Here's something fun you can do with APRS: Make contacts with other stations around the world using APRS messages. One of the features of APRS is that in addition to the capability of sending messages to individual stations, you can also send messages to predefined groups. There are a number of groups that have been set up on the APRS network, and one of the more interesting ones is the CQ group.
The purpose of the CQ APRS group is to give APRS users a standard way to make contacts with other APRS users around the world. When you send a CQ message to the CQ APRS group, all stations subscribed to that group will get your message and usually you get a response. Tonight I exchanged APRS messages over the air with ZL2IA in New Zealand.
Here's how you do it: First, address a new message to CQSRVR. This is a special APRS server set up to address and handle these messages. In the body of your message, you type "CQ [group name] [message]. In this case, the group name we want use is also CQ. A sample message could look like this: "CQ CQ Hello APRS people". The first CQ tells any receiving station that you want to talk to anyone; the second CQ sends this message to everyone subscribed to the CQ group. They will all get the "Hello APRS people" message and ideally, someone will respond.
You can use this fun method to make APRS contacts around the world. Enjoy!
The purpose of the CQ APRS group is to give APRS users a standard way to make contacts with other APRS users around the world. When you send a CQ message to the CQ APRS group, all stations subscribed to that group will get your message and usually you get a response. Tonight I exchanged APRS messages over the air with ZL2IA in New Zealand.
Here's how you do it: First, address a new message to CQSRVR. This is a special APRS server set up to address and handle these messages. In the body of your message, you type "CQ [group name] [message]. In this case, the group name we want use is also CQ. A sample message could look like this: "CQ CQ Hello APRS people". The first CQ tells any receiving station that you want to talk to anyone; the second CQ sends this message to everyone subscribed to the CQ group. They will all get the "Hello APRS people" message and ideally, someone will respond.
You can use this fun method to make APRS contacts around the world. Enjoy!