[aprssig] Remote APRS

[John Gorkos]

On Monday, March 14, 2011 17:31:58 Andrew Rich wrote:
> Hello
> 
> Has anyone done this ?
> 
> 1. Place a PC on the internet in a remote location.
> 2. Place a TNC and radio on the serial port
> 3. Somehow "access" the remote PC TNC and radio
> 4. At the same time supprt packets into the APRS -IS
> 
> Remote satellite ground station supporting packeta and APRS-IS
> 
> - Andrew -

This is our current model for deployment of APRS-Digis and I-Gates (which 
should be the same, if at all possible).
We use small embedded PCs running Linux.  Usually the "PCs" have one hardware 
serial port and one or more USB ports.  By using a USB-Serial adapter, it's 
possible to have a TNC and complete control of a PC-controlled radio.  If you 
use Linux, you have access to hamlib, which supports a fairly large set of 
radios:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/hamlib/index.php?title=Supported_Radios
If you're really clever, you can run the remote portion of Ham Radio Deluxe in 
Wine and use HRD to control the radio remotely in real time.
For access, we use SSH (a staple on any *nix system) and dyn-dns to register 
our machine (which is on a DHCP cable modem connection.  Our station is 
actually on top of a mountain, with a 5.8Ghz ISM microwave shot to a club 
members' house at the bottom where the cable modem is actually located.

I highly recommend the Alix 3d.2 embedded computer, which is about $140 with a 
slick aliminum case.  It runs on 12VDC, so we just use the same power supply 
for the TNC, embedded PC, and radio.

Since we have USB available, we can continue to add radios and TNCs.  There's 
a trick to getting Linux to enumerate the ttyUSB ports in the same order every 
time.

If you need more info or help, just ask.  Building these little suckers is a 
passion of mine.

John Gorkos