[App_rpt-users] Dial and APRS support?

[Tom Hayward]

On Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 9:18 AM, Loren Tedford <lorentedford at gmail.com> wrote:
> APRS is some thing i would like to learn more about. I still haven't had
> anyone point me in the right direction on how it would really work with
> allstarlink.. If one knew i would activate it on my repeater and try it out
> maybe.. But i think i have to have an aprs compatible radio or some thing..

There are two different things that could be useful:

1. Repeater sends object beacons to the APRS-IS network to indicate
its location, frequency, tone, maybe some status telemetry. Like this:
http://aprs.fi/#!call=145*

2. Repeater runs igate software, such as Direwolf, so that repeater
uses can use PTT-burst APRS transmissions to send their positions
through the repeater to the internet. Ideally these would get muted,
similarly to how DTMF is muted.

Is the purpose of app_gps one of these two things? It looks like
app_gps might be designed for mobile Allstar nodes? I must be missing
something here.

#1 can be done with a simple script and cron. Asterisk does not need
to be involved at all.

#2 could be done with Direwolf. You would need to mux the receiver
audio into Direwolf. Is this possible with the driver used for the
URI? I know it would be trivial on a system where alsa is managing the
sound devices. An extra $5 sound fob to dedicate to Direwolf might be
easier than the software solution.

Just some thoughts from someone with more APRS experience than app_rpt
experience.

Tom KD7LXL