You don't specifically NEED a GPS unit for APRS unless you plan on operating mobile.
APRS uses VHF, HF, or both. Which do you plan? If mobile, most use VHF.. 2 meters. On HF is is mainly 30M but there is some HF APRS on 20M too. Most common APRS methods use packet radio. 300 baud packet on HF and 1200 baud packet on 30M . There is some APRS using PSK but that is not as common. So, to start, we need to figure out how you intend to generate the packet tones and decode the received signals . If mobile , we need to figure out if you have one of the special radios that has a TNC built in. or are you going to need one like the small TNC-X (designed by my neighbour a few blocks away). Not mobile, you can use a soundcard based application , like Multpsk, to generate the Packet tones in APRS mode. Many GPS units do not work with ham radio and APRS. Only the higher-end GPS units tend to come with data output presented in a manner than can be linked to a radio. So don't assume your Tom Tom will do what u want unless it outputs data via NMEA So, tell me more about what you have in mind ? Andy K3UK On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 8:18 PM, Dan <wd5...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > I would like to try APRS, but have no idea where to start. I now have a GPS > unit from TomTom. What else do I need and where do I start? > Thank you, > Dan Walker WD5CND > > >
