[OZAPRS] HF APRS

[Ray Wells]

Mathew,

Thanks for the info. It's always good to know how others went about an 
installation.

I had considered some sort of waterproof container, ranging from 
Tupperware to some round 4l (approximately) buckets with tight-fitting 
lid that I have here. That sort of arrangement could house the radio 
(probably use my Baofeng 5W H/H), the TT3+ tracker (+battery) and puck 
style GPS and it would all fit under the front hatch of the Hobie. The 
Hobie has a mast socket (for a sail) close to the hatch and I'd thought 
of using a 1m long aluminium mast of appropriate diameter to support a 
GPI antenna. A w/proof box mounted on the mast for the gear would 
facilitate quick installation/removal. There's probably other options 
I've not thought about yet.

Please send the images.

Ray vk2tv


On 26/02/14 11:31, Matthew Cook wrote:
> Ray,
>
> I've built a couple of APRS trackers for use in kayak's.
>
> At the local Foodland (supermarket) I found some plastic food storage 
> containers "Systema" brand that are water tight and about the right 
> size to hold my tracker.  I soldered a RG174 SMA connector to a brass 
> washer and attached some ground radials.  This was simply mounted 
> through the lid of the box and hot melt glued into position.  One of 
> the Comet dual band HT antennas completed the setup.  The tracker was 
> a repurposed HAB payload which outputs 100mW.   The whole thing runs 
> off a pair of AA batteries for 30 odd hours.  Can send pictures if 
> youre interested.   So far the tracker has done just over 400kms in 
> various kayak marathons.   It makes it very easy for ones "land crew" 
> to track their paddlers progress.
>
> I'm just in the process of doing the same thing again for my Trailer 
> Sailer.  I found a 2m marine antenna from the states at a reasonable 
> cost.  Looks like a VHF156MHZ marine antenna just a little longer.   
> That will run from the boat giving me telemetry (battery volts and 
> position) while I'm not there.  I'm using a slightly larger food 
> storage container (1L) to give the unit a bit more resilience to salt 
> ingress etc.
>
> YMMV
>
> 73's
>
> Matthew
> VK5ZM