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VX-8R APRS Setup

C

Codejockey

KF5CKB
Jul 21, 2009
50
0
16
www.armedtexan.com
Hello,

I'm trying to get my VX-8R setup for APRS. I thought I had it setup; however, I seem unable to get it to work properly. I searched for my call sign here: Google Maps APRS and could not find it, yet I thought I had it setup for my commute from Keller to Arlington this morning. Any ideas? Also, I'm completely new to this so I'm sure it's something stupid I'm doing / not doing.
 

I'm assuming you punched your callsign into the radio. For me, I found that I got better results by changing digipath entry #2 from "WIDE2-1" to "WIDE2-2". Did you set up your beacon interval? Do you know where a digipeater is on that commute route? Can you see other stations showing up on your HT?
 
I didn't change the digipath entry. I'll play with that. I did punch my callsign into the HT, I set it to Auto xmit, and i set the frequency to every 5 minutes. As for other stations, no, but I didn't disable the RX save. I meant to and forgot, and I think thats why I didn't see anyone show up. I will try turning that off and see what I get. Thanks!
 
but I didn't disable the RX save.
Click to expand...
Yes, don't forget to do that; it's important. Remember that the stock duckie antenna is only marginally better than a dummy load for 2 meters, so if you can get even a little cheap magmount antenna outside the vehicle, it will make a big difference. Set your auto beacon interval to do it more often, especially if you're in a big city. You're competing with other stations that are also beaconing; if your VX8 is RX'ing another station at the moment when it's supposed to beacon, it does not beacon until the next interval comes around. If you have it set to only beacon every 5 minutes, in a big city that means it might never find a silent window to beacon during your commute. Set it to beacon every 30 seconds and then increase the duration over time until you find a happy median that works for you.
 
Try using the manual mode while playing. Watch the list of received beacons and see if your call-sign is repeated. As I recall the manual trigger (button) will work while watching the list of received beacons.
 

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