N5FDL Amateur Radio

(From a press release — visit www.cssincorp.com for more information. My comments are near the end).

Creative Services Software, Inc. (CSS) will debut Radio Spotter, a coming addition to its radio software product line, at Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio later this week. Radio Spotter is the industry’s only software for APRS® touchtone-to-packet communications. The software receives and decodes DTMF (touchtone) transmissions, converts them into an APRS packet and transmits through the APRS system.

A beta version of Radio Spotter will be demonstrated by CSS in Booth 108-109 throughout the convention, and by APRS Founder Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, during the APRS forum on Friday, May 15. Radio Spotter is a licensed implementation of the APRStt™ specification as developed by Bob Bruninga, APRS Engineering LLC, and has been certified as compliant. The software will be released in the summer of 2009.

Radio Spotter is an APRS touchtone (DTMF) gateway that monitors a radio for operator DTMF transmissions on a simplex frequency such as 146.58, decodes the DTMF into an APRS packet, and then transmits the packet on the national APRS frequency of 144.39. A voice or morse code response to the DTMF is sent back on a second radio on the DTMF channel. In addition, Radio Spotter offers an interactive dashboard and command center for monitoring and managing DTMF receive and APRS transmit conditions, logging transmissions and controlling the attached TNC or soundcard.

The software will run on any Windows PC, laptop or netbook (with Windows 2000 or later) and requires only a soundcard or TNC to connect to a radio transceiver. Optionally, operators can connect to multiple soundcards and/or multiple TNCs. Using Radio Spotter with the Radio Operations Center (ROC) Digital Desktop™ from CSS, along with multiple soundcards or a dual-port TNC, allows operators to continue running Radio Spotter while using ROC Digital Desktop to work other modes and frequencies on the HF port.

Radio Spotter allows anyone with any HT or mobile radio to check in on APRS and become part of the global APRS network,” Bruninga said. “Just store your call sign in DTMF format in a DTMF memory and you’ll appear on APRS with just the press of a button on any existing VHF radio with a keypad.”

“Operators key in their call sign and position in seconds, and Radio Spotter logs their call sign, location and the time their DTMF was received,” said Rick Ruhl, W4PC, president of CSS and software developer. “Simply connect a PC running Radio Spotter to a radio transceiver and nearby operators can check in to APRS with only a handheld VHF radio.”

Radio Spotter will serve the routine communications needs of an emergency response team, local club or area, and is an ideal application for special events. With Radio Spotter operating at a special event, not only the APRS volunteers, but now all volunteers with nothing but an HT or mobile with DTMF can report their positions via the APRS system.

David: I am trying to understand this part. Are there standard locations already in the system that I can refer to when entering a location from my talkie? How else could an operator with only a talkie enter their position into the system? I understand you could tell the server that “I am at Position #4.” But, to enter a wildcard location, I’d think you would still need a GPS, wouldn’t you?

And how many digits will you have to enter to tell the system your callsign and a lat/long or UTM position? I’d think you’d need a second person handy to read the numbers off the GPS while you punched them into a talkie.

I guess this system beats having to have a TNC built into your talkie and provides a gateway, perhaps, that takes a weak signal from the talkie and blasts it onto 144.390 (or whatver) at full power.

I want to like this more than I do. Maybe it will grow on me?

With Radio Spotter, all ham radio operators can participate in the APRS information system, not just those with specialized APRS radios or those with mobile TNCs and laptops,” Bruninga continued. “This lets the other 95 percent of amateur radio operators exchange useful data for special events or emergency operations with the APRS system and other users.”

Again, I am missing it, but what “exchange” is actually occuring? What APRS information do the talkie users receive?