2 ENJOYING APRS (by BOB BRUNINGA, WB4APR)
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The repeater's range is 25 miles and the weekly net time is Tuesday evenings at 8 p.m.
The final 8 characters (limited for backwards compatibility to TM-D700A/E) announce that
the club meetings are on the 3rd Thursday of every month.
Again, a press of the
[MENU]
key and then selecting
“Tune”
will instantly take the radio to
this channel. For full details on this function, refer to the following website:
http://aprs.org/localinfo.html
2.12 Hamfest Talk-in and Objects
APRS should be a primary tool of any Hamfest talk-in station.
Alongside the voice operator should be an APRS operator managing the local APRS tactical
map with the locations of all the special objects associated with the Hamfest.
In addition this APRS operator helps the voice operator see where the mobile check-ins that
are lost are located so he can give them voice guidance to the Hamfest.
The most important APRS object is the one that shows the location of the HAMFEST and
the talk-in frequency. This bright red APRS symbol stands out smartly on any APRS
display including the AvMap GPS display as shown above. At first glance, this object tells
you the most important information: Where it is, and when.
The HFEST-DDn standardized object name includes the DATE in the DD digits. Only the
day is shown (here it is on the 26th), but this allows for 2 weeks notice to everyone in the
area and anyone driving through.
The final character “n” is chosen to make the symbol unique in the global APRS system so it
is not overwritten by other Hamfests on the same day somewhere else.
This makes for easy sorting of these objects. Simply go to http://aprs.fi/hfest * and see a
list of all active Hamfest the world over!.
The talk-in frequency is also listed for instant QSY with the TH-D74A/E
“Tune”
function. I
was on a cross-country trip one day on a weekend and just happened to see one of these
objects and was able to detour and spend an hour or two at this favorite ham radio pastime.
To see how to beacon your local Hamfest, refer to the following website:
http://aprs.org/hamfest.html
