[TCFMC] Group purchase of APRS Trackers

[Peter Gamache]

The storm tracking and charity event volunteering seasons are almost upon
us, and nothing makes situational awareness easier than having a GPS unit
and a radio - except having APRS, to tie the two together!  For those who
are not familiar, APRS is short for Automated Position Reporting System, and
consists of three components: A GPS receiver to obtain position information,
a 2-meter radio tuned to 144.390 (the national APRS frequency) and a tracker
or TNC to glue the radio and GPS together.

I'm organizing a group purchase of OpenTracker APRS kits.  These normally go
for around $40 each including shipping & handling, but if I can get 10 folks
together, we can get them for around $30 each (again, including S/H).  There
are other competing devices (like the TinyTrak), but the OpenTracker offers
some nicer features that the competing units do not have, such as open
source firmware stored in flash, which can be upgraded anytime for free.

These trackers will be ordered as kits with several small parts, so
intermediate soldering skills will be required for assembly.  I have
personally assembled many kits and will be available to host a workshop
session when the kits arrive, so we can all build and test our units
together.

Those needing assistance with assembly will be welcome to attend the
workshop.  If you'd rather have a complete unit instead of a kit, I am
willing to assemble the units for a small fee (comparable to the price
difference of a completed unit on the OpenTracker website).

Also, there has been some interest in a bulk purchase of cheap GPS pucks
(called this because they have no display, just an antenna and GPS receiver)
to work with the units.  I haven't found a source for inexpensive GPS
receivers, but I'm working on it. If you want to use a GPS with a display, a
popular choice is the Garmin eTrex, which comes in a variety of models from
cheap to full-featured.  Display or not, a GPS must have RS232 serial NMEA
output (not USB or Bluetooth) to work with the OpenTracker.

If you're interested in participating in this project, please contact me no
later than Sunday, March 25th.  I'd like to place the order on the 26th to
make sure we have plenty of time to assemble the units before they're
needed.

I will be at the Midwinter Madness in Buffalo on the 24th, so if you want to
meet me there to put down a payment on your tracker(s), that would be fine
(call me, KC0TFB, on 146.58 simplex during the event, no tone).
 
I will be contesting at the TCFMC club station (7800 Golden Valley Road,
inside the public safety building) on the 25th from 3pm to 5pm, so you can
meet me there, too.

Links:

About the OpenTracker: http://www.n1vg.net/opentracker/
About APRS (by its creator, WB4APR): http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/aprs.html
See APRS units near us at http://www.findu.com/ or http://www.aprsworld.net/
See the location of my F-350: http://find.luno.org/