From January 2012 QST © ARRL
an APRS radio. Check www.byonics.com/
tinytrak4. With this setup I received my
APRS weather station beacon — W1HSR.
I went into the G6 functions menu and
found my station on the APRS contact list
and selected it. Then I pressed the SEND
message button and used the soft keyboard
that came up to compose and send a short
message. My message was received at my
weather station. I sent a reply and received
it on the G6. The G6 has a text-to-speech
capability, so I had my reply message read
to me. Pretty cool.
I tested the Target function (aka Tactical
Mode) and it worked.
4
I had my friend Mike
DeVivo, N1CHP, take a ride with his mobile
APRS setup beaconing his position. Once
I had his position on the G6 APRS contact
list (and display), I pushed the GO TO button.
The G6 calculated the route and took me to
him, providing audible as well as on-screen
turn-by-turn directions. By the way, when he
Figure 7 — The
APRS contact
list can store up
to 1000 contacts.
4
See www.youtube.com/w6gps for a more
complete demonstration of tactical mode.
changed position and that was beaconed out
and received, the G6 recalculated the route
to him. Also — very cool! The G6 lets you
set any received position as a target and will
route you to that destination.
You can store up to 1000 APRS contacts
sorted by call sign or date/time. A secondary
screen (Figure 7) shows full information
about each contact. You can choose to au-
tomatically delete contacts from the list — a
great feature when you realize that every
contact on this list is displayed on the map.
Contacts aged 2 hours, 5 hours, 10 hours or
24 hours can be deleted to eliminate clutter
from the screen. No automatic deletion is
also an option. All standard APRS icons
are supported.
Full bidirectional RS-232 APRS commu-
nication is supported. The G6 is compatible
with NMEA and Kenwood format sentences
at 4800 and 9600 bauds.
Wrapup
The AvMap Geosat6 APRS navigator is
really special. It reflects several generations
of evolution that makes mobile APRS and
APRS for emergency communications easy
to implement. Its flexibility in handling
APRS contacts, along with its tactical mode
and target intercept capability, make practi-
cal use of GPS receiver and navigation tech-
nology, especially in emergency scenarios.
The only weakness I found was with the
low level of the audio output. To solve that
problem I found amplified stereo speakers
(originally designed for an Apple iPod) for
less than $10. This speaker system fits in the
palm of my hand, and plugs directly into the
external speaker jack on the G6.
5
I did the mobile portion of this review
with my Kenwood TM-D710A and was
disappointed to learn that Kenwood does
not support all of the messaging capabilities
of the G6. On the other hand, something as
inexpensive as the Byonics TT4 can turn
any 2 meter rig into an APRS station with
text messaging.
The pull-away magnetic mount and its
size make it handy to take the G6 with you
when it is not needed. With the landscape
and portrait displays and hours of battery
life, you could take the G6 along for long
walks in a city like New York and use it to
navigate your way around.
Manufacturer: AvMap, Viale Zaccagna
6, 54033 Carrara (MS), Italy; www.avmap.
it. US distributor: AvMap/USA, 133 Fal-
mouth Rd, Mashpee, MA 02649; tel 1-800-
363-2627; www.avmap.us. Amateur Radio
contact: Don Arnold, W6GPS, 410 Cyndica
Dr, Chattanooga, TN 37441; www.geosat.
us. Price: $499.95.
5
Available from www.amazon.com/gp/
product/B00065XSP8.
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