Semi-private APRS?

[Davepar]

Is there a way to have semi-private APRS data? I can let some people know where I'm at, but not the whole world? I can imagine a situation where I'm going on a long trip, want my family to know where I'm at, but not let everyone know I'm a long way from home.

Seems to me that once you make your radio ID public, anybody can track you any time you have the unit sending data.

As a corollary question, why are the FAA records public? The public APRS info wouldn't be a problem if the aircraft registration records weren't online.

[kevinh]

Originally Posted by Davepar

Is there a way to have semi-private APRS data? I can let some people know where I'm at, but not the whole world? I can imagine a situation where I'm going on a long trip, want my family to know where I'm at, but not let everyone know I'm a long way from home.

Seems to me that once you make your radio ID public, anybody can track you any time you have the unit sending data.

Alas - that's the deal with ham bands - you must transmit your (FCC) identifier. Therefore anyone can track you.

[Baja_Traveler]

Originally Posted by Davepar

Is there a way to have semi-private APRS data? I can let some people know where I'm at, but not the whole world? I can imagine a situation where I'm going on a long trip, want my family to know where I'm at, but not let everyone know I'm a long way from home.

Seems to me that once you make your radio ID public, anybody can track you any time you have the unit sending data.

As a corollary question, why are the FAA records public? The public APRS info wouldn't be a problem if the aircraft registration records weren't online.

Your address info is also made public from the FCC. If I know your call sign, I can find out where you live, what license you have and when you got it. (type in KI6IWX in the upper left corner on www.qrz.com then hit "Detailed Info" to see where I live) The whole idea of APRS is to let the world know where you are on a map - but you have to know where to look.

I suppose the reason the FCC and FAA makes this information available is that your license becomes public record when it is issued. That way I can find out who is buzzing my house or jamming my TV

Of course when you pull up the APRS map there are hundreds of call signs there - just don't let the boss know what your ham call sign is - in the off chance he even knows what APRS is, that way you'll just be lost in the noise.

[Yukon]

Originally Posted by Davepar

Is there a way to have semi-private APRS data? I can let some people know where I'm at, but not the whole world? I can imagine a situation where I'm going on a long trip, want my family to know where I'm at, but not let everyone know I'm a long way from home.

Seems to me that once you make your radio ID public, anybody can track you any time you have the unit sending data.

As a corollary question, why are the FAA records public? The public APRS info wouldn't be a problem if the aircraft registration records weren't online.

Now let's think this through Dave. You only want family and friends to know about the signal, but IF you were to go down, then it should become public
and government domain? Sounds like a difficult proposition.

What if your family was doing other things or wasn't near a computer for 36 hrs, while you are camping out in the Cascades after an accident?

Sounds like maybe you need a 406 mghz ELT too, then you could delete your N-number from the APRS id, and then only your family could track you by the ham call sign, and the FEDS could extract you with the 406.

[Noah]

Originally Posted by Davepar

Seems to me that once you make your radio ID public, anybody can track you

Dave, don't know if you knew this already, but if you have a callsign, it is public:
http://www.arrl.org/fcc/fcclook.php3

Ham has no anonymity.

[Davepar]

Originally Posted by Baja_Traveler

Your address info is also made public from the FCC. If I know your call sign, I can find out where you live, what license you have and when you got it. (type in KI6IWX in the upper left corner on www.qrz.com then hit "Detailed Info" to see where I live) The whole idea of APRS is to let the world know where you are on a map - but you have to know where to look.

Well, I didn't know that, but figured the FCC records were also public.

That way I can find out who is buzzing my house...

The solution for that is to go fast enough that they can't read the 3" numbers.

Thanks for the info guys.

[RVbySDI]

Originally Posted by Davepar

Is there a way to have semi-private APRS data? I can let some people know where I'm at, but not the whole world? I can imagine a situation where I'm going on a long trip, want my family to know where I'm at, but not let everyone know I'm a long way from home.

Seems to me that once you make your radio ID public, anybody can track you any time you have the unit sending data.

As a corollary question, why are the FAA records public? The public APRS info wouldn't be a problem if the aircraft registration records weren't online.

Dave, I am with you on concerns about giving the public too much information about my where abouts. However, I would like to interject some thoughts that I am not sure everyone is considering. Perhaps this has crossed your mind and would be the reason you bring this question up. Whether this is so or not, I will say it is the reason I would be concerned about that information being public.

So here is my concerns about the public tracking of my where abouts for every second of time I am out and about flying, or driving, or hiking, or generally just enjoying the **** out of my freedom to roam. Lets say I and the wife decide to take a long leisurely week long vacation in my fast flying RV. We travel across several states over the span of 7 days where we visit friends or relatives hundreds and even thousands of miles away.

All the time doing so we have our fancy dancy APRS tracking software broadcasting every move we make along the way. Now this seems like a good idea lest we find ourselves in dire need of being rescued because we put down unexpectedly in some remote area of the country. Hooray, we are saved in very short order because someone out there was watching us, noticed our predicament and came to our rescue.

Now however, I cannot help but think about the negative side to all of that public attention my tracking system brings to my travels. You see, not only is that good Samaritan out there looking out for us, just in case, but also there is that savvy bad guy who is watching my every move also. You see he just happens to also know all about these tracking devices. He has discovered that they make wonderful tools for spying out for potential marks. So he finds out from the public records of my ham operators registration along with my airplane registration where I live. And, since my tracking system is also on a public website for anyone to observe he can log on from anywhere he chooses to follow my every move.

Now since Mr. Bad Guy can easily pull up a website and follow my every move, he instantly knows I am no where near my house, and for sure am not going to be back there anytime soon. So, viola! He has an instant and cheap mechanism for making sure he is not going to be interrupted while he makes his way to my house and helps himself to all of my wonderful tools, my wife's prized necklace and any other thing he might deem of value I own.

That makes me just a bit nervous about the instant public information I am going to be openly giving out to anyone and everyone. It would only take a minuscule amount of effort for someone to discover that I am on an extended vacation! Come one, come all! The party is at Steve's house!

Now this may sound a bit too paranoid for some but I am not sure I am ready to have everyone in the world know instantly where I am at any given moment.

Just my .02 worth.

Live Long and Prosper!

[PaigeHoffart]

Option 1) This may be a little "out of the box" but, what if someone made some software that would report a position to the internet based on a pre canned or random flight plan. You wouldn't need to use RF to do it, so FCC regs wouldn't be a player. In effect, you would always be moving, never home. If the crooks came to "case the joint" there is a good chance someone would be home. Really sophisticated software could even put digi paths into the fake packets to make them more real.

Option 2) What if you could corrupt the time stamp? Put out your current position as yesterday. I don't think that's possible because of the way the system works but it would be effective if it is.

Option 3) Use someone else's callsign. What? You can't do that! You're right, you can't, but they can put their tracker on your plane (In an automatic mode, or with you as a control operator.) Club callsigns might be a possibility here also. You can use as many as 16 trackers on one callsign.

Option 4) Just throwing darts here... What if you changed your address in the FCC database. I think there is a station address, and a mailing address. Make the mailing address a P.O. Box (that you actually check so you can get your "notice of violation") and the station address something other than your house (probably need to research the legality of this one). You'd need to do something similar with your pilot's license also.

Option 5) This is really getting ridiculous... Program your own tiny track to output a packet with your position as your home address but put your actual position in the beacon text in some other format. Then write software to decode the beacon text. If someone gets on the internet, you'll always look like you're at home. (might need to look into the legality of this one also)

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Paige

[Sam Buchanan]

Originally Posted by PaigeHoffart

Option 5) This is really getting ridiculous...

Option 6) FORGET ABOUT APRS! Someone this paranoid has no business with a tracker in their plane (or car, or bicycle, or.......)

APRS may not be for everyone.......

[PaigeHoffart]

Paranoid eh? I'm keeping an eye on you

Sorry, I just couldn't resist the setup