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[AF7JA]

I recently purchased an AnyTone AT-D878UV. My intended use for it is to provide an Amateur Radio to have with me on long bicycle rides.

What I want to do is to make it transmit my current location to https://aprs.fi about every five minutes. I would like a short message with it, but right now I just want to get the first step. The short message would be a form of, "AF7JA Velomobile monitoring 146.520."

There are a plethora of videos, but I can not find any that actually start at, "how to make it work." Can anyone point me at anything that answers, "how do I make it work?"

As stated, the first thing I want is location reporting based on the internal GPS.

[NB6Q]

Following this thread.  Getting ready to pull the trigger on the ~$500 TH-D74A for the same purpose.

I write code (software) for a living and we just call this, "I want to get 'Hello, world!' working" when trying a new language or environment.

I'm not averse to trying one of these AT-D878UV rigs as an intermediate step if you can get it working.  I saw the videos but did not watch them yet.  Are you saying that they are worthless for 'Hello, world!' coming up to speed?

The UI (user interface) implementations on a keypad are very challenging to learn and get good at.  I've watched a number of TH-D74A videos and that UI appears to be fairly straightforward and usable.  Are you having trouble with the UI or documentation?

My endgame is to use the Kenwood in Japan which I am sure is certified for use there.  AnyTone is probably not (but might be).  I want to track my treks throughout Japan when I'm there next year and plan to get licensed/permitted before I go and one of the stipulations is using a rig certified for use in country.

[AF7JA]

This is where I am. Obviously, there is something else I need to turn on because it isn't sending a beacon.

[NB6Q]

Is the GPS enabled?

[AF7JA]

Is the GPS enabled?

Yes

[WD9EWK]

What I want to do is to make it transmit my current location to https://aprs.fi about every five minutes. I would like a short message with it, but right now I just want to get the first step. The short message would be a form of, "AF7JA Velomobile monitoring 146.520."

Looks like you can use the programming software to configure the radio to transmit your location and a comment ("sending text") that goes out with your location, which could be something like you mentioned above.

If you want to do more than that with APRS, you'll probably need to go with a different radio, or use something interfaced with your radio to get more APRS functionality.

Good luck, and 73!

[NB6Q]

Is the GPS enabled?

Yes

I have no experience or knowledge of APRS but I want to track my location when I'm travelling.  That is my requirement.  That said, I watched this video https://youtu.be/xUFpZwqB82Q and determined that the Kenwood TH-D74 might be good for this.  I have a cheap Baofeng HT which I acquired as an entry point with the intent to upgrade once I figured out my requirements.  It seems like the TH-D74 might meet my requirements.  I'm still studying APRS and this HT to see if it meets my requirements.

That said, you might watch this video and see if there are equivalent functions in the AnyTone that can help to get a beacon transmitted.  I'm guessing that there might be something useful.

[AF7JA]

Looks like you can use the programming software to configure the radio to transmit your location and a comment ("sending text") that goes out with your location, which could be something like you mentioned above.

Good luck, and 73!

No, the pretty much describes what I want it to do. The remaining question is how to make it do it. Do I need to leave one of the two VFO's set to 144.39?

It seems odd to need to do that because I defined the TxFr in the Transmission Frequency [MHZ] Field.

There is certainly a possibility that I am just not near a gateway.

[AF7JA]

I found this in the documentation:

NOTE:  Final Setup of APRS sending is done on the individual Channel details.  Each Channel must have APRS Analog or Digital Mode selected as ¡°On¡± and a Digital APRS Report Channel must be selected.  Open the Channel details screen by double clicking a channel.  Clicking on each field in the screen will provide information for each field, including APRS.

Important Information for Anytone Analog and DMR-APRS Location Reporting:

A) Anytone DMR-APRS Location Reporting was developed using the Brandmeister DMR networking system.  Other modes or systems have not been tested and may not be able to pass DMR-APRS Location Reporting data to APRS.fi depending on setup and local conditions.
B) When the radio transmitting or receiving DMR-APRS Location Reporting data, the radio will not respond to any other operations. The transmit cycle for DMR-APRS Location Report signals is very short and this should not be an issue for normal use.
C) Some users may get the DMR-APRS Location Reporting working perfectly, but others users may have issues getting DMR-APRS Location Report working. The reasons why it doesn¡¯t work for everyone are not yet fully understood, but we believe local conditions with servers and networks may cause these issues.
D) If you have issues getting the DMR-APRS Location Reporting working, please know that it is not a radio hardware issue. We believe it is likely to be FW or Hotspot / Repeater / BM set up problems when it doesn¡¯t work. As we receive feedback on these issues we will continue to make improvements in the FW and try to address any repeatable issues.
E) GPS location DMR-APRS Location Reporting sending only works when the GPS is positioned successfully.
F) Please note that DMR-APRS Location Reporting data sending may be interrupted if the selected radio Time Slot for DMR-APRS use has other traffic on it.
G) Anytone welcomes feedback and constructive comments for the DMR-APRS LOCATION REPORTING feature and we are committed to continuing to improve this mode of operation.  Please contact your dealer with your comments.

So, here is the channel programming screen:

As you can see, I did find the Digital Rx selection, however, I did not find the digital and analogue report switch as named in the first paragraph above:

Each Channel must have APRS Analog or Digital Mode selected as ¡°On¡± and a Digital APRS Report Channel must be selected.  Open the Channel details screen by double clicking a channel.  Clicking on each field in the screen will provide information for each field, including APRS.

[NB6Q]

OK, this helps a little.  I am still working my way through the fog bank since I have no experience with or much knowledge about APRS (disclaimer).  Let me just say that I work very deep in supercomputing and have pretty good knowledge and familiarity of operating systems internals (UNIX/Linux) and the full OSI network stack (layer 7 application up to layer 1 physical).  I am a total newbie when it comes to ham radio topics. (more disclaimer).

First key is Brandmeister DMR.  See:  https://wiki.brandmeister.network/index.php/Main_Page
 

"We are a decentralized network active in 43 countries running a total of 57 Master servers."

I'm guessing that Brandmeister DMR is "the standard" used for the network stack implementation, sort of like TCP/IP is for the Internet.  The terminology used in the wiki seems like it uses TCP/IP protocols for routing, connections and other networking concepts.  It includes a server component and a client component.

More details here:

What is BrandMeister?

What is BrandMeister?

BrandMaster/BrandMeister is an operating software for Master servers participating in a worldwide infrastructure network of amateur radio digital voice systems.

If you are an amateur radio operator working in digital voice modes like D-Star, DMR, C4FM, APCO P25 or others (not all are supported yet!!). You do not need to know much about BrandMeister, and it's very easy to operate on its infrastructure.
If you are an amateur radio operator that runs a repeater in your local area, you may be interested in learning some more about BrandMeister and how you can take part in it.

A brief overview of BrandMeister core features:
Switching system for IP-enabled conventional Tier-2 DMR radio
Supports the most known network-access and end-user equipment making it easily expandable
Performs switching on the Layer 3 (Call Control) of the DMR stack
Has an embedded data stack (Layer 4)
Has embedded data and voice applications
Flexible routing based on data stored in a global database, local memory cache, and Lua scripts
Event notification using messaging queues (calls, connections, alarms, messages, locations and telemetry)
Implements mesh-topology for inter-node communications

They keyword is "switching system" which in this context probably means protocols put in place to maintain order when traffic moves through the network.

I'll be studying this further to decode how this all fits together but it seems like this has been adopted as the "standard" for these various digital modes listed.

This appears to be an all-volunteer open source type effort.  It is difficult to discern with certainty about this but they are soliciting for volunteers and donations to buy H/W for implementation purposes.  My kind of project.

The first thing I would check is the firmware.

The wiki page is here:  https://wiki.brandmeister.network/index.php/Chinese_radios and the entry for the radio is here:  https://wiki.brandmeister.network/index.php/AnyTone/D878UV

Is the firmware at 1.10?  If that checks out then we can assume the client (HT) software is current.

Also, check out the bottom of the page for the AnyTone.  This terminology in ham radio context is a little fuzzy for me.  Verify that features required are there or what the workaround might be.

[EA2EKH]

I own an Anytone 878 and I have used the APRS feature.

First, the GPS is a royal pain in the ass. Something is horribly implemented. I suggest you to upgrade the firmware to 1.15, which includes a tweak to disable the support for the "Beidu" Chinese satnav network. It seems that even when the Beidu signal is not good, the unit favors it instead of the good old GPS. The result? Lock times longer than an hour for me in Spain (IN83) even with full unobstructed sky view.

Now, APRS. It supports "Digital APRS" (which is not real APRS, but position reporting through DMR to the Brandmeister network) and "Analog APRS" which is true APRS.

In order to have "Digital APRS" working you need to be in an area covered by a DMR repeater and of course have a DMR channel active.

For Analog, real APRS it's easier. You don't need to bother programming a VFO, seems it just switches frequency when sending an APRS packet.

For any of the two variants:

APRS -> Upload Beacon -> GPS beacon (I imagine)
APRS -> Intervals Set -> (Select the interval you wish)

For "Digital":

APRS -> Digi APRS -> PTT Upload (yes or no, your choice)
APRS -> Report Channel -> "Cur Chan"
APRS -> Upload Slot -> Channel Slot (unless told different by the DMR network admins)
APRS -> Upload Id -> (ask network admins for the destination ID, it sends a private message to this ID)
Menu APRS -> Upload Type -> "Digi APRS"

To set "Analog (ie, real) APRS":

APRS -> Ana APRS -> PTT Upload -> (again, your choice)
APRS -> Ana APRS -> Upload Power -> Your choice
APRS -> Ana APRS -> Upload Freq -> (the APRS frequency in your area)
APRS -> Ana APRS -> Signal Path -> WIDE1-1, WIDE1-2 if you want digipeaters to repeat your packet


And basically that's it. The user interface is quite confusing but it works.

[AF7JA]

I own an Anytone 878 and I have used the APRS feature.

. . .

Thanks, I will check my current settings and give that a try. I think the real frustration is that I can't think of any practical way to test it and see if it working.

[EA2EKH]

I own an Anytone 878 and I have used the APRS feature.

. . .

Thanks, I will check my current settings and give that a try. I think the real frustration is that I can't think of any practical way to test it and see if it working.

For example, if you are using the Brandmeister network your positioning packets will be forwarded to aprs.fi. So you should see yourself on the map there.

I have no idea about other networks though.

[AF7JA]

Just as a comment, for anyone considering this radio for position reporting, it still isn't working.

Yes, I have watched, and implemented the settings from, the many videos about this radio. I have tinkered with different settings quite a bit. It still isn't working.

[KD8DVR]

Mine works perfectly on both analog and digital.