Correction: The format for a manually typed APRS message to be captured by an APRS radio's front panel is a colon, then a 9 byte callsign field (padded with spaces) and then another colon and text. The example should have been:

:WD9EWK-9 :hello from (grid, city/state, etc.)

This does not include a line number intentionally, because a line number forces an automatic ACK and that just adds collisions and congestion on the ISS digipeater channel. Bob, WB4APR

-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 12:13 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] ISS Beacons

Hi Mark!

You can do a CQ over the ISS digipeater, or just send something like an APRS position packet or a packet with your position and a short comment. If you use APRS messages, you can use them to make QSOs. I just did that tonight for the first time in a few months, working two Texas stations with my TH-D72A HT and Elk log periodic from my driveway. Using the ariss.net wen site, I could see my packets and most of my two QSOs captured by Internet gateways, and a missed QSO with a California station. My TH-D72A will store and display APRS messages, but freeform twxt typed into a terminal program won't be displayed on my HT unless the text is formatted as an APRS message. For example, a station could type this and (if I receive it) have it displayed on my HT's screen and saved as a received APRS message:

WD9EWK-9 :hello from (grid, city/state, etc.)

On my HT, I'd see the call that sent this message, and the text following the space and colon that trail my call. This makes it easy for stations using the APRS-capable radios, as well as software like UISS, to make QSOs and both sides seeing the QSO happen.

It tends to be rapid-fire, since you only have up to 10 minutes in an ISS pass, and there could be a lot of activity coming through the ISS digipeater - especially the further east you go in the continental USA. Passes that only touch the southwestern USA are really easy for the low-power stations (like me) to get through. I do OK on other passes that cover more of the country, even with only 5W.

73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK

On Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 1:23 AM, Mark Lunday mlunday@nc.rr.com wrote:

<My first packet on an ISS pass always includes a CQ.>

OK, call me ill-informed, I did not know you could do CQ and keyboard-to-keyboard QSO's. I thought you could only send short

messages.

Is that how you do it? The ISS pass is so fast...

Mark Lunday, WD4ELG

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