As a trip leader, I want to be able to know where all, or at least some, of the vehicels in the group are located but realize that getting everyone licensed and then setup for APRS is always going to be a challenge.  A good solution for this then is to fit a tracker onto several of the vehicles in the group, pre-configured with my callsign.  For those that wonder, yes, this is legal as long as the vehicle operator isn't able to control the tracker.  When staging the trucks, I'd simply stick a mag-mount antenna and GPS on their roof and plug the tracker into a cigarette lighter socket.  From that point on, I'd be able to see their location inside Overland Navigator.

One tracker I overlooked is the Byonics MicroTrak RTG (Ready To Go).  A guy on ExPo recently posted about it.  $190 includes everything required to be up and running including the built in 10W radio.  http://www.byonics.com/microtrak/mt-rtg.php

This is a tracker only solution and will not directly interface with Overland Navigator or other GPS devices to show others locations.  It sends a location beacon out, but does not receive others locations.

Craig

Sweet idea, but would  we have to call you big brother?

No.  Your radio isn't setup for APRS.  It is setup for Voice.  Even with a GPS, you'd also need a tracker/TNC which sits between the GPS and your radio.  Radios like the Kenwood D710a have all of this built in.  They are also "dual band" radios that have two radios built into one (different meaning of dual band than the 2m/70cm definition you are probably thinking of).  You use one side of the radio for voice and the other side of the radio for APRS (or talking on a different frequency).

This tracker includes it's own radio, antenna, etc so you don't need to use your radio at all.  Which is necessary since you want to talk on your radio instead of using it for APRS.  This device is only one way though, as it doesn't receive others APRS positions.  You can't use this device to show others positions on your GPS/Computer.  You need a better radio, or something like the Byonics TinyTracker 4 to do that.

Craig

LOL.  It has a power button so you can turn it off if you don't want to be tracked by your Trip Leader.

Yes, the point is to stick together, but that is much harder to manage as a trip leader than you would expect.  APRS is a tool that helps the trip leader accomplish that.

Craig

This is pretty cool and makes sense. While I have only led a couple of small trips, I can see how keeping track of and maintaining comfort with leading a larger group across a larger run can be difficult at best. This would be a a reasonable solution to provide some comfort on maintaining the group.

While at the Ham Radio Outlet store the other day, they had a full sized screen up and running APRS tracking  all around the Portland Metro area. It was very simple, very affordable and appeared to be a very clean interface. I asked them to show me which radios had the ability to feed (included APRS) that particular monitor. To my surprise, most radios they showed me had APRS capability and most of them were reasonalby priced.

It almost seems like today, if you are thinking about buying a radio, the minumum specs should be dual band with APRS and then that way we eventually get to the place where at least we have the radio equipment that is taking care of our voice needs and  transmitting APRS...but then how does the trail leader receive each individual units position? That becomes more complicated because of the personal preference about laptop, slate, touchscreen device and so on which then points back to the solution that you have posted here.

As I ramble here I am thinking about two things- we should speak to the guys at the Ham Radio Outlet and see if they would be willing to set us up a minumum spec radio package that covers our voice and APRS needs at a NWOS price point.

Two, work with Car Toys, MP3car or Auto Additions (or the like) to see if we could do the exact same thing for the in cab resources needed. This could include a wide range of things including the computing device, interface cables and even vehicle mounts...again at a NWOS price point.

This way we have some solid criteria...equipment, price, availability, to base some of these decisions off of.

I do like the idea of the tracker posted here, but given the choice to spend the $190, I would opt to put it into a resource that covers more than one function and would be used for when I participate with the NWOS group or when traveling on my own.

My random two cents worth.

Dustin

There have been several experiences where I have been running sweep, and been able to direct stragglers find the right route due to seeing the leaders track on my own GPS.

Dustin/Jay,

There seems to be some confusion here. I am not suggesting that everyone here buy one of these.  If you are a licensed radio operator then I'd encourage you to look into a dual bander/APRS ready radio just as Dustin mentions.  I'd pimp Overland Navigator on the GPS side, but there are other GPS displays available too.

I was thinking that it would be pretty cool to have a couple of them around that Trip Leaders could slap onto vehicles that don't have a HAM radio or that only have Vx. Since the trackers run under my call-sign, it means they can be tracked even if they are unlicensed.

Craig

I get it now. Like the idea.

Dustin

That may be correct for Mobiles with APRS built in.  But you can add a TNC to any radio to do APRS.  It is much better suited for a dual band radio.  But all in all, it is so much easier to do it with a radio that is designed for it and has it built in.  It's really good stuff and worth the investment of having it built into the radio.  If you are a soldering technodude, you can add the TNC and make your cables.

I have done both and buying it built in is so much easier.

Kenwood has several radios with APRS built in all a part of the D7xx series.  Yaesu has a new radio with APRS but it is ridiculous.  It doesn't have any way to interface with a GPS or computer to *display* the positions your radio hears.  It just presents them in a list on the radio itself. 

As Todd mentioned, there are also TNC/Trackers but they are harder to setup, and result in a bunch of wires in the truck.  Kenwood D710a is sweet.

I have a handheld with APRS on it. would that work as the same basic principle? would it not be legal because the unlicensed person in the vehicle has acess to the radio? the beacon is a cool idea, it would make keeping track of how spread out every one is if you put it on the trail vehicle.