U.P. Skywarn APRS Setup

U.P. Skywarn APRS Radio, TNC, and Software Setup

Node Suffix Identifiers (SSINs)
CALLSIGN: Home iGate, Home Fill-in Digipeater, or Home Weather Station
CALLSIGN-1: Secondary Car Station (mobile)
CALLSIGN-3: Secondary Digipeater
CALLSIGN-7: Person Walking
CALLSIGN-8: Marine Mobile/Boat Station
CALLSIGN-9: Primary Car Station (mobile)
CALLSIGN-10: Primary Digipeater
CALLSIGN-14: Primary Truck Station (mobile)

Instructions for setting up your home 2m station internet gateway (iGate)

1. Download UiView32 v2.03

2. Register your callsign, free.

3. Install UiView.

4. Setup TNC communication settings Under Setup-> Comms Setup.

5. Under Setup->Station Setup, Complete station callsign (change WX8AAA to your callsign), latutude, and longitude. Lat/Lon in the format DD.MM.hundrethsofMM. Rural stations (more than 75 miles from another iGate station) can set the Unproto to APRS,WIDE3-3 You may also enter information of the radio capabilities of your station in the beacon comment using the PHG format. An example is below, from NS9RC

#PHG5360 W2, ILn - Winnetka, IL EN62dc

You would substitute the 5360 in the example above for the numbers you obtained for your antenna and transceiver specifications. Substitute your state (MI) for IL, and if you are operating wide 3-3, change W2 to W3, otherwise just leave it alone. Also, change EN62dc to your grid square.

6. Under Setup->Digipeater Setup, edit your callsign in place of WX8AAA and set similar to shown below. (choose OK if prompted before below dialog box appears)

7. Under File, Choose "Download APRS Server List" and enter the server as shown below. Next, press Download.

8. Under Setup->APRS Server Setup, set iGate APRS server settings. Be sure to use the validation number you received after registering your callsign. Per the instructions on UiView, you have to retrieve the registaration number from a website since it will not be emailed to you. You can set any multiple servers you like. Below is just one example.

9. Go to Action->Connect to APRS Server

10. Connect 2m radio to TNC and tune to 144.39 MHz FM mode for transmit (TX) and receive (RX).

11. Press F9 to send a beacon packet over the air.

12. Go to findu.com and enter your callsign to see if your station appears. Alternatively, you can go to aprs.fi and enter your callsign under "Track callsign:" You may have to type your callsign on the login page under "Callsign or nickname:" first, if visiting the page for the first time.

You are now helping your fellow Yooper weather and APRS mobile station packets be posted to the National Weather Service, findu.com and aprs.fi!

Remember, even if your station is within a few miles or tens of miles of a digipeater, your station is EXTREMELY important in the APRS system. Many digipeaters across the U.P. are located in rural areas without internet connections. It sometimes takes 3 hops for a digipeater packet to reach an iGate. Packets near Marquette at the time of this writing have to reach Thunder Bay, Ontario before reaching the internet. Sations from Seney have to be repeated via Newberry, Pickford and Petoskey before reaching the internet. Your station is acting as a relay to the internet and mimimizing the number of hops where a packet could be lost. In addition, your station will act as a fill-in digipeater.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Setting up a Weather Station with or without internet connection

Visit the CWOP configuration page. There's some nice software and a tutorial to help you out.

Setting up a Digipeater with no internet connection:

1. Set the following parameters on your TNC (change your TNC to expert mode if necessary):


	mycall kc9aaa

	myalias WIDE1-1

	unproto aprs via WIDE2-2

	btext !4605.90NS08743.76W#PHG5360 W2, MIn - MyTown, MI EN66dc 

	beacon every 30 (might need to be 600 depending on TNC)

	txdelay 30

	digipeat on

	xmitok on

where kc9aaa is your callsign and your latitude and longitude in the DDMM.hundredthsofMM format is substituted for the 0's in the btext line. (See the above i-Gate example for information on PHG.)

2. Change to unproto aprs via WIDE3-3 only if you are more than 75 miles from an internet gateway (iGate). Otherwise leave as shown above.

3. Change beacon every 30, if necessary so your station beacons every 30 minutes. This depends on your TNC settings.

4. Set the time and date on your TNC using the proper commands. You may need to look this up.

5. Set your TX and RX frequency to 144.39 MHz

Mobile Tracker Settings

Many users are using the Byonics TinyTrakers. Below are the settings you should use. Substitute your callsign kc8aaa. The callsign-9 is the standard mobile identifier. Put whatever you want in the status text field. Save memory on your TinyTraker by using the same settings for the Primary and Secondary windows. You can toggle between these setting using the tabs at the top of the screen. Recieve and transmit frequency for your radio should be 144.39 MHz. It's best to include an RF choke using a ferrite doughnut on the GPS line into the tracker and/or bypass caps on the power leads from the battery and PTT-ground line on the GPS in line. TinyTrakers have RFI issues which can be mitigated this way.

Setting up a Weather Station with or without internet connection

There are 2 ways..
Method 1: Using CWOP Software
Visit the CWOP configuration page. There's some nice software and a tutorial to help you out.

Method 2: Peet Brothers Ultimter 2100 WX Station Setup

1. Connect cable with serial output from Ultimeter 2100 display unit's side port to computer's serial input. You may need to get a USB to serial adapter, if nexessary.

2. On the Ultimeter 2100, go into Data Logger Mode by pressing the -0- and the anemometer button at the same time. Hold for 3 seconds, until display stops flashing.

3. Open WeatherText Tools program. Go to Connect->Connect and Receive Weather Text.

4. In WeatherText Tools go to APRS->View APRS String.

5. Open UI-View. Go to Setup->WX Station Setup. Use similar settings shown below, but change the beacon comment to your preference and the callsign to your own.

6. In UI-View, Go to Action->Connect to APRS Server.

7. Turn on your TNC and radio. Use the TNC settings shown above in the home i-gate settings. Go to Setup->Station setup in ui-view and set fixed and internet beacon interval to 0. Otherwise your WX station will be sending null data labels to the radio and internet. All of your transmit internal setting should be done in the WX Station Setup tab. Make sure you don't transmit on :00, :15, :30, and :45 minutes of the hour since many stations may do that at the same time causing network congestion.