[OZAPRS] Telemetry experiment

[Joseph Burford]

Hi Terry,

Thanks for sharing. What radio did you end up using for the digi?

Given it's a solar site did you try and use something with a low background
current draw? I was thinking power draw on receive is a fair factor in the
power calculations, so I'm curious what options are in the commercial /
modular that you considered.

Cheers,

Joe - VK5UJ





On Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 10:05 AM Terry, VK5ATN <vk5atn at internode.on.net>
wrote:

> One of the perhaps lesser know mini-features of APRS - and the amazing
> sites which give us the feedback from our activities - are the telemetry
> options from a station which is configured to supply them.   During the
> lengthy outage of VK5RLH I built a remote fill in digi - mostly for my own
> local interest - using some of the (spare) equipment which was back in one
> of the cupboards.
>
> The location has no mains power, so solar power needed to be set up.
> Being concerned about how this would work in an un-monitored location about
> 15 km from home, I started to investigate further.  Initially I purchased a Microsat
> PLX digipeater
> <http://microsat.com.pl/product_info.php?products_id=54&osCsid=8ff64890ac0dfd9cc1be5aa744930ec5>
> which has the option of including the supply voltage  in the beacon string.
>   Looking further into the options I subsequently purchased the telemetry
> module <http://microsat.com.pl/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=118>
> which gives me 4 extra parameter measurements.
>
> A bit of experimentation was involved, and a few trips out to the site
> ensued, but it's now working more or less to my satisfaction.   The result
> is seen here:
>
> https://aprs.fi/telemetry/a/VK5ATN-1
>
> The graphs are (in order of appearance) battery voltage, charging current
> from the solar panel, number of packets heard by the station, number of
> packets digipeated by the station, and the temperature in the equipment
> cabinet.
>
> It has been - and continues to be - a fascinating exercise, and it's nice
> to be able to monitor the more significant details from home.   Some
> control over the station operation (mostly ON/OFF and transmit inhibit) can
> also be controlled from home.
>
> It's possible that many of you may have already done something along these
> lines, but I thought I would report on one of my solo adventures in AR for
> possible interest.    How long will the experiment run?   I don't know.
> The location of the station seems to cover quite a few spots which VK5RLH
> and/or VK5ATN-2 don't hear.   I'll re-assess the need as time goes on.
> The equipment might just as well be doing something useful - even if it's
> mostly only for me - as sitting back here in the cupboard again.
>
> 73
> Terry
> VK5ATN  / VK5TFN
>
>
>
>
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