APRS is up and running (What's this?)

OK, My APRS is now up and running. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to "Track Scott" to see where I am. Click on the vehicle to get current location information, speed, and altitude (in case I'm flying).

What is APRS? It stands for Automatic Packet Reporting System. It's a Ham Radio application that takes a GPS signal, converts it into a Ham Radio signal which is then transmitted real-time. The transmitted signal is then received by multiple stations called "I-Gates". These are simply Ham Radio receivers that send the signal directly to the sound card on a computer, which then decodes the signal and sends it (as a packet) onto the internet. Hence, anyone with access to the internet can track someone who is using APRS by simply looking up that person's call sign.

The map at the bottom of my blog is not very powerful. You can get more information by going to http://www.aprs.fi/ where you can search for all APRS activity in an area, search for a specific user, etc. My callsign is "N957RV-7" - which is the N Number for my airplane.