What's APRS?

APRS is short for the Automatic Packet Reporting System. The most common use of APRS in amateur radio is to transmit GPS information. We can set the "beacons"  to be automatically sent over the radio at regular intervals, and the typical interval is every 5 or 10 minutes so that other APRS users can receive these beacons over the radio, or hams can check the APRS information displayed on the map on websites or APP, such as aprs.fi.  Of course, not only we can transmit GPS information such as latitude and longitude but also short messages, such as weather and so on through APRS.

 APRS is called a system because it includes hardware and software. The hardware generally includes a radio, TNC (terminal node controller), and a computer. The software part is mainly the software or website that realizes the reception and display of APRS information.

At present, a more common constitute of APRS is that a GPS-enabled radio sending GPS-related information to the MMDVM hotspot. After receiving it, the MMDVM sends it forwards to the BrandM-eister (BM) server through the website. Finally, the server uploads the informations to aprs.fi