The Inaugural Victorian APRS Symposium

The Inaugural Victorian APRS Symposium was held on Sunday, 17th March, 2002 on a bright and sunny day in Melbourne and was hosted by the Eastern and Mountain Districts Radio Club (EMDRC). The day brought together a wide range of people both from Victoria and Interstate to learn more about APRS and to meet fellow enthusiasts. All up, 59 people attended the day's activities.

Those that attended were:

Damien – VK2TDG, David - VK3AAD, Harry – VK3BIA, Terry – VK3BMX, Warren – VK3BYD, Leighton - VK3CLJ, Craig - VK3CMC, Peter – VK3DI, Howard – VK3DLH, Don - VK3DON, Tom - VK3DTW, Bert - VK3DVY, Bron - VK3DYF, Gwen - VK3DYL, Frank - VK3EFX, Leif - VK3EIB, John - VK3FH, Marty – VK3FII, John - VK3FJB, Malcolm - VK3FJP, Toby – VK3HIV, Peter – VK3JCR, Richard – VK3JFK, John - VK3JJB, Graeme - VK3JUD, David - VK3KDL, David – VK3KIC, Rob - VK3KRB, Steve - VK3MNA, Mick - VK3MSA, Ross – VK3MY, Trina - VK3MY XYL, Rhys - VK3MY Son, Tim – VK3NTB, John – VK3PJA, Lee – VK3PK, Hamish – VK3SB, Mike – VK3SU, John - VK3TH, Trevor – VK3TI, John - VK3TJT, Ron - VK3TRC, Marcus - VK3TST, Anthony – VK3UAJ, Paul – VK3UNO, David – VK3UR, Ross - VK3URC, Andrew - VK3XKA, Craig - VK3XOR, Warren - VK3XSW, Bill - VK3YHT, Graham - VK3YUV, Mike – VK3ZQV, Antony - SWL, Marcus - Volunteer Coastguard, Darrin - Volunteer Coastguard, Andrew - Volunteer Coastguard, Chris, and Nick.

Apologies were also received from:

Dick – VK3ADA, Clint – VK3CSJ, Ernie – VK3DET, Bill – VK3JT, Doug – VK3KAY, Mike – VK3KVW, Ralph – VK3LL, Tim – VK3MNR, Chris - VK3VSW, Phil - VK3YB, David – VK3YLV, Colin – VK3YWY, Ben - VK5JFK and Ralph – VK6KRB.

Peter, VK3DI, from the EMDRC opened the proceedings and welcomed everyone.

David, VK3UR, welcomed some special visitors to the day’s activities including Damien - VK2TDG, and the Victorian Volunteer Coastguard who were interested in what the amateur radio community were developing around the subjects of APRS and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL).

David, VK3UR, provided an Overview to the Global Positioning System and an Overview of Mapping to set the scene and ensure that everyone had a basic understanding of the GPS technology and its limitations and computer mapping, citing the importance of the datums, etc.

After morning tea, Richard, VK3JFK, provided an Overview of APRS, the hardware requirements and comparison of the various types of software, such as UI-View16 vs UI-View32, WinAPRS, etc.

Hamish, VK3SB, then followed up with an Introduction to IGATES (Internet Gateways for APRS), what they are and how they work.

Thanks to the efficient time keeping from Howard, VK3DLH, for probably the first time in amateur history not only were the presentations not running late, but were actually finishing slightly ahead of schedule. No one was expecting this and as a result the BBQ lunch wasn’t quite ready…

To fill in before lunch Warren, VK3BYD, provided a brief presentation on some development work he has been undertaking on a Site Monitor to provide remote temperature and battery voltage telemetry for solar powered APRS digipeaters. This generated a lot of discussion amongst the participants with other possible applications of the technology also mooted.

Marcus, from the Victorian Volunteer Coastguard, kindly agreed at short notice, to provide an overview of how the Coastguard are using APRS with Tiny Traks sending boat position information back to shore. Marcus explained some of the differences that the group are having to address to use APRS in a marine environment compared to use on land.

Catering for the day had been organised by Gwen, VK3DYL, and Bron, VK3DYF, who worked their guts out filling the tummies of the throng throughout the day… Asked after the event if they’d be prepared to help out again next time, the response was "Not Blinking Likely" (or words to that effect as she says she doesn't swear), but over time that response might soften… John, VK3PJA, Ross, VK3MY, Trina (XYL of VK3MY) cooked up a storm on the BBQ.

David, VK3AAD, can be seen sitting here enjoying the company of all his friends while the hoards line up for lunch.

The group then assembled outside to have their photos taken. Click here to display a larger image of the group.

The APRS enabled enthusiasts then gathered for an APRS Rogues Gallery picture… Click here to display a larger image of the group.

Standing (L to R):

Mike – VK3SU, Leif - VK3EIB, Damien – VK2TDG, Terry – VK3BMX, Howard – VK3DLH, Warren – VK3BYD, Anthony – VK3UAJ, David - VK3KDL, Peter – VK3JCR, Toby – VK3HIV, Craig - VK3XOR, Hamish – VK3SB, Trevor – VK3TI, Mike – VK3ZQV, Harry – VK3BIA, Peter – VK3DI, Paul – VK3UNO, Marty – VK3FII, John – VK3PJA and David – VK3UR.

Front Row Sitting (L to R):

Tim – VK3NTB, Lee – VK3PK, Richard – VK3JFK, Ross – VK3MY, Gwen - VK3DYL and David – VK3KIC.

After lunch Richard, VK3JFK, gave a detailed presentation on the Victorian APRS network architecture, its strengths and weaknesses and planned development into the future. An integral part of this presentation was the effect that inappropriate power levels, path set-up and beacon times have on the efficiency of the network.

Hamish, VK3SB, then provided a presentation on Connecting to the APRS Network – Internet or Packet. This presentation concentrated on connecting to the APRS network either via packet radio or via the Internet and what each of the different port settings would do.

Following afternoon tea Howard, VK3DLH, presented his experiences with Weather Stations and APRS. Howard compared a range of Weather stations and software solutions for interfacing with APRS and stressed the importance of settings weather station sensors appropriately as you never know who might want to use the information.

Lee, VK3PK, concluded the presentations with an overview of his developments with APRS and Direction Finding. This presentation resulted in a lot of interest and discussion from the audience as to applications of the technology to track down rogue transmitters. Lee also talked about his development with PICs and possible application, using APRS as the communication medium, to advise of band openings resulting from changes in radio propagation.

Peter, VK3DI, wrapped up the Inaugural Victorian APRS Symposium by thanking all of the speakers, those involved with the catering and everyone else associated with making the day a success.

Thanks to VK3PK, VK3DI and VK3DYL for the photos...