[amsat-bb] ISS Beacons (message - correction)

[Robert Bruninga]

Correction:  The format for a manually typed APRS message to be captured
by an APRS radio's front panel is a colon, then a 9 byte callsign field
(padded with spaces) and then another colon and text.  The example should
have been:

:WD9EWK-9 :hello from (grid, city/state, etc.)

This does not include a line number intentionally, because a line number
forces an automatic ACK and that just adds collisions and congestion on
the ISS digipeater channel.   Bob, WB4APR

-----Original Message-----
From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Patrick
STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 12:13 AM
To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] ISS Beacons

Hi Mark!

You can do a CQ over the ISS digipeater, or just send something like an
APRS position packet or a packet with your position and a short comment.
If you use APRS messages, you can use them to make QSOs.
I just did that tonight for the first time in a few months, working two
Texas stations with my TH-D72A HT and Elk log periodic from my driveway.
Using the ariss.net wen site, I could see my packets and most of my two
QSOs captured by Internet gateways, and a missed QSO with a California
station. My TH-D72A will store and display APRS messages, but freeform
twxt typed into a terminal program won't be displayed on my HT unless the
text is formatted as an APRS message. For example, a station could type
this and (if I receive it) have it displayed on my HT's screen and saved
as a received APRS message:

WD9EWK-9 :hello from (grid, city/state, etc.)

On my HT, I'd see the call that sent this message, and the text following
the space and colon that trail my call. This makes it easy for stations
using the APRS-capable radios, as well as software like UISS, to make QSOs
and both sides seeing the QSO happen.

It tends to be rapid-fire, since you only have up to 10 minutes in an ISS
pass, and there could be a lot of activity coming through the ISS
digipeater - especially the further east you go in the continental USA.
Passes that only touch the southwestern USA are really easy for the
low-power stations (like me) to get through. I do OK on other passes that
cover more of the country, even with only 5W.

73!





Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Twitter: @WD9EWK



On Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 1:23 AM, Mark Lunday <mlunday at nc.rr.com> wrote:

> <My first packet on an ISS pass always includes a CQ.>
>
> OK, call me ill-informed, I did not know you could do CQ and
> keyboard-to-keyboard QSO's.  I thought you could only send short
messages.
> Is that how you do it?  The ISS pass is so fast...
>
> Mark Lunday, WD4ELG
>
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