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[K1VFR]

Hi, I'm completely new to APRS...I bought a Kenwood D74, and I've been playing around with APRS.  I think I've accidentally enabled something (or possibly placed a setting wrong) on my radio because I'm having an issue.
Whenever I turn on the radio/turn on APRS with beacon, the radio transmits, and then I get a message that basically says I'm hearing my own position report digipeated.  This happens twice, and only twice over the first few minutes, then NEVER happens again.  I have actually driven right up to the local digipeater location, and pressed the "Beacon" button...my radio transmits, but then nothing...when I return home and log into aprs.fi, I see my first two beacons ONLY...nothing else.  What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance,
Tim
K1VFR

[VE7KNL]

Do you have smart beaconing enabled?

[K1VFR]

Do you have smart beaconing enabled?

Yes...but I've also been manually "forcing" the beacon as well.

[WD9EWK]

Hi, I'm completely new to APRS...I bought a Kenwood D74, and I've been playing around with APRS.  I think I've accidentally enabled something (or possibly placed a setting wrong) on my radio because I'm having an issue.
Whenever I turn on the radio/turn on APRS with beacon, the radio transmits, and then I get a message that basically says I'm hearing my own position report digipeated.  This happens twice, and only twice over the first few minutes, then NEVER happens again.  I have actually driven right up to the local digipeater location, and pressed the "Beacon" button...my radio transmits, but then nothing...when I return home and log into aprs.fi, I see my first two beacons ONLY...nothing else.  What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance,
Tim
K1VFR

Actually, it looks like the APRS network on the Internet has picked you up a few times in recent days. Take a look at http://aprs.fi/K1VFR to see your last location on a map. You can adjust that to show more than the past hour or so, and see a line showing your movements over the past couple of days. Click on the "Raw Packets" link to see the packets that have come in over the past couple of days. Keep in mind that aprs.fi only keeps the raw data for a couple of days, although you can expand the date range shown on the map by picking specific dates or a date range.

If you aren't seeing your packets retransmitted on your radio, it is possible that a digipeater didn't hear that transmissions. It is possible that the digipeater heard something else at the moment of your transmission. That happens, especially if the digipeater is higher above the ground. There are digipeaters in your area, but not a large number of them, so every one of your transmissions may not be heard by a digipeater.

Good luck, and 73!

[K1VFR]

Hi, I'm completely new to APRS...I bought a Kenwood D74, and I've been playing around with APRS.  I think I've accidentally enabled something (or possibly placed a setting wrong) on my radio because I'm having an issue.
Whenever I turn on the radio/turn on APRS with beacon, the radio transmits, and then I get a message that basically says I'm hearing my own position report digipeated.  This happens twice, and only twice over the first few minutes, then NEVER happens again.  I have actually driven right up to the local digipeater location, and pressed the "Beacon" button...my radio transmits, but then nothing...when I return home and log into aprs.fi, I see my first two beacons ONLY...nothing else.  What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance,
Tim
K1VFR

Actually, it looks like the APRS network on the Internet has picked you up a few times in recent days. Take a look at http://aprs.fi/K1VFR to see your last location on a map. You can adjust that to show more than the past hour or so, and see a line showing your movements over the past couple of days. Click on the "Raw Packets" link to see the packets that have come in over the past couple of days. Keep in mind that aprs.fi only keeps the raw data for a couple of days, although you can expand the date range shown on the map by picking specific dates or a date range.

If you aren't seeing your packets retransmitted on your radio, it is possible that a digipeater didn't hear that transmissions. It is possible that the digipeater heard something else at the moment of your transmission. That happens, especially if the digipeater is higher above the ground. There are digipeaters in your area, but not a large number of them, so every one of your transmissions may not be heard by a digipeater.

Good luck, and 73!

I think you're illustrating my problem:  aprs.fi is only showing two points for each trip...and on each trip, I drove right to the digipeater, yet it only shows my first two points over about a distance of 3/4 of a mile, and not the remaining 10 mile drive to the digipeater.

[WD9EWK]

I think you're illustrating my problem:  aprs.fi is only showing two points for each trip...and on each trip, I drove right to the digipeater, yet it only shows my first two points over about a distance of 3/4 of a mile, and not the remaining 10 mile drive to the digipeater.

You said you were using SmartBeaconing. Turn it off, and go with beaconing every minute. I prefer to have a beacon-every-minute setup on my APRS-ready radios, so I can look at a map and get a better idea of where my radio may have been transmitting. SmartBeaconing changes the beaconing algorithm, based on your speed and direction (straight-line travel vs. turns/curves). You may get a better idea of the APRS coverage in your area, if you have your radio beaconing at a fixed rate.

What antenna are you using with your D74, when you run APRS?

It is entirely possible that there is other traffic on 144.390 MHz around the times your radio transmitted, where your packets aren't making it to a digipeater or gateway. It is also possible that parts of your travels go through areas where you don't have a good path to the digipeaters. The aprs.fi site showed your packets being picked up directly by three different gateways (N8ZSA, HOLLY, METMOR). You can search for each of them on aprs.fi to get some information.

Southeastern Michigan doesn't have the mountains used for digipeaters like I have out here in Arizona, where some digipeaters can cover anywhere from 50 to 100 miles or more along major highways and freeways. I noticed that when I was out that way after the Dayton Hamvention a couple of weeks ago, driving up from Indiana to Kalamazoo, and then east to DTW airport on I-94.

73!

[VE7KNL]

I agree. I don't use smart beaconing either, just beacon every minute or so.  Give it a try anyway.

[K1VFR]

I agree. I don't use smart beaconing either, just beacon every minute or so.  Give it a try anyway.

I'll turn it off for sure...but I believe the rate of beaconing is not my problem as I have tried repeatedly sending out beacons manually, yet I still don't show up other than the first two beacons.
As far as antennas, I'm using a magnetic roof mounted dual band.

[WD9EWK]

I'll turn it off for sure...but I believe the rate of beaconing is not my problem as I have tried repeatedly sending out beacons manually, yet I still don't show up other than the first two beacons.
As far as antennas, I'm using a magnetic roof mounted dual band.

Then it could be a matter of your location vs. the locations of the digipeaters/gateways.

You may be heard in a couple of those locations, but not others. That happens, and that's not a problem you can easily address. More digipeaters to add coverage in those areas between the existing digipeaters may be the only way to take care of that.

73!

[K1VFR]

I'll turn it off for sure...but I believe the rate of beaconing is not my problem as I have tried repeatedly sending out beacons manually, yet I still don't show up other than the first two beacons.
As far as antennas, I'm using a magnetic roof mounted dual band.

Then it could be a matter of your location vs. the locations of the digipeaters/gateways.

You may be heard in a couple of those locations, but not others. That happens, and that's not a problem you can easily address. More digipeaters to add coverage in those areas between the existing digipeaters may be the only way to take care of that.

73!

I think I ruled this out by driving right to the digipeater (METMOR)...I'm going for another drive this morning...I'll see if I'm heard other than the first two positions...

[K1VFR]

Problem solved:  I did some tests today and found I had a bad antenna. I’m not sure why it would work at distance but not close up, but with a new antenna I’m getting much better results.

[WD9EWK]

Problem solved:  I did some tests today and found I had a bad antenna. I’m not sure why it would work at distance but not close up, but with a new antenna I’m getting much better results.

Great! Glad to see things are working for you.

73!