Zero Retries 0167
2024-08-30 — A Conversation with Jeff Hochberg W4JEW; Part 1 - the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet 2024 Event and Part 2 - State of APRS Foundation - August 2024, 3 Breaking Updates on APRS Foundation
Zero Retries is an independent newsletter promoting technological innovation that is occurring in Amateur Radio, and Amateur Radio as (literally) a license to experiment with and learn about radio technology. Radios are computers - with antennas! Now in its fourth year of publication, with 2000+ subscribers.
About Zero Retries
Steve Stroh N8GNJ, Editor
Jack Stroh, Late Night Assistant Editor Emeritus
In this issue:
A Conversation with Jeff Hochberg W4JEW - Part 1 - the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet 2024 Event
A Conversation with Jeff Hochberg W4JEW - Part 2 - State of APRS Foundation - August 2024
Comments for This Issue (redirect to Comments page)
Web version of this issue - https://www.zeroretries.org/p/zero-retries-0167
Request To Send
Commentary by Editor Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Paid Subscribers Update
My thanks to Ben Kuhn KU0HN for renewing as a Founding Member Annual Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!
My thanks to Craig Cherry N7RWB for upgrading from a free subscriber to an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!
My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 47 for upgrading from a free subscriber to an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!
My thanks to Prefers to Remain Anonymous 48 for upgrading from a free subscriber to an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week, with this message:
Thanks a lot for the M17 Project information.
You’re quite welcome “Anonymous 48” - much more M17 info to come!
My thanks to Dan Marler K7REX for becoming an Annual Paid Subscriber to Zero Retries this past week!
Financial support from Zero Retries readers is a significant vote of confidence for continuing to publish Zero Retries.
The “APRS Foundation Issue” of Zero Retries
This issue of Zero Retries became dominated by coverage of APRS Foundation and the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet 2024 event, which as you’ll read has some overlap with the APRS Foundation.
I also included two three postings, verbatim, from the aprssig email list, only because my assumption is that many Zero Retries readers are not actively following the two APRS related email lists because there’s been minimal “news” on APRS until very recently. And, those two three postings were directly related to the articles resulting from my interview of APRS Foundation President Jeff Hochberg W4JEW in this issue.
The two APRS related email lists - aprssig sponsored by TAPR, and APRS sponsored by Joe Sammartino N2QOJ are (to the best of my knowledge) the primary communication channels of the APRS community worldwide. Both are free and open to subscribe to, so if you want to follow APRS developments closely, I suggest subscribing to them.
Organizationally, APRS Foundation will have a lot of activity over the coming months, and I don’t anticipate covering that “administrivia” very closely. If there is progress about the APRS “Specification”, new APRS software or hardware, etc., that technological innovation will obviously be very Zero Retries Interesting and thus mentioned here in Zero Retries. But, mostly I wanted to reassure Zero Retries readers that Zero Retries has not been turned over to full time coverage of every nuance of the APRS Foundation.
Store and Forward Podcast Episode 5 - Admiral Hopper
Kay Savetz K6KJN and I have released Episode 5 of Store and Forward - A podcast about the past and future of ham radio. Store and Forward is now a “real podcast” by now being discoverable in the “gigantous list of all podcasts” in any podcast app. Or, you can just listen to Episode 5 in any web browser at the link above. With some judicious editing, K6KJN got this rambling conversation of ours down to a listenable 35 minutes.
It feels like K6KJN and I are getting hitting our intended groove in addressing the work K6KJN does as part of the Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications - the history of Amateur Radio (Store), and the future of Amateur Radio as reflected here in Zero Retries (Forward). In this episode, we began with both of us gushing about our shared admiration for the late US Navy Admiral Grace Hopper. What an inspiration she was in the computing industry!
FCC Docket 24-240 Deadline for Comments is Thursday 2024-09-05
As I finish editing this issue of Zero Retries, there are now 307 comments filed in FCC Docket 24-240, NextNav’s attempted hostile takeover of the US 902-928 MHz band.
As of this issue of Zero Retries, I have not yet completed my study of all of the comments filed to date, nor have I completed my comments on this issue. To give Zero Retries readers a chance to read my comments on FCC Docket 24-240 and formulate their own comments, I’m planing to publish Zero Retries 0168 as a special issue devoted to addressing FCC Docket 24-240 on Tuesday 2024-09-03.
Not only is NextNav’s attempted hostile takeover of the US 902-928 MHz band an existential issue for Amateur Radio’s continued (and projected, especially data) use of the 902-928 MHz band, it’s an existential issue for continued use of that band for many other user communities that have evolved in the past two decades, including self-education of the “Spectrum Workforce” and STEM education in radio technology.
It’s going to be a long weekend… but hopefully the intense sprint will relax after Zero Retries 0168. Then…
Maybe, Perhaps, It’s Possible To Take a Little Break in September
At the beginning of Summer 2024, I imagined that perhaps in late July or August I would queue up a few “Best of” issues of Zero Retries to allow at least a two or three week block of time to work on some bigger projects in the project queue of N8GNJ Labs. One example is repairing the bent antenna mast damaged by last winter’s “Whistling Whatcom Winds” that nags at me every time I step outside to walk between my house and N8GNJ Labs.
But… there have been so many Zero Retries Interesting developments happening in Summer 2024 that each week it felt like this week, current developments really deserve to be covered. Thus, I haven’t taken a break from Zero Retries to date; I’ve just kept going each week.
But, Summer is quickly waning here in the Pacific Northwet - the monsoon weather is fast approaching, and those bigger projects in N8GNJ Labs are still in queue. So, after this big “APRS Foundation” issue, and Zero Retries 0168 being a Special Issue focused on my comments for FCC Docket 24-240 at least a few days prior to the Comments deadline of 2024-09-05…
Then it might be time for at least a two week “break” from Zero Retries to work on the highest priority of those deferred projects. There will still be a Zero Retries issue published during those weeks; but the majority of the content of those “break” issues will probably “recycled”.
This plan is not firmed up, so consider this a potential “heads up”. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
73,
Steve N8GNJ
A Conversation with Jeff Hochberg W4JEW - Part 1 - the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet 2024 Event
By Steve Stroh N8GNJ
My conversation with W4JEW was wide ranging, and instead of this article being in the form of an interview, with extensive quoting, with many references that weren’t part of the conversation, it just worked better to make this article an edited synopsis of the most salient portions of the conversation.
This article, Part 1, reflects the extended conversation that W4JEW and I had regarding the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet 2024 Event. This annual event is not (currently) formally affiliated with the APRS Foundation, but as an event where success is measured in technical accomplishment rather than operational issues such as numbers of contacts, ATGP is Zero Retries Interesting. Thus I was interested in learning more about ATGP directly from W4JEW who is one of the coordinators of the event for the past several years.
The Appalachian Trail Golden Packet 2024 (ATGP 2024) event was held on Saturday, July 20, 2024 along the entire length of the Appalachian Trail.
About the Appalachian Trail (AT):
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail — more commonly known as the Appalachian Trail or “the A.T.” — is a unit of the National Park System. Fully connected in 1937, the A.T. stretches from its northern terminus at Katahdin, Maine, to its southern terminus at Springer Mountain, Georgia. At more than 2,190 miles in length, the A.T. is the world’s longest hiking-only footpath.
About the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet event:
Every year for the past 15 years, licensed amateur radio operators coordinate 15+ sites along the length of the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia. We use transceivers to exchange packet data between each site with the goal of sending the "golden packet" the entire length of the trail!
Robert Bruninga (WB4APR - Silent Key), the creator of the APRS protocol, founded the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet event. The intent is to get licensed amateur radio operators ("hams") to feel more comfortable with operating in the field, while demonstrating the ability to send real-time messages along 2200+ miles without the need for any infrastructure!
W4JEW added a bit more history of ATGP, that WB4APR originally envisioned the creation of a network for APRS activity along the length of the AT so that there would be 100% coverage of APRS (traditional 144.39 MHz) along the AT, even for users of low power portable radios transmitting APRS data. That would be accomplished by creating a backbone network for APRS on the Amateur Radio 220 - 225 MHz (now 222-225 MHz) band, with gateways on 144.39 MHz. The basic idea was that 144.39 (the US national APRS frequency for 1200 bps Audio Frequency Shift Keying (AFSK) - traditional Amateur Radio Packet Radio) along the AT would be reserved for APRS users on the AT, and the 222-225 MHz network would handle routing the APRS data into and out of those 144.39 MHz digipeaters which would be reserved for use by AT users on low power portable radios. To date, the 220-225 MHz network has not been realized, but the idea has not been abandoned either. (And is even more possible than ever now with various radios and modems and computers such as Raspberry Pi that can be used as routers.)
ATGP is considered by many to be a legacy / memorial to Bob Bruninga WB4APR. But beyond the WB4APR legacy, ATGP is an active Research and Development project. Until the last several years, only APRS mobile radios by Kenwood were used. Using only the Kenwood TM-D700, TM-D710, and TM-D710AG (TM-D7xx) minimized the variability of radio / modem combinations, and because Kenwood implemented a feature called uiflood. For ATGP, the internal TNCs of the TM-D7xx radios are used, again, minimizing variability among ATGP stations.
There are typically twenty five or so participants that operate these specially configured / specified APRS nodes on various high points along the entire length of the AT.
For “intense” fans of APRS, ATGP is the equivalent of Amateur Radio Field Day.
But several years ago, Kenwood discontinued the TM-D710 product line (and the closely related TM-V71A). Since the Kenwood TM-7xx radios were no longer available (and became very expensive on the used market), ATGP “commissioned” the development of an “ATGP Appliance” to be able to continue the consistency of radios and modems used for ATGP. The ATGP Appliance was specified and developed by Don Rolph AB1PH. The initial design of the ATGP Appliance was documented by AB1PH:
An Open Source Meta-Design for an APRS™ Appliance
Positioning of Effort
This effort resulted in what might be termed a meta-design. The effort was critically dependent on the Dire Wolf TNC software written by John Langner, WB2OSZ, and should more correctly be thought of as an application note for John’s software. It is a meta-design because it has a few core principles, but the implementation can and has utilized a variety of hardware configurations and run successfully.
Summary
An APRS™ implementation, nicknamed the APRS™ “Appliance,” was developed, underwent performance testing, and then field testing including use at the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet event. The APRS™ “Appliance” offers the potential of a high performance open source software and open hardware design which can be readily assembled from purchased parts (only the enclosure may need 3D printing) and can provide a low cost (~$130) alternative for deploying APRS™ implementation. It is called the APRS™ “Appliance” because once configured, for normal use one needs only to turn it and . No other actions are required.
The “Appliance” was originally published in ARRL QEX - September / October 2023, pages 30-35 (thus currently only available to ARRL members behind the ARRL publications paywall). A version of this article is available in the GitHub repository of the project APRSFoundation / aprsappliance. There is also a video - AT Golden Packet - January 2023 - APRS Appliance - Don AB1PH where the APRS Appliance is discussed.
