Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions about the APRS tracking program at mail2600.com and APRS in general.

Questions


Answers

Probably not.  Most certainly not!

The most likely explanation is some sort of system failure.  In approximate order of likelihood:

The aircraft position and other parameters (as measured by an onboard GPS) are transmitted from the aircraft in real time to a network of amateur radio (ham) ground stations on VHF. The ground station(s) receiving the transmission forward it to a network of servers which feed it to this site's server. 

The feed is parsed and the resultant parameters are used to populate a database (also on this site). The database is queried and displayed by scripts on this web site.  Other web sites (see the APRS Tracking Links on the sidebar at the left) also receive the same feed but populate and display their own databases.

The on-board equipment needed for tracking can cost from about $75 to over $400 and consists of the following:

In order to reduce the clutter and provide a good user experience, only APRS stations (preferably on aircraft) with "interesting" tracks (not just a commute or a home station beaconing) are included here.  (Yes, I know: there are some exceptions listed in the Current Positions of All Stations in the Database

If you would like to have your APRS station tracked here email Joe, K7JD: jdubner at yahoo.com.  Be sure to specify the callsign-SSID or N-number you'll be using.

APRS stations not included here can most likely be found at one of the APRS Tracking Links on the sidebar at the left.  aprs.fi is highly recommended.



Update 19 Oct 2008: The size of the position report database has grown at an alarming rate and the Current Position of All Stations page has taken on a cluttered appearance.  This is due to a combination of reasons but you can do your part by not continuously beaconing if you are in a fixed location (this produces a very "uninteresting track") and using restraint in setting your in-motion beacon rate (not more than once per minute recommended).  In addition, use SmartBeaconing if it is available for your tracker.

The following steps are being taken to keep the site streamlined and simple to use for tracking the active aircraft APRS stations for which it was designed.  (For general purpose fixed-location APRS stations, aprs.fi or (good luck!) findu.com are recommended).
  1. Position reports for almost all stations will be purged from the database after 30 days.

  2. In addition, stations that have no activity for some (unspecified) long period of time will no longer be tracked even if they generate new position reports.  If you are concerned that your station has been permanently deleted from this site due to inactivity, email Joe, K7JD: jdubner at yahoo.com specifying the callsign-SSID or N-number of interest.

  3. Finally (and this has been true for some time), position reports are discarded if they are exact duplicates of recent ones.

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