APRS SAREX

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, US Naval Academy Satellite Lab, Annapolis, MD

APRS Position/Status reporting via SAREX has been authorized on the last several SAREX missions. Using the Shuttle as a digipeater allows schools and stations to communicate amongst each other while seeing all other stations participating in the event. Mission STS-93 for launch 20 July 1999 will operate in packet mode over most of the world OUTSIDE of the USA.

During June/July 1996, mission STS-78 offered 15 days of SAREX activity, on 75% of all passes with 20 voice, 25 packet and 11 school passes. APRS experiments were authorized and 18 stations successfully relayed their positions via SAREX as shown below. Two others relayed their STATUS but without their position.

A total of 65 APRS packets were received here in Maryland. While 39 stations reported trying APRS, only 10 APRS stations reported making a serious effort, trying every pass. The conventional SAREX robot recorded over 1300 successful packet contacts for 561 different stations with 146 successful two-way contacts. We believe that APRS makes a good real-time display for schools involved in SAREX activity with the shuttle as shown below.

DOWNLOAD APRS : Get the APRSxxx.zip file and the latest Xmapxx.zip file for your area. Then be sure to use PKUNZIP -d when you unzip these files into your APRS directory.