(I couldn’t call this page, “APRS Notes for Dummies,” because someone else owns the “for Dummies” trademark.)

North American APRS Frequency

  • 144.390 MHz
  • 445.925 MHz (maybe, in some places)

What SSID should I use? (SSID is the number that follows your call sign. e.g. K4KPK-1.)

  • Fixed home station: 0 (same as no SSID)
  • Cell phone pseudo APRS: 5
  • HT: 7
  • Mobile in a car: 9

What path should I use? I use my HT for SOTA. I use my cell phone in the car, generally in the city. I don’t turn on my HT until I hit the trail. Therefore, my HT gets used where coverage is sparse and my cell gets used where coverage is dense.

  • On cell phone: WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1
  • On HT: WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2
  • On fixed station: Find out the real node name of the nearest (always-on) node. Use that.

Beacon Rate

  • On cell phone (in the car - on car power): 2 minutes.
  • On HT (hiking - need to save battery): 7 minutes

These are twice the actual rate I’d like to beacon because I assume that only alternate beacons will get received.

APRS Messages

  • When you send a message, the recipient will send an ACK or a REJ. Since your message and the ACK/REJ are both best-effort delivery (like a TCP/IP network UDP message), either one might be lost if you don’t get the ACK.

How to Test for Internet Access

  • Message to WHO-IS, content = W1AW
    • Or to WHO-15 if you pass through a stupid iGate.
    • If you get data about W1AW, you reached the Internet.

How Can My XYL See My Location On a Map?

Send Email

  • To: EMAIL
  • Content: First string in message text is email address followed by a space, then your message.
  • Total length (including address) = 64 characters.

Create/Manage Email Alias

  • To: EMAIL-2
  • To create a shortcut: *Content: aliasName space emailAddress *e.g. Content: me k4kpk@example.com
  • To send email to the ‘me’ alias:
    • Content: me This is a test.
  • Ask for a list of all my shortcuts by sending:
    • Content: me L
    • This will cause an email to be sent to k4kpk.com@example.com with all of my shortcuts. The L is case-insensitive.
    • ???? OK. If I define an alias to someone@example.com, how can I get that alias sent to my email address? I think the form is:
      • Content: destinationAlias space command
      • So if I’ve defined xyl as an alias for wife@example.com:
        • Content: me L sends the full list of addresses to k4kpk@example.com and Content: xyl L sends the list of aliases to wife@example.com.
      • I wonder what would happen with Content: k4kpk@example.com L
  • To remove the “me” shortcut, I would send
    • Content: me r

Special Characters

  • To send special characters, such as the @ (“at sign”), tap 1, then rotate until you get to the character you want.