worthingtontw
Observer
Hey all,
Just wanted to share a little project I'm working on while learning to play with APRS. I'm a fairly new HAM with about 6 months under my belt, primarily playing with the WIN system repeater network.
Anyways as I dive down the rabbit hole of HAM, the more use I find for every day life. On our last trip out to Saline Valley, CA one of our travel partners had a Garmin dog tracking system on his two pooches. As we are about to be picking up my Fiance and I's first pup later this month, I have been looking into GPS reporting dog collar systems (specifically hunting dog oriented systems) and it is mind numbing how much a basic system costs that does not require GSM for the collar or receiver. Even GSM based systems carry high monthly premiums.
I don't know why but I thought to look into APRS stuff the other night to see what was available and DIY something up. A bit of research finding the amount of small TNCs that connect to cheap radios gave me an idea. Given the hardware mentioned is open source and of questionable durability, but at least for us HAMs I think I may have a good solution.
For the dog collar, I found the Pico APRS which is a tiny APRS radio about the size of a match book. Has a max transmit power of 1 watt. Can send and receive messages, and plays an auditory tone anytime one is received. It also has a total weight less antenna of 44 grams for 10 hrs run time configured for low power. I figure paired with a small battery pack on the opposite side of the collar that would help to balance weight wise and give hopefully a 24hr run time, this would work well. I plan to train the dog to "come here" any time a message is received and plays the tone.
For the receiver side I am thinking about adhering a SainSonic AP510 to the back side of the case on my old Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini running APRSdroid to keep tabs on the dog as she cruises around camp or if she decides to wander off. There is documentation to modify the APRSdroid APK to accept downloadable 3rd party map support so there is no need for a data connection for this phone.
Just something I've been mentally toying with for the last few day and would like input from more season HAMs than I. I imagine this idea could be expanded on, such as writing a script that would establish a geofence based from a center point established on the position of the S4 that would basically say "hey, you have gone to far"
Anyways, would like to hear the forums thoughts.
Just wanted to share a little project I'm working on while learning to play with APRS. I'm a fairly new HAM with about 6 months under my belt, primarily playing with the WIN system repeater network.
Anyways as I dive down the rabbit hole of HAM, the more use I find for every day life. On our last trip out to Saline Valley, CA one of our travel partners had a Garmin dog tracking system on his two pooches. As we are about to be picking up my Fiance and I's first pup later this month, I have been looking into GPS reporting dog collar systems (specifically hunting dog oriented systems) and it is mind numbing how much a basic system costs that does not require GSM for the collar or receiver. Even GSM based systems carry high monthly premiums.
I don't know why but I thought to look into APRS stuff the other night to see what was available and DIY something up. A bit of research finding the amount of small TNCs that connect to cheap radios gave me an idea. Given the hardware mentioned is open source and of questionable durability, but at least for us HAMs I think I may have a good solution.
For the dog collar, I found the Pico APRS which is a tiny APRS radio about the size of a match book. Has a max transmit power of 1 watt. Can send and receive messages, and plays an auditory tone anytime one is received. It also has a total weight less antenna of 44 grams for 10 hrs run time configured for low power. I figure paired with a small battery pack on the opposite side of the collar that would help to balance weight wise and give hopefully a 24hr run time, this would work well. I plan to train the dog to "come here" any time a message is received and plays the tone.
For the receiver side I am thinking about adhering a SainSonic AP510 to the back side of the case on my old Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini running APRSdroid to keep tabs on the dog as she cruises around camp or if she decides to wander off. There is documentation to modify the APRSdroid APK to accept downloadable 3rd party map support so there is no need for a data connection for this phone.
Just something I've been mentally toying with for the last few day and would like input from more season HAMs than I. I imagine this idea could be expanded on, such as writing a script that would establish a geofence based from a center point established on the position of the S4 that would basically say "hey, you have gone to far"
Anyways, would like to hear the forums thoughts.
