[aprssig] Fwd: a few questions

[Stephen H Smith]

On 6/25/2025 11:59 PM, Ron VE8RT wrote:
> Ron, VE8RT VE8TEA, in Yellowknife NT here.
>
> I have a few questions, answers may be online but haven't turned up
> yet.
>
> The only working IGate (to my knowledge) in VE8 is the one I operate
> VE8TEA.  Its a simple R Pi, URDC II, and a Kenwood V71 XCVR, using an
> oldler version of Direwolf.  I'd like to update to a current version of
> Direwolf to take advantage of FX.25
>
> Other than doing a fresh install on the R Pi is there an easy way to
> update to Direwolf 1.16 or higher?

As far as I know, you can just install the new version on top of the existing 
version of DireWolf.  (This definitely works on the Windows version.)

That being said, I have not seen a significant improvement in the success rate 
of APRS beacons after thousands of miles of drive testing on both VHF/FM and 
HF/FSK with FX.25.  (This was with FX.25 enabled or disabled on the current 
version of the UZ7HO Soundmodem.)

If you REALLY want to see a major improvement in APRS success rates, use VARA 
instead of conventional AFSK AX.25 transmissions.  In multiple tests I have 
done on cross-country trips , beaconing on 30 and 40 meters alternately with 
AX.25 from the Soundmodem and VARA on the same computer/soundcard/radio/mobile 
antenna,  VARA is easily an ORDER-OF-MAGNITUDE more reliable than 300 baud FSK 
AX.25.

Some road trip results are here on my website:
<http://WA8LMF.net/VARA>

> Another project is to have a field portable APRS, such as a R Pi based
> battery powered terminal that includes keyboard for text messaging, and
> screen, that could run Direwolf or similar.  Is there a project or kit
> available to do that?

In my opinion, these setups done on R Pis are a snare and a delusion.  By the 
time you piece together a Pi, various shields, an external display of some 
sort, an external keyboard of some sort, power supplies for both the Pi and for 
the display, and come up with some sort of enclosure for this kludge -- you can 
do the same thing for far less mess and clutter (and probably cheaper) with an 
inexpensive  Windows laptop or Windows tablet.

I have grabbed 10" Windows tablets for under USD $100 that work perfectly for 
this kind of thing, and have bought low-end Lenovo "IdeaPad" Windows laptops 
for around USD $130 at Walmart at holiday closeouts.   These low-end machines 
(4GB RAM, 128GB SSD) come with a standard load of Windows 11 that renders them 
impossibly sluggish and practically unusable (5 minutes just to boot!).

I wipe out the factory install and install the unofficial Windows distribution 
called "Tiny 11". This version of Win 11 occupies ONE-THIRD the disk space of 
the standard base install of Win 11. It leaves out the smartphone wanna-be 
apps, the Microsoft Store linkages, the requirement for the TPM module (I.e. 
will install on almost anything from the last 10 years or so ), and the 
coercive pressure to create a Microsoft Account as part of the install process, 
and the incessant attempts to sell you stuff.   It looks and acts more or less 
like a lite version of Windows 10.   Unlike the OEM Win 11 install, Tiny 11 
just flies on these low-end laptops.

[These cheap machines have a 720P half-HD display but will output a full 4K (!) 
display through their HDMI port.  (I use a 55" TV as an external 4K monitor. 
For APRS mapping, a large 4K display is just fantastic.) The Lenovo IdeaPad 1 
has 2 USB3 ports and one USB-C port. It has Bluetooth 5 and WiFi, but no 
Ethernet port. Running on an external DC-DC power supply, the machine only 
draws about 6 watts once the battery-charging inrush is over.]

I have a pair of these cheap laptops in my radio trailer "Studio B". I have not 
found any ham app that will not run on this stripped-down version of Win 11.

The Tiny 11 ISO can be downloaded from
<https://archive.org/details/tiny-11-b-2no-sysreq.iso>
(Archive.org is the place that runs the Internet "Wayback Machine".)

> Thanks,  Ron VE8RT in DP22tk


Stephen H. Smith wa8lmf (at) aol.com MS Teams:: WA8LMF EchoLink: Node # 14400 
[Think bottom of the 2-meter band] Home Page: http://wa8lmf.net Live APRS 
Mapping on HF & VHF <http://WA8LMF.net/map> "Studio B" Ham Shack on Wheels 
<http://WA8LMF.net/Aliner> -- APRS over VARA -- 
<http://wa8lmf.net/VARA/APRSoverVARA> -


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