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CQ APRS CQSRVR

Moleculo

Ham Radio Nerd
Apr 14, 2002
9,194
1,674
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Here's something fun you can do with APRS: Make contacts with other stations around the world using APRS messages. One of the features of APRS is that in addition to the capability of sending messages to individual stations, you can also send messages to predefined groups. There are a number of groups that have been set up on the APRS network, and one of the more interesting ones is the CQ group.

The purpose of the CQ APRS group is to give APRS users a standard way to make contacts with other APRS users around the world. When you send a CQ message to the CQ APRS group, all stations subscribed to that group will get your message and usually you get a response. Tonight I exchanged APRS messages over the air with ZL2IA in New Zealand.

Here's how you do it: First, address a new message to CQSRVR. This is a special APRS server set up to address and handle these messages. In the body of your message, you type "CQ [group name] [message]. In this case, the group name we want use is also CQ. A sample message could look like this: "CQ CQ Hello APRS people". The first CQ tells any receiving station that you want to talk to anyone; the second CQ sends this message to everyone subscribed to the CQ group. They will all get the "Hello APRS people" message and ideally, someone will respond.

You can use this fun method to make APRS contacts around the world. Enjoy!
 

Good on APRS HF for initiating contacts, let them know which freq you're on.
 
I've been playing with this idea for a few weeks, and have made only a few contacts. No one ever seems to answer my CQ's.

Does no one actually -DO- this? It seems to be a lot of fun, like sending out a text message that anyone could answer.
 
It's been a while since I set my APRS station to listen to group CQ. I will start doing it more often. If anyone needs to know how to monitor the APRS network for CQ group using their radio or software, I'll be happy to provide whatever assistance I can.
 
It works quite well if you include how someone can call you by e.g. Echolink. In fact someone is developing a system called AVRS which would allow you to set up voice calls with any other APRS user over Echolink or IRLP. It doesn't work too well at the moment though, plus it assumes that everyone is set up to make or receive a call on Echolink.
 

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