[aprssig] [amsat-bb] Re: APRS & Twitter

[Robert Bruninga]

> CAPE-2 ...  [is] planning to fly a digipeater...
>  I am currently developing software to distribute to you guys
>  later this year that will copy our telemetry and have it automatically
sent back to us.

I hope your telemetry is APRS compatible so that it can also be
distributed by the global APRS-IS system already in place. If nothing
else, it only takes a leading ">" byte to make it "aprs compatible".

> We have already implemented the ability to send APRS emails,
> but would now like to do the same with twitter.

Yes, Emails automatically work for anything that can digipeat because
APRS-IS stations automatically link those packets into the APRS-IS where
they are picked-up by existing APRS-to-Email engines.

In this case then, the ability to send a tweet via APRS is simply an
application that monitors the APRS-IS for any APRS packets that looks like
they contain a "tweet".  If we do not already have such an engine
somewhere in the world, then we do surely need one.  And so your request
is a good one.  And this is basically what PA3GUO is suggesting below..

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR
(of an age that is tweetless)

On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 1:52 AM, PA3GUO <pa3guo at upcmail.nl> wrote:
> Hi Rizwan,
>
> First of all: we are all very interested in your CAPE-2 project.
> Would you be able to share some more information on CAPE-2 ?
>
> In case you involve radio-amateurs in capturing telemetry/data from your
satellite you will have an huge increase in coverage, as we are spread
across the entire globe. We do have the APRS system up-and-running, and
NO-44 (PCSAT-1) and ISS-APRS data packets for example are monitored and
automatically forwarded to the internet already.
>
> On messaging to twitter email:
> In case of a malfunction or wrong software setting the satellite may not
be able to change its transmission pattern, when it is in space and cannot
be reached anymore (e.g. up-link broken). Alternative would be to break it
up in two steps:
>
> Step 1
> Transmit a status in APRS format, and have that captured/received as
> regular packets. Here is for example how all the ISS data (real-time)
> looks like: http://www.ariss.net, and here is how NO-44 looks like:
> http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/pcsat.cgi
>
> Step 2
> Have a software program running that looks at the the received APRS
telemetry, and derive from that a Twitter tweet (every hour, every day,
...). For example if the telemetry says: "CAPE 012000105" this could mean
I am alive and battery voltage is 10.5 volt and temperature is 12 degrees
Celsius. The tweet could be: "Hi this is CAPE-2 in space, I feel cold
(12C) and my battery is good (10.5V)".
>
> Just a thought.
>
> Regarding APRS email: http://www.aprs.org/aprs-messaging.html explains
how to do this.
>
> Here is an example on how this worked on ANDE-1:
> ANDE-1 digipeat:
> !T 12:26:38 PA3GUO-8>APRS,ANDE-1*,qAO,PE1ITR::email
:pe1itr at spamsat.org  Hi ROb
> !S 12:26:36 :email     :pe1itr at spamsat.org  Hi ROb
>
> Here an example on how this worked on ISS:
> TNC settings an email to PE1ABC (pe1abc at spamsat.org) via ISS (RS0ISS-3):
> MYCALL PA3GUO-5
> U APRS VIA RS0ISS-3
> BEACON EVERY 1
> BTEXT  :EMAIL     :pe1abc at spamsat.org Hi there!
>
> The result (the email received by pe1abc):
> From: ksproul at rci.rutgers.edu
> Date: 25-02-2004 08:00
>
> To: pe1abc at spamsat.org
> cc:
> Subject: APRS Message from PA3GUO-5
> Hi there!
>
> Please let us know if this helped & success with CAPE-2!
>
> Henk, PA3GUO
> www.pa3guo.com
>
>>Greetings AMSAT!
>> I am one of the software engineers on the CAPE-2 Cubesat project at
> the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I am interested in
> information on how to set up our satellite to tweet over APRS to a
> specific twitter account.
>
> For example:
> If i want our satellite to tweet once a day what our satellite's
> status is, and have it be posted to a CAPE-2 twitter account, how can
> i make this happen? We've seen other groups do it, and we are
> wondering how to replicate this.
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
> Sincerely,
> Rizwan Merchant
> Call Sign: KF5BNL