOR
> I entered IECLUBMTG as the IDENTIFIER
> I entered 146.880MHz T123 - Mtg Mar10 1830hr @SCC as the COMMENT (note the
> spaces between MHz and T123 and on either side of the "-" offset indicator.
> 
> People who see this on their map will know be reminded of when and where
> the next Inland Empire VHF Club meeting (Spokane) is, the date and time.
> People who receive this on their TM-D710 will receive it as an object, hit
> the TUNE button, and the radio B side goes into VFO mode and selects the
> frequency, Tone, and Offset needed to communicate.
> 
> As for sending status from a Kenwood TH-D72, so others see what freq your B
> side of the radio is on at the moment, adjust setting 39 STATUS TEXT to TX
> RATE 1/1 and enter some text like >Dave's TH-D72A (you can check this on
> findu.com as http://map.findu.com/k7gps-7
> Adjust setting 3A to QSY(Freq) QSY in Status Tone/Narrow Shift/Offset and
> ON Thus findu.com says K7GPS-7>T7TPPQ,WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1,qAR,K7GPS-13:`-C5l
> +[/>";w}444.800MHz T088 +500>Dave's TH-D72A=
> will let others know I'm monitoring 444.80+ T88. If they have a D710 they
> can autotune me by hitting the TUNE button.
> 
> For general info, to send the QSY info in either a TH-D72 or TM-D710 the B
> side of the radio must be in MEMORY mode, not VFO mode. If in VFO mode, no
> QSY info will be sent.
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> David K7GPS
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> On Wed, 16/02/2011 at 20.33 -0500, John Gorkos wrote:
> > Bob-
> > 
> >   This seems broken in the Kenwood implementation.  Basically, I'll have
> 
> to
> 
> > double my transmit rate to get the appropriate information out there.
> > Actually, I don't see any way to actually make this work unless I change
> 
> my
> 
> > beacon callsign to "147.15NGA" and send a position packet that looks like
> > this:
> > 147.15NGA>BEACON,WIDE2-1:111111z3414.21N/08409.60Wr147.150MHz T143 R60m
> > NET2000TU Cumming,GA de AB0OO
> > Am I misunderstanding this?  It's highly likely...
> > 
> > On Wednesday, February 16, 2011 20:16:09 Guido Trentalancia wrote:
> > > Hello John !
> > > 
> > > On Wed, 16/02/2011 at 17.37 -0500, John Gorkos wrote:
> > > > We're having some problems with the "TUNE" function of D710s and D72s
> 
> in
> 
> > > > the Atl area.
> > > > 
> > > > I'm beaconing the following text from my Tx/Igate:
> > > > ;147.15NGA*111111z3414.21N/08409.60WrT143 R60m NET2000TU Cumming,GA
> > > > which seems to match, per character, what's on the localinfo.html
> 
> page:
> > > > ;FFF.FFxyz*111111zDDMM.hhN/DDDMM.hhWrTnnn RXXm NETxxxxxx MTGxxxxx
> > > > .........
> > > 
> > > Appears consistent with the specification for Frequency Objects.
> > > 
> > > The best specification, you can find it here:
> > > 
> > > http://webster-new.dmz.usna.edu/Users/aero/bruninga/aprs/freqspec.txt
> > > 
> > > > We can see the objects show up correctly in the station list of the
> 
> 710s
> 
> > > > and 72s, but no amount of pushing the "tune" button does the trick.
> > > > Meanwhile, tune DOES work for stations that include their freq in
> 
> their
> 
> > > > status text:
> > > > KD4UYP-9>S3UV8R,WIDE1-1*,WIDE2-1,qAR,AB0OO-1:`oQhn*uk/]"72}147.075MHz
> > > > =
> > > 
> > > Yes, this is consistent with what is implemented in the Kenwood
> > > TM-D710.
> > > 
> > > They have implemented what they call "QSY Function". And that works
> > > with frequency information embedded in "the first 10 bytes of the
> > > existing free-field position comment text or STATUS field".
> > > 
> > > So, if you want to tune, you have to send out beacons that report the
> > > frequency as specified in the document mentioned above according to the
> > > paragraph "APRS Frequency Formats" and not the paragraph "Frequency
> > > Objects".
> > > 
> > > As a start, you can try:
> > > >147.15 MHz T143 R60m And here you can write that it's in Cumming,GA
> > > 
> > > but that won't create an object for you. So it's two different
> > > features, but you can use both of them if needed.
> > > 
> > > 73,
> > > 
> > > Guido IZ6RDB