[OZAPRS] HF

[Howard Small]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Just got back from a morning Quad Bike 
riding so ready for a sleep now but then saw the posts and figure APRS 
comes first!

The HF radio I am using is an ex-military PRC319 so there are very few 
(like no) adjustments. I have just started the set beaconing on 30metres 
using TUNE and will shortly change that back to APRS,GATE,WIDE2-1. No 
response from the tune beacon. By the way, the TT3+ is set to 300baud.

I am guessing that it can be one of three things:

1.  the antenna I am using (a broadband HF dipole that is hooked on my 
17 metre tower at one end and a tree about 10 metres the other) is not 
up to scratch;
2.  the transceiver is off frequency (but I doubt that as I have sent 
and received data messages with it using its Electronic Messaging Unit 
at 300 baud and 1200 baud which would not have worked if both sets were 
on different frequencies);
3.  it is probably not appearing on aprs.fi and findu as it is not 
beaconing a position correctly. I say this as I set it to 1200 baud and 
hooked it up to a VHF transmitter and beaconed to my D7A. The position 
info appeared as a beacon text instead of position - I did it as per the 
instructions !nnnn.nnE/nnnnn.nnS- and also tried ! and # but neither 
worked. Doing it as ! and # works on my FoxDelta digi.

Advice re 3 would be useful. Re the others, I can try another PRC319 and 
a BCC39B to see if they work. I can also try a set in the mobile 
installation and see if that antenna (auto ATU for the PRC319 and 9foot 
whip) setup works better.

So will persevere ...

Howard
VK4BS