Steve Fossett missing?

Yes. Thats exactly what I do. For APRS you can use your tail number
(NXXXX) and place your HAM call sign at end of the digital signal to
satisfy FCC requirements. You can select an airplane symbol to show up
on the map.

On Sep 7, 3:11 pm, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:
I do have a question. In the APRS map displays I have looked at, the
symbols all contained the Ham license call sign. That's a little cryptic
for non-hams. Is there a way to display an "N" number or other identifier
instead?

Bill Daniels

Of course, you can just use the existing satellite network to get
global coverage. Something like this:

http://www.daestra.com/overview.htm

Which uses the Satamatics SAT-201 terminal:

http://www.satamatics.com/

Sadly, you get to pay usage fees.

But notice you get to send messages. So you could have a 'panic' button
and a G switch.

--
Philip Plane _____
|
---------------( )---------------
Glider pilots have no visible means of support

Bill Daniels wrote:


I do have a question. In the APRS map displays I have looked at, the
symbols all contained the Ham license call sign. That's a little cryptic
for non-hams. Is there a way to display an "N" number or other identifier
instead?

Bill Daniels



Yes. The majority of folks use their ham call sign as the
"identifier".. but that is but part of the packet's message. You can use
whatever you want to be your screen-name/identifier.

The catch: you must identify your station using your licensed call sign
every 10 minutes or at the conclusion of your conversation.

When I do motorcycle escort, my identifier is MSMOT-# or whatever our
group decides. I beacon every 3 minutes. Every third beacon (9 mins) I
have a status message broadcast that includes my amatuer call sign. The
reason for the standardized call signs allows someone (our control
point) with a computer to filter out NON event traffic and watch only us.

This is peculiarity of my radio, which has the TNC/packet feature built
in. If you were to use TinyTrack, you could program all sorts of
variables, based on speed, course change, etc as to when your beacon
goes off. As long as your licensed call sign is in a message somewhere
every 10 mins, you are golden.