Yaesu VX 8R APRS help

[VX-8R Ham]

Can only send/receive beacon, but no messages on VX-8R

Hi,

I just got my new VX-8R from HRO w/ GPS. Position reporting works just fine and I also receive other stations. I verified that on Login - Google Maps APRS

I have not managed to send any APRS messages though (tried sending one to myself). I have also not received any APRS messages either. Tried it through openaprs.net and Send message. These websites show my attempts, but nothing even came through. On the rig MSG Filter is set to G1 ALL. APRS Filters are all set to ON, i.e. no filtering.

What am I doing wrong???:sad:

Pls. help a newbie!

73

 

[wildwest46]

Set your Digi path to wide 2, set it to transmit every minute ,also send some beacons manually by pressing the internet key I had problems using the stock antenna. I replaced it with a Diamond SRH 320 and now have no problems at all, I can even get in from inside the house. With the stock antenna I had to stand in my driveway and point it in all directions, most of the time that didn't work, with the new antenna it gets through sitting on the seat of my truck while I'm driving.

 

[Moleculo]

First, did you disable the receiver Battery save as indicated on page 88? It says that it won't reliably receive APRS messages if that is turned on.

I've never tried sending an APRS message from my callsign to my own callsign, although I have sent messages using openaprs. When I get my VX-8 back from Yaesu, I'll have to try that. Do you have another ham in your area that you can try sending a message to?

Remember that sometimes the message goes through even if you don't get an ACK back from the stations. That's because the station has to send the ACK in order for you to get it. Try sending a message from the VX-8 to another station and then go to openaprs, log in, go to messages and see if your sent message shows in your "sent messages" list. I'm not sure how far back in time they keep that, though. Also, if you want, PM me your callsign and I'll try sending you a few test messages.

Make sure your station call is showing in the "station list" screen. If it doesn't, the digipeater/igate won't know you're there to forward the message to.

Lastly, make sure that you're sure you're sending the message to the actual station SSID used on the VX-8. AB1CD is different than AB1CD-1.

Hope that helps.

 

[VX-8R Ham]

Thanks guys! I hooked the VX-8R up a decent antenna (Diamond CR627B). That did it! Messages are coming through from other stations and also the internet via findu.com Send message.

 

[VX-8R Ham]

How likely is it to send messages via the ISS?

Hi guys, since you know so much about APRS, one more question: is it possible to digipeat through the ISS?

1. What is the appropriate digipath setting?
2. Do I change the digipath order, i.e. 1: "ISS" 2: WIDE 1-1 3: WIDE 2-2 or do I keep WIDE 1-1, WIDE 2-2 followed by something "ISS"?

How likely is it I "reach" the ISS with 5 Watts and a Diamond CR627B antenna? What else do I need to know about this process? Could I also reach satellites and if so, how would be the settings?

Thanks again!

73, Newbie

 

[Moleculo]

APRS via the ISS

This document contains everything you need to know about doing APRS via the ISS. You won't be able to do it with a ducky antenna, but there are some handheld yagi's for HT's that will work.

 

[j-squared]

Proper DIGIPATH setting

I too live in the same area, specifically I reside in Santa Clara and yesterday I tried to track my path to Petaluma. After reading this thread, I had added WIDE2-2 as the third DIGIPATH and selected this. I was able to track myself partially:

Location of KI6OIF-7 - Google Maps APRS

I am new to APRS, so I started to poke around trying to understand more about the technology. I selected Info to find out more and found this:

KI6OIF-7>SWUPTR via W6OTH-3,N6ZX-3,WIDE2*,WIDE2-2,qAR,KE6ZBX-10 (suboptimal)

This station is transmitting packets with a configured path of over 3 digipeaters. This causes serious congestion in the APRS network and errors when plotting the station's route on a map. Please consider using a path of WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 or WIDE2-2, or even WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 if you are moving very far away from an iGATE.

I don't see how I can specify a path like WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 in this radio

Best regards,
Jerald

 

[Moleculo]

I don't see how I can specify a path like WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2 in this radio

When you're in the Digipath menu, the first digipath entry 1 is WIDE1-1. Then if you rotate the dial, it shows you entry 2, which is defaulted to WIDE2-1. Now imagine if you were to write those two entries out on paper, it would be: WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1. When you added entry 3, you tacked on WIDE2-2 to the end of that so your path became: WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1,WIDE2-2. What you should do is delete the third digipath entry completely, then change the second one to WIDE2-2. To do that, while in the digipath menu, rotate the dial to select entry 2, then hit the BAND button. The cursor will jump to the second part of the entry (after the dash). Just rotate the dial to change the -1 to -2.

 

[kc0zps]

nevermind... found my answer on wikipedia.

 

[wheagy]

VX-8DR APRS message probelms

Hi...I read this thread and tried pretty much everything...including better antennas, WIDE2-2, RX save, etc. My beacons work great. Never a problem getting a beacon out or seeing myself on aprs.fi, or openaprs maps. But for the life of me I can't get APRS messaging working. Of maybe 50 messages, 3 or 4 got through (tried emailing and direct messages to other callsigns). I never get any acks...it always transmits the message 5 times and then quits. I also tried sending myself messages from findu and openaprs and never get them on my radio. I sent a message from my radio to my radio and that worked, but that was the only time I've seen it receive anything. Traffic is not extremely heavy around here...plenty of time to send.

Most of my messages show up in the findu message logs, but I'm not sure why I never see anything come back. Any help is appreciated. I feel like there is some small piece of this that I don't have quite right, but can't figure it out.

Thanks, Win (KE4IHG-7)

 

[Moleculo]

You only get an ACK back if the receiving station is set up to send one back. So if you don't get an ACK, that doesn't mean the receiving station didn't get the message...it just means that they didn't acknowledge it. IMO, this is one of the frustrations/limitations of APRS that needs to be worked out better. It would be nice if every receiving radio was required to send an ACK when they receive the message.

 

[wheagy]

Helpful to know that getting acks is not a requirement.

I still can't figure out, however, why messages sent from findu or openaprs to me never show up on my radio? If I'm logged in to openaprs, is that as far as a message goes? In other words, does it show as being delivered to openaprs and never tries to send it along to my rf radio? I had one person send me a message...I saw the message at findu, but it never got to my radio...the radio was on the entire time and sending good beacons.

Thanks...Win

 

[nine]

Receiving messages from from the internet (or from non-local stations, which go through the internet) requires your local i-gate to be set up to retransmit net packets to rf. It's possible that your local i-gate is not set up this way, and is only bridging rf->net.

nine

 

[wheagy]

That's another good thing to know! Can I specify a specific i-gate, or am I stuck with whatever I happen to be closest too? Also, is there a way to easily identify if an i-gate is not sending to RF?

On a side note...I think I figured out how to get my VX-8DR to send messages reliably. When I enter the callsign in the message, it appears I have to specifically pad shorter callsigns with spaces. For instance, if the call is K4IG, I have to enter K4IG[space]. I can't just hit mode to skip to the SSID field. If I put a space after the 4th char of a 4 digit call, then it moves the cursor to the SSID and I don't need to enter a space in the 6th position. If the call is 5 digits... for example KE4IG, then I need to enter KE4IG[space]. I found this trying to send messages to EMAIL. Seems a bit convoluted, but after doing this, I've had nearly 100% success sending messages.

Now, if I could figure out why I don't receive anything, I'll be all set. Any other suggestions are welcome.

Win

 

[Moleculo]

Can I specify a specific i-gate, or <acronym title="amplitude modulation">am</acronym> I stuck with whatever I happen to be closest too?

Sort of. If you are always near a digi/igate that you know you want to hit (check aprs.fi), you can specify that digipeater as one of your digipaths. If you're in an area you're not familiar with, you sort-of just have to use a default digipath.

When you're trying to receive messages, are you sure the sending station is including your ssid?