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[at-l] GPS
Hi;
I have been playing with GPS equipment for a number of year. I have a
Tripmate GPS from Delorme and also a Magellan Trail Blazer XL.
As previously stated the GPS units do not work very well in wooded
areas.
They must be able to see the sky but are not bothered much by rain, fog,
or snow. Accuracy is to about 300 feet. Elevation varies easily twice
that amount.
Mostly I use the GPS equipment with my Ham Radio Gear and a program
called APRS or A_matuer P_osition R_eporting S_ystem. This (shareware
ftp.tapr.org) program has maps, on these maps I see various icons.
Little house's indicate my house ant that of other Ham radio operators
using the same program. I see houses from Florida to Maryland. I also
have my truck sending its position out on the air waves. At home on my
PC I see a little truck wherever my vehicle goes. Other users in nearby
states can also watch me drive to work on their screens. Fellow AT-L
list member Pete Lascell and myself have produced maps for the entire
state of Virginia. One fellow has a Tractor Trailer Rig equipted with
GPS and I see his Truck most anywhere in the USA.
Another nice setup that anyone can use is the Delorme Tripmate and CD.
The CD has every street in the USA (its great) and some of the A T on
it. You can plug the Tripmate into the serial port (its a 12 channel GPS
without its own display) and set it on the dashboard of your car. You
need a windows capable note book pc for this. While running the CD or
information downloaded from the cd to your notebook. A big arrow appears
on the screen indicating the street you are on. Wherever you drive in
the USA it will indicate your positon to you. If you own a previous
version of Streets USA you can get the new CD and the Tripmate for $125.
Other wise They run about $160. Anothe feature of the CD is you can
connect to the internet and it will put weather information onto the
map, also road construction information is available.
For those interested the APRS software can be found thru a link on my
home page. This software can be demonstrated on even an XT computor,
without addtional equipment. We also use this program for tracking
objects in space. During the SPREE experiment the Shuttle Craft
Astronaghts (no spell chekc) tossed out a softball sized GPS package
for Hams to track around the earth. With tha APRS program we are also
able to send messages back and forth between us.
chase
--
http://www.neocomm.net/~cdavidso/chat.html Appalachian Trail Talk
http://www.neocomm.net/~cdavidso
wb4pan@wb4qoj.va.usa.noam
APRS, ATC, ALDHA, NRA
GA>97>ME Chase
Follow my Thru-Hike:
http://trailplace.com/archives/classof97/journals/02charles/index.htm
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