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Updated Tracking Site

Joe

Well Known Member
Recently I changed my APRS tracking web page

mail2600.com/cgi-bin/everyone.cgi

to track all APRS stations in the USA and Canada transmitting the small or large aircraft symbol. (Previously, only a couple dozen stations were tracked and it was by request). Those stations may now be lost in the clutter of the above web page but their direct links remain the same; e.g.

http://www.mail2600.com/cgi-bin/position.cgi?call=N623RS and
http://www.mail2600.com/cgi-bin/track.cgi?call=N623RS

for the RV-7A registered as N623RS. Those URLs will work for any other tracked stations by editing the "call=NXXXX" portion.

Occasionally I'm asked why I went to the trouble of building this site when aprs.fi does such a good job. Partly, this was before the full development of aprs.fi but also, I wanted a simple/constant user interface for my tracker that I could give to family and friends to reliably track me whenever I flew. Bookmarking http://www.mail2600.com/cgi-bin/position.cgi?call=N821RP is all that they need do. Position is updated automatically; no need to refresh, no log-in, no extraneous and unrequested info -- just position. Or track. I still use aprs.fi myself and point tech-savvy people toward it but it's surprising how many "power users" aren't capable of locating my aircraft without some help <g>.

Feel free to use http://mail2600.com/cgi-bin/everyone.cgi and the related links for your own family and friends or just to see who's been flying.

73,
Joe, K7JD
 
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Time Limit 8 Hours?

Joe: Nice work, great site.

Just reviewed a track of mine returning from Wisconsin to Tucson in April. I noticed the track did not show my path all the way to Tucson.

Then I noticed that it quit recording after exactly 8 hours. For those long trips, it sure would be nice if you could expand it somewhat. For my flights, 10 hours would be plenty. Is this doable?
 
Just reviewed a track of mine returning from Wisconsin to Tucson in April. I noticed the track did not show my path all the way to Tucson.

Then I noticed that it quit recording after exactly 8 hours. For those long trips, it sure would be nice if you could expand it somewhat. For my flights, 10 hours would be plenty. Is this doable?

Roger,

Most likely, it did not "quit recording" but my site's arbitrary default length of a "track" is 8 hours or less. However, you can easily string any time period of position reports into a single track using item #6 on your "Position and Track" page. This page appears when you press the "More" button on either the "Position" or the "Track" page.

That said, I do not see a track from Wisconsin to Tucson in April that would have been covered in 10 hours. Am I missing something?

73,
Joe, K7JD
 
Joe: I tried your suggestion on the 'more' page, and increased the time span to include that entire day, and sure enough, the entire trip then was displayed. However, casual users (the wife) would not know to do that to get the full track. I've had folks say they were tracking me on a similar flight in the past and say that it 'quit working part way through'.... I just thought there were no igate operators in the area. Now I know better.

And the flight was indeed more than 10 hours...almost 11. Nice site, thanks again.
 
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Joe, your tracking site is addictive and detrimental to getting anything done as I watch others all over the country out flying! It's a hoot!

By the way, I don't see you making much progress on the -8A in the hanger!
 
Joe, your tracking site is addictive and detrimental to getting anything done as I watch others all over the country out flying! It's a hoot!

By the way, I don't see you making much progress on the -8A in the hanger!

I have the same problem -- too much time on the computer and not enough doing other things <g>. But au contraire: I /am/ making progress on the -8A. Right now I'm stuck waiting for the powdercoater to return the engine baffles that I so laboriously trimmed for the past month. Yes, that's my story and I'm sticking with it -- disregard the cross-country I flew with N821RP last weekend <g>.

When I'm done with the build I'll try to address some of the requests like Roger's (above) and some site's shortcomings (such as the web cam overloading) but it's really hard to do geek things when one has a flying Long-EZ, an RV-8A a month or two away from first flight, and summer in Oregon.
 
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