Best APRS Handheld Ham Radio!

APRS has already been my favorite VHF/UHF radio feature. Today, sadly, there are fewer handhelds on the market that can do full-featured APRS.
Today I will talk about my favorite full-featured APRS handhelds.

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Music by Sonic D:

00:00 - Intro
00:22 - APRS Hooked Me On Ham Radio
02:00 - What is APRS?
02:43 - It’s all about Packets!
04:27 - Messaging is APRS best feature!
04:48 - APRS Frequency to listen to
05:49 - Why bother with APRS at all?
06:11 - What is a Digipeater & iGate?
07:14 - Sending Text Messages To Phones Via APRS!
08:36 - You can Email over APRS too!
09:00 - So what is the Best APRS Handheld currently availabl?
10:12 - You can use tablet and computer for APRS control
10:40 - The Best APRS radio is the Kenwood D74
12:01 - Tabletop radio comparison
20:59 - Wrap-up

#HRCC #hamradio #amateurradio

[BigBatts]

Saying Bob became a silent key was prob the nicest way of stating somebody passed away. Nicely done, sir

[mattstosh]

Beside APRS messaging and SMS messages, messaging also has the "command" function allowing you to modify how an authorized digipeater is configured. I use to run very remote (80 miles / mountain terrain) digipeaters coupled with weather stations. Once... a wildfire broke out and the Alaska Fire Service was monitoring my APRS weather stations to gather wind direction/speed data to hep their helicopter support units. From over 800 miles away, I used messaging and changed the weather station transmit time period from 60 minutes to every 10 minutes to give them better/more relevant information. APRS is underrated and under used.

[ChipEckardt]

Sure wish Kenwood would get back into Amateur Radio mobile and handheld markets

[Mike_M_KIMRC]

I was in a local club with Bob WB4APR in Annapolis Maryland. I can only hope that someday I will know a fraction of what he forgot. Truly a brilliant and humble man, whose mind never stopped thinking of things in such a unique way. I have never met anyone like him in my life. I could tell you stories about a few projects he did that were completely mind blowing. I have since moved to Florida but sure grateful to have cross paths with Bob. It was a great club and pushed me too. Get my general license. Thank you for the shout out to Bob at the beginning of your video. Class act.

[rickpellicciotti]

APRS is the reason I got my ham license. My VX-8 is challenging to type on but it works great.

[tomsmall]

Not many solid videos out there about setting up and using APRS on the ANYTONE 878UVII PLUS. I bought 2 and haven't figured them out yet. I bet many people would like a video on that. Thanks for the great info here.

[EvanKEJT]

I run an FT5DR and I like it a lot. Is it the best APRS radio ever? No. Does it get the job done? Absolutely. The thing I like about the Yaesu is the water resistance. I'm constantly in the woods, and here in upstate NY it likes to rain. A lot. With no warning. Having an APRS capable radio that is also rugged is a must for me, so Yaesu it was.

[MapRider]

Thanks for the video and info on APRS with HT's. As a map geek (hence my callsign), I've been using APRS extensively since getting my license for tracking my location. However, I now primarily use it for SOTA spotting. My vehicle has a Kenwood TM-D710G setup as a digipeater, and I carry the Anytone AT-D878UV Plus on SOTA activations to send SPOTs via the APRS2SOTA service and the higher power Kenwood since there are not many iGates or digipeaters here in Colorado to pick up my low power HT signal out in the mountains. 73 de KN0MAP

[nyqt]

APRS got me back into the hobby when I strayed during my teens.

[gregsmith]

Agreed Josh! I don't know why APRS is so out of sorts because it is great! I use it when moving about town and my repeater let me beacon APRS packets through my Brandmeister DMR repeater in my local area!

[nathantcampbell]

Excellent video. One thing I would note is to completely separate digipeters and igates as concepts. You can have any combination as they are separate operations however works best when combined. You can have just a digipeter, just an igate (rx only or bi-directional), or a combination digipeter and bi-directional igate as mentioned in the video. I suppose you can also have a combination digi/igate/wx/telemetry station as I have an example of that here in Oregon.

A fun project many hams can do with an SDR is play around with RX-only igating for APRS using Direwolf or UZ7HO soundmodem software TNCs. That could make for a fun video.

[SinfulZin]

Thanks Josh, great video with excellent clarity on APRS! It's sad that the industry seems to be letting APRS go by the wayside. Now when I'm out of range I'm relegated to my Garmin In-Reach since I can connect it to my phone through bluetooth and easily send or receive messages using that. It can also track my location on a map open to the internet. It costs for the satellite service, but it's more reliable for me and less expensive than upgrading to a new HT when I only pay monthly as needed. Mobilinkd has been out of stock for some time now, or that would be my next option. I'll use my Yaesu radios and their clunky interfaces when I have nothing else, so yes, if Yaesu is watching...please make APRS a priority in future radios.

[hemitj]

Thank you for another great informative video!

I was interested before, but now even more! There definitely needs to be more radios with the TNC capabilities built in! Let's get with the game Kenwood, Yaesu & Icom!

Thanks again & keep up the incredible work!

[johnk]

If Kenwood produced a successor to the TH-D74, it would sell like hotcakes. People have realized what they are missing by not having bought a TH-D74, when they were available. So if an upgraded one were produced with a bigger screen, Kenwood could charge a premium and they would be a massive hit. I'm one of those, that did not buy the 74 when it was available, and am kicking myself now. I'm still rocking my old Kenwood TH-D7A for handheld APRS. I would buy a new Kenwood 74 successor in a heartbeat. I bought the FT-3D last year, but not happy with it's UI and small screen. Kenwood have nailed the UI

[B.Murphy]

Also, thanks Josh for somewhat fulfilling my request on the deep dive on the D74.

[tulrich]

Great summary. I picked up an FT1DR used earlier this year solely for its APRS capabilities. I’ve found messaging on it to be wicked klunky, but for beaconing it’s been the bomb.

[mvm]

There is one other production radio that will do APRS messaging, as well as beaconing and receiving messages. The Anytone D878UVII-Plus. I have one and can confirm, analog APRS in and out do work. Sending messages is a little clunky, but workable. Honestly it’s the only reason I keep it around anymore, I’m not really a fan of DMR. Bought this radio to try it out and I use it more on analog than I do on digital.

[crquality]

Good video, no idea how I stumbled upon it, but I watched the whole thing. I'm glad I bought my THD-72 when I did (about a decade ago) because, and surprisingly, it's a one stop shop. One of my buddies had the THD-71, which required an external GPS unit to beacon location and the 72 solved that issue. I liked the 74 but thought D-Star was a silly add-on for the radio when Kenwood pushes NXDN heavily for commercial use and DMR at the time was becoming very popular when the 74 was introduced. I guess I missed out, but I do enjoy using the 72 when traveling and especially at Hamvention. 73's.

[timmiesloan]

Thanks for another good video. Have had a D74 for about 3 years, Never really got around to using it. Was thinking about selling it, but now you got me rethinking. lol

[wassman]

I have a APRS project on the bench. It will be a mobile install running a VHF 50w mobile, signal link and a Pi zero 2w. Essentially I am putting a screen in the mobile so I can interface with APRS via the Pi. Think APRS Droid but with a lot more features including direct winlink client access via pat winlink.