The Best Tracker on the Market?

[Sam Buchanan]

Originally Posted by Vlad

My 10 years old BigRedBee APRS tracker is faltering and I am thinking of replacing it with something more robust and modern. Any recommendation from seasoned hams? Which tracker is the best? I am not a tinkerer and wouldn't build my own.

Vlad, as others have suggested, take a look at the Byonics RTG:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ad.php?t=55138



I've been flying one for several years now. It comes already programmed with your ID info. Connect power, GPS and antenna and fly.

[Vlad]

So the GPS antenna comes separate. Any preferred location for it Sam?

[Sam Buchanan]

Originally Posted by Vlad

So the GPS antenna comes separate. Any preferred location for it Sam?

I would put it near the tracker. Some folks put all the components in a wingtip and power it off the strobe circuit. But if you have the tracker in the cabin you could put the GPS puck on the glare shield or pull a GPS data stream off of a GPS you already have installed.

Where is your present tracker located?

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by Sam Buchanan

I would put it near the tracker. Some folks put all the components in a wingtip and power it off the strobe circuit. But if you have the tracker in the cabin you could put the GPS puck on the glare shield or pull a GPS data stream off of a GPS you already have installed.

Where is your present tracker located?

Sam, my old tracker is behind me sitting on top of left side baggage interior panel. Clear view of the sky under rear window. It has a built-in GPS and I was very happy with it till recently when it became "cloning" itself. I am the very minimalist and would love to keep it tight and compact. I don't any GPS installed so I can't port a signal to the tracker. Would love to keep the glare shield clear as well. Wingtip solution looks attractive but all that wiring... My APRS antenna is on turtle deck.

[Lenny Iszak]

You may be right, but i wouldn't say "ever". I had a MT-TT4 in my plane and it worked fine except that it has only a 500mW transmitter and wasn't working at low altitudes properly. I'm now using the RTG which has a lot more power, but still love the idea of the version with a receiver especially if we could send/receive messages with it.

If nothing else, having a receiver could help determine what power we should transmit with. Hearing a bunch of stations we probably shouldn't be blasting out our packet at 10 Watts, or 50...

Lenny

Originally Posted by Bill Boyd

is that you'll never hear a quiet interlude on a packet channel on 2 meters. Ever.

Better to transmit in the blind, at a reasonable output power and interval, and hope for no collisions. Listen-before-transmit is good etiquette and good engineering for land-mobile stations and of course digi-peaters. It's pretty impractical for airborne trackers with any receiver sensitivity at all.

[humptybump]

I've been flying with a Byonics RTG since mid-2011 and its has been "install it and forget it". Mine is self-contained in a wingtip with the little GPS "puck" stuck to the inside-top of the wingtip and a Pete Howell "beer/pizza money" j-pole stuck in the inside-bottom of the wingtip. Power is from the position lights circuit.

I know you like the option to turn your unit on/off when making "APRS Art" and you already have the TX antenna so I'd just bury a Byonics wherever you have your current (albeit dying) tracker. Since your current location has a "clear view of the sky" just stick the GPS antenna to the top of the Byonics tracker.

[Dvalcik]

Check your PM - I have you covered !!!!!

[Sam Buchanan]

Originally Posted by Vlad

Sam, my old tracker is behind me sitting on top of left side baggage interior panel. Clear view of the sky under rear window. It has a built-in GPS and I was very happy with it till recently when it became "cloning" itself. I am the very minimalist and would love to keep it tight and compact. I don't any GPS installed so I can't port a signal to the tracker. Would love to keep the glare shield clear as well. Wingtip solution looks attractive but all that wiring... My APRS antenna is on turtle deck.

Yep, just replace your old tracker with the RTG and stick the GPS puck to the top of it as Glen suggested. Should be a simple upgrade. You may need an adapter if your antenna coax has a BNC connector, the RTG has a little SMA.

[VHS]

Originally Posted by Lenny Iszak

You may be right, but i wouldn't say "ever". I had a MT-TT4 in my plane and it worked fine except that it has only a 500mW transmitter and wasn't working at low altitudes properly. I'm now using the RTG which has a lot more power, but still love the idea of the version with a receiver especially if we could send/receive messages with it.

If nothing else, having a receiver could help determine what power we should transmit with. Hearing a bunch of stations we probably shouldn't be blasting out our packet at 10 Watts, or 50...

Lenny

Wow, we have not made the old MTT4 for many years! As you probably know, we have replaced the low power, single channel MTT4 with the high power ( 10 Watts) frequency agile, MTT4B. The MTT4B ( Just like the TT4 ala' cart TNC) has a built in messaging capability. You just need to order the keyboard/LCD interface and you can send and receive APRS Mail very easily. Of course, a 4 line LCD display is not going to have all the bells and whistles that running a PC plugged into your MTT4B can provide, but its cheap and effective. Also, the Avmap G5 and G6 GPS display receivers have built in touch-screen support for the MTT4B for mail and more advanced features.

Best to all,

Allen
VHS/Byonics

[Doggtyred]

Originally Posted by maniago

Ok thanks Greg. I wiki'ed APRS and after reading a bunch of gobldie-gook I did finally figure out it was kinda SPOT-ish. Just wasn't sure why HAMs were the center of it all.
I get it now.

Amateur operators are the center of it all because that particular packet service is operating on amateur bands by amateur operators. I had one on my motorcycle when working special events as a motorcycle based medic/support guy.