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QTH & Locator from GPS position

Hi,

Probably not the most urgent feature, but I'm planning on using VarAC while on the road with a RV / MotorHome. It would be nice if i could connect VarAC to my USB GPS such that the QTH and Locator is automatically updated depending on my current GPS position.

I would be more then happy to provide a USB GPS device if desired.

73,

Erik

7 comments

7 Comments

PA1AIS

Aug 13

@ general

IF you use the GPS also for marine applications, then there is no COM-port availible. To avoid hopless stumbling with com-to-com solutions I would suggest a network UDP input. NMEA over IP is very common these days at port 10110 in UDP. If so than you can share all NMEA data over more applications simultaneously. A simple broadcast to 255 will do the job.

irad d

Sep 17, 2022

Is there a standard GPS API or each device has its own API specs ? I dont want to get into a project where I need to support multiple GPS interfaces. if there is one standard I might be willing to explore.

PE1PUX

Sep 17, 2022

Replying to

Hi Irad,

I think most / all GPS receivers support the NMEA 0183 format. A (USB) GPS device presents itself as a serial device which then can be polled for the NMEA 0183 formatted messages. There are standard libraries to be found on GitHub to support this format.

en.wikipedia.org

NMEA 0183 - Wikipedia

Thanks for your interest in this request,

73's

Erik

kellykeeton

Sep 20, 2022

Replying to

yea that sounds messy agree - why not just come up with the "server side" the architecture would need facility to support posting to APRS as well as consuming a "formatted packet" via the existing chat dialog, so a CQ-SSID frame is sent for the APRS packet it consumes and reports it

as for the GPS and the string into varac dont worry about that let the user base handle it can be a simple python project or manual entry to automate it allow a generic API into your project for whatever else people think of - anyway some brainstorming on it

irad d

Sep 20, 2022

Replying to

Ok that sounds like a more reasonable approach. I will allow incoming TCP/UDP packets providing updated locator. while the community can write tools to support specific GPS devices.

kellykeeton

Aug 26, 2022

it would be nice if there was a relay to APRS like JS8-APRS a position report in VarAC would beacon and handler for

g0nbd

Jul 01, 2022

There is a kiss interface , with burst packet transmission for aprs

provided by the vara modem, but the format is not compatible with the on-air packet system , it uses encapsulated coding, which, I suspect is similar to the opera qso mode, where a min of 40% recovery is needed , in blocks or randomly along the time line .. but the data payload is the same as the packet based system , 11/2021 system was in development > VARA Broadcast frame (114 bytes). This provides a new way to send solid DATA frames with a greater range than Packet 1200/300 and using less power