• Advice for newb looking to get into APRS

    From DENZUKO@1:124/5017 to All on Mon Feb 10 21:12:57 2020
    So first off,I have looked all over and have a good starting point on the software side and what's the legal requirements for my area.

    Last part I need to figure out is what is a good starter radio? I've been looking into the Baofang uv-5r. But the guys at my local makerspace have been saying that its way to noise on the spectrum and to look at something else without actually advising what that would be and would hit nearly the same price point.

    Any suggestions on a good starting radio for linux based ax.25/aprs?

    Best Regards,
    Dwight Spencer at 1:124/5017.0
    Origin: XM Core BBS - bbs.dapla.net

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: XM Core (1:124/5017)
  • From Dan Cross@3:770/100 to DENZUKO on Sat Feb 15 04:21:14 2020
    On 10 Feb 2020 at 09:12p, DENZUKO pondered and said...

    So first off,I have looked all over and have a good starting point on the software side and what's the legal requirements for my area.

    Last part I need to figure out is what is a good starter radio? I've been looking into the Baofang uv-5r. But the guys at my local makerspace have been saying that its way to noise on the spectrum and to look at
    something else without actually advising what that would be and would
    hit nearly the same price point.

    Any suggestions on a good starting radio for linux based ax.25/aprs?

    My advice, for what little it's worth, is to consider
    skipping the HT. Do you have a power supply? If so,
    then I'd consider going for a used FM mobile rig and
    software TNC+soundcard. For APRS/Packet, I'm running
    an Icom IC2000H monobander I bought off a friend; it's
    driving a Tigertronics SignaLink USB sound card from a
    BananaPi running Raspbian and Direwolf. I run it off
    the same power supply I use for my HF rig and my multimode
    VHF/UHF+ rig.

    I homebrewed a few cables and an antenna and can hit
    packet stations 30 or so miles away (and I'm in kind
    of a bowl, geographically speaking).

    It's a bit pricier than just an HT, as you've got to
    get an external power-supply if you don't already have
    one, and of course an antenna and feedline if you
    haven't already got those as well, but it'll be much
    higher performance, and if you're ok trafficking in
    used gear, it doesn't have to break the bank.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (3:770/100)