Home & Net Log | Archive | #APRSThursday
Welcome to the APRSPH Net. If you are looking for the #APRSThursday logs, they are on the #APRSThursday tab above. For the APRSPH Net and logs, read on!
Click here to go directly to the logs. Click here to learn how to support the net
About
What is APRSPH?
APRSPH is a network of licensed amateur radio operators who share messages and position packets through radio and internet.
APRSPH is also a bot that can be used to run queries, execute commands, and exchange messages with the SMS network.
It can be used for daily routine messages, and it can also be used for off-grid text-based communications during emergencies. The bot itself resides on a digipeater at PK00 grid so it can be used to store and relay messages that can hop across the local digipeater network within the DU1, DU3, and soon the DU2 amateur radio districts in the Philippines. It is connected to the internet via APRS-IS to accommodate message exchange with other stations worldwide using RF with internet backhaul. The bot itself can also be installed on other digipeaters for local RF use cases.
What is APRS?
Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) is an amateur radio-based system for real time digital communications of information of immediate value in the local area. Data can include object Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, weather station telemetry, text messages, announcements, queries, and other telemetry. APRS data can be displayed on a map, which can show stations, objects, tracks of moving objects, weather stations, search and rescue data, and direction finding data.
APRS data is typically transmitted on a single shared frequency (depending on country) to be repeated locally by area relay stations (digipeaters) for widespread local consumption. In addition, all such data are typically ingested into the APRS Internet System (APRS-IS) via an Internet-connected receiver (IGate) and distributed globally for ubiquitous and immediate access. Data shared via radio or the internet are collected by all users and can be combined with external map data to build a shared live view.
Development on APRS started in the late 1980s by Bob Bruninga, call sign WB4APR, a senior research engineer at the United States Naval Academy. He maintained the main APRS Web site until his death in 2022. The initialism "APRS" was derived from his call sign. (from Wikipedia)
Learn more about APRS here. You may also find stations near your location and other message logs at aprs.to and aprs.fi.
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How to join and use APRSPH
Send an APRS message to APRSPH to join the net in the following format:
- CQ [space] your message to send a message to everyone checked in for the day.
This also adds you to the net log, and you will subsequently receive any CQ messages received by APRSPH thereafter.
Subsequent CQ messages will also be sent to everyone in the list.
- NET [space] your message will quietly join you into the daily net.
This will not alert everyone in the net, but your callsign and message will be logged below.
The message is optional. Sending NET without a message after will still log your callsign into the net and the recipient list. You will then receive subsequent CQ messages whenever someone checks in or sends a new CQ message.
Other commands to interact with the bot and to retrieve information:
- LIST to view the current day's list of checked-in stations.
- LAST to see the last 5 messages (use LAST10 for 10 messages or LAST15 for 15 messages).
LAST THURS retrieves the last 5 messages from the #APRThursday log. LAST10 or LAST15 will also work.
- MINE to view the recent CQ/NET messages sent by your own station to the net in the current month. You may include a callsign-ssid to review the last messages sent by that station (e.g., MINE DU2XXR-7). Use MINE10 or MINE15 for 10 or 15 messages, respectively.
MINE THURS will retrieve your last #APRSThursday messages. MINE10 and MINE15 will also work.
- SEARCH [space] word or phrase to find the last 5 messages from the month that contain the word or phrase. SEARCH10 or SEARCH15 to fetch 10 or 15 messages, respectively
- ?APRST or ?PING? to get a message with the path/s your packet took to the bot.
- ?APRSP to make the bot send a position packet.
- ?APRSS to make the bot send a status packet with the count of checkins for the day and total SMS processed.
- ?APRSM or MSG to retrieve the last 10 messages sent to your callsign+ssid, using the aprs.fi API. Alternative command is M. Example: ?APRSM
Add a callsign-ssid after to retrieve messages directed to that callsign. Example: ?APRSM DU2XXR-7
- UNSUBSCRIBE or U to check out from the day's net. You will no longer receive CQ messages until you rejoin.
You may add a checkout text message after the command, which will also be recorded on the log. Example: U checking out for the day. See u tomorrow.
- HELP for a list of other commands.
- The net restarts every 0000Z or midnight UTC time and you need to check in again to rejoin.
From DMR APRS
- Send a DMR message to your master server's APRS gateway.
For example if you are using the BM_5151 server, APRS gateway is 515999
- Message format (callsigns are case sensitive):
APRSPH [space] CQ [space] Your net message here.
- You can also do a "quiet" checkin. Get logged without sending the message to everyone in the list:
APRSPH [space] NET [space] Your net message here.
Note: Sending different CQ or NET messages within a rapid succession might result in duplicate logs and/or relays due to the nature of APRS messages (resent several times and also digipeated by several devices). Also, sending the exact same CQ or NET message within the 24-hour net period might result in subsequent messages not being logged if they are exactly the same (duplicate check mechanism stores your latest message and checks new messages against the last sent one).
Except where indicated, commands are not case sensitive.
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SMS gateway commands (for Philippine numbers only)
Sending from APRS to SMS
- SMS [space] 09######### [space] your message - sends an SMS message to the number indicated.
This only supports numbers from the Philippines.
- SMSALIAS is also supported, to prevent cell #s from appearing on the air or on APRS-IS.
SMSALIAS [space] 09######### [space] NAME to set an alias.
SMS [space] NAME [space] message to send thereafter.
Short one-word names are recommended.
Sending from SMS to radio users on APRS
- To send from SMS to any APRS user, send an SMS message to 09760685303:
@CALSGN-SSID [space] your message - This sends a message to that station.
If youare unsure of the SSID, you may just write the callsign. APRS network will still send it.
- For example:
@DU2XXR-7 Hello there, this is sent to APRS from SMS.
You can set your own alias for your number from SMS
- ALIAS [space] NAME
This protects your cellular number from appearing on APRS-IS services.
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SAT command for sending SMS to Thuraya satellite phones
From the radio
- SAT [space] ########## [space] your message - sends an SMS message to the number indicated.
This only supports Thuraya satelite phones. ######## is the number that comes after the +88216 country code. So, for example your Thuraya number is +8821612345678, your command should be SAT 12345678 Hello this is a test message.
From cellular SMS (Philippine networks) - send to the gateway number 09760685303.
- SAT [space] ########## [space] your message - sends an SMS message to the number indicated.
This list is automatically updated on the server every time a station checks in (you may need to refresh, but the page itself refreshes every 10 minutes in your browser).
The daily net list is refreshed every midnight at UTC. You will need to check in again to rejoin the net and continue receiving net messages.
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Support the net
If you would like to support APRSPH Net, you may contribute by buying me a coffee or sharing a contribution through PayPal.
You may also click on my Amazon Associates link when making a purchase on Amazon. Doing so will provide me with a small commission on your purchase, which does not add on to the price.
These will go to maintenance costs like this web host and server, as well as possible upgrades of our digipeater and igate gear (radio, controller, Raspberry Pi, etc.). Of course, it will also go toward coffee, which helps in app development! We are also hoping to grow the digipeater network here in the Philippines to improve RF coverage. Or, you may simply spread the word about the APRSPH Net. Any support will be much appreciated.
Thanks to our contributors for your support: Jovie Gil Montajes, Jojo Melendres KN6HTD, Cyndi KK7AZD, Doug WA6L, Fr. Tom 4G1WWW, Keith N1XTK, Don Bower, Light of Hope PH, and Sam N6TVC. Thanks to the APRSPH group for your efforts: Allan Arguelles 4G1AMK, Karlo Paolo Alejo K2EMD.
A special thanks to Steve N2RWE for hosting the APRSPH website. Be sure to check out his APRS website, too, at aprs.to.
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Changelog
- 2023-01-28: Added the ?APRSM feature, which lets users retrieve their last 5 messages from aprs.fi.
- 2023-02-02: Improved handling of longer messages in relay and retrieval (pagination into 2 messages so it is not truncated)
- 2023-03-26: Page now refreshes every 10 minutes. APRSPH also automatically advises all checked in stations that the net is about to restart.
- 2023-03-29: Improved reply for CQ and NET messages to include timestamp to better handle clients that ignore duplicate messages (because our messages don't have msgID).
- 2023-04-04: Added UNSUBSCRIBE command.
- 2023-04-12: Added queries for retrieving #APRSThursday entries. Also improved the MINE, SEARCH commands to cover current month plus archives.
- 2023-04-16: Throttled self ?APRSM to 1 query per 5 minutes, since a duplicate query will result in a different response set every time because the responses will now be the last messages received. Update: Changed to 30 minutes, as of 2023-05-04.
- 2023-06-05: Minor fix to the SMSALIAS code to accommodate for extra spaces which results in no match.
- 2023-06-30: Fixes to the back-end code to deal with looping messages and garbage characters from igates that cause looping.
- 2023-07-04: Added support for ?APRSP and ?APRSS commands.
- 2023-09-04: Edits to replace brackets to avoid HTML tags in log
- 2024-01-11: Changed relay mechanism to include original callsign and SSID as the sender instead of APRSPH. Started to support direct logging of APRSThursday net without ANSRVR relay.
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Net logs for May 2024
The previous months' logs are in the 2024 archive. 2023 logs are here. April to December 2022 logs are here.
From November 15 2022 onwards, we have unified the "NET" and CQ" message logs.
Messages with * at the end indicate quiet "net" checkin and not "cq" checkin (logged but not forwarded to all stations checked-in for the day).
2024-05-01 00:26:07 UTC APRSID:HOTG CHECKIN *
2024-05-01 00:28:13 UTC KF7THZ-9:Hello all! From WA State USA
2024-05-01 02:19:33 UTC KB3AWQ-5:CHECKIN * *
2024-05-01 07:21:03 UTC KB3AWQ-14:checkin * *
2024-05-01 08:32:18 UTC YD0BCX-3:ga from jakarta 73
2024-05-01 11:38:59 UTC KA5GSS-10: morning from texas
2024-05-01 12:40:02 UTC KI4HBA-9:KI4HBA EM60 *
2024-05-01 18:33:17 UTC DU2XXR-7:Looking forward to thurs net 73
2024-05-02 00:03:28 UTC DU2XXR-7:GM hpi #APRSThursday 73
2024-05-02 00:05:42 UTC N2RAC-10:Happy APRSThursday and 73 to all
2024-05-02 00:05:53 UTC JQ7BJB-7:Greetings from northern Japan.
2024-05-02 02:26:12 UTC APRSID:HOTG CHECKIN *
2024-05-02 03:34:31 UTC AP2AJM-5:Hello APRSThursday de AP2AJM
2024-05-02 03:35:51 UTC TI2BSH:HOTG #APRSThrusday happy Thanksgiving Day from EJ79WV Costa Rica vĂa DMR. Pura vida
2024-05-02 03:59:45 UTC LY7AP-7:Hi to all
2024-05-02 04:17:42 UTC VU2JHM-10:Greetings from Bangalore India đŽđł
2024-05-02 04:20:01 UTC VU2JHM-15:Greetings from Bangalore India
2024-05-02 05:16:12 UTC KB3AWQ-14:checkin * *
2024-05-02 06:40:17 UTC KF7THZ-9:Hello all! From WA State USA
2024-05-02 07:50:16 UTC XE1DM:Hello all from Mexico XE1DM Mario
2024-05-02 08:11:48 UTC VU2LCI-10:Greetings đ from Bangalore India đŽđł
2024-05-02 08:46:47 UTC YO3GWM-9:HOTG 73 de YO3GWM
2024-05-02 11:08:54 UTC 9W2XDD-5:hi everyone happy nice day 73 from west malaysia OJ03QD
2024-05-02 11:43:02 UTC VU3NEO-10:Hello and Namasthe đ from Bengaluru India de Neo 73
2024-05-02 11:58:27 UTC KE6DQR-5:ALOHA 73
2024-05-02 13:45:24 UTC VU3WLL-10:HOTG Greetings from Bangalore
2024-05-02 18:41:37 UTC K5ENS-10:HOTG #APRSThursday. 73 de K5ENS, TX, EM03ru via APRS.fi for iOS
2024-05-02 18:42:44 UTC K5ENS-10: [Checked out from the net]
2024-05-02 19:08:47 UTC KI4HBA-9:KI4HBA *
2024-05-03 00:26:15 UTC APRSID:HOTG CHECKIN *
2024-05-03 01:36:50 UTC VE3GXV:Good evening from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
2024-05-03 02:14:11 UTC VE3GXV: [Checked out from the net]
2024-05-03 03:53:33 UTC LY7AP-7:Hi to all