Digi Classes: APRS program at June TMRA meeting

Jeff KC8NNO and Steve KB9UPS will be offering an Introduction to APRS presentation and conduct a basic APRS equipment demonstration at the upcoming Toledo Mobile Radio Association (TMRA) monthly General Meeting. APRS stands for the Automatic Packet Reporting System. This educational APRS program will take place at the Wednesday June 10th TMRA General Meeting which starts at 7:30 PM at the Electrical Industry Building in Rossford Ohio.

This program is a continuation of the latest series of 'digi classes'--covering ham radio digital communications topics--and TMRA's overall commitment to providing ongoing educational opportunities. The program will consist of a presentation covering some of the basic functionality and uses for APRS, an interactive 'on the air' equipment demonstration, and as well as time for questions and answers and any additional discussion.

The Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) is an amateur radio based system for real time tactical digital communications of information of immediate value in the local area. In North America, APRS data and activity is primarily found in the 2 Meter band on 144.390 MHz. In addition, all such data is ingested into the APRS Internet system (APRS-IS) and distributed globally for instant access. In addition to messages, alerts, announcements and bulletins, the most visible aspect of APRS is its map display. Anyone may place any object or information on their map and it is distributed to all maps of all users in the local RF network or monitoring the area via the Internet. Any station, radio or object that has an attached GPS is automatically tracked. Other prominent map features are weather stations, alerts and objects and other map related amateur radio volunteer activities including Search and Rescue and signal direction finding.

Individuals looking to learn more about the Automatic Packet Reporting System and where they can apply APRS digital communications are encouraged to attend the program and participate in the demonstration and discussion. Plenty of information is also available via the Internet with http://www.aprs.org/ being a good place to start.