[OZAPRS] APRS in Remote region outside of APRS RF coverage.

[Liz]

On Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:41:13 +1100
Liz <edodd at billiau.net> wrote:

> On Sun, 14 Oct 2012 07:13:57 +1000
> David Uzzell <david at uzzell.com.au> wrote:
> 
> > So has anyone done or seen this done from a TT4 into a GPRS modem
> > to inject into APRS-IS or know of a way to make it happen?
> 
> I've been trying to make this work with variable success, using a
> GPS > Kenwood D710 > Eeepc 701 running xastir > GPRS modem.
> 
> There are more than 4 different points of failure so far, including
> the modem getting overheated on the dash and cutting out.
> 
> So some days it works, and some days it just doesn't. It takes about 5
> min to get my system started.
> 
> I've got a Neo Freerunner sitting on my desk and am considering using
> that for computer + modem.
> 
> Liz VK2XSE
> 

I have solved one major trouble and got the system starting up reliably
now.
I have a Debian Linux install on the Eeepc 701 (the original eeepc). I
have a GPS dongle which connects over USB and identifies
as /dev/ttyACMx, a Kenwood TM-D710 with a pl2303 based serial-to-usb
connector on the cable, a wireless GPRS dongle and Xastir installed on
the eeepc.
I've been putting the modem under the passenger's sunvisor where its
cooler, and found that plugging in the radio was starting gpsd on the
radio interface /dev/ttyUSB0.
Altering the udev rules to automatically start gpsd for the gps led me
to the discovery that the pl2303 was being detected by gpsd and gpsd
taking over the interface, which explained why the radio didn't always
go into packet mode, and the gps data wasn't being fed correctly to
Xastir.
Last week I had consistent output from home to Seymour, where I
switched to APRS mode on the radio, and from Wallan back to home again.
Access to repeaters other than Melbourne was very patchy along the
route. No voice contacts at all were made on the journey to Melbourne,
I think I accessed a repeater in Melbourne but no-one replied to my
call.
It's not practical to message off the computer even when the passenger
as I can't read the screen in daylight, so I don't get all the benefits
of APRS that I might have just using the radio.

Liz
VK2XSE