APRS and Ham Operations with the Garmin Montana GPS

APRS and Ham Operations with the Garmin Montana GPS Written by Adrian Burg of Calgary, AB VE6TDX There is much to be considered with APRS  (Amateur Packet Reporting System)  operations and setup but most of all the  parts you need for mobile operations.  The best way to do this, is to sit down and  look what you are using your gps unit for.  To do the groundwork first is better than  to find out later that you have the wrong  part or the wrong system you like to use  and having to drive back and forth.  Especially with the cables you need and the  hardware. How you are intending to use the  system and where, is very important. There  are lots of ideas on the internet on the  setup and use of APRS, but if there is one  thing I have to stress, it's the safe operation in the mobile  vehicle. I see a lot of hamoperators that use the gps unit  only for letting other users know where they are. This is  only one function of the APRS system. There are more  things that you can do with APRS, like sending messages  and e-mails. Also you can use the whole system for ARES  (Amateur Radio Emergency Service), so you know where  every station is and can communicate with that station  without asking yourself where he is.My setup is very  simple and yet very effective in operation. I have a Garmin Montana 600 sitting in a  Garmin AMPS Rugged Mount But any gps unit that outputs  NMEA sentences (most handheld GPS units) will work  within the APRS system. This mount has all the cables  connected already and all you have to supply is the plug  for the power and the radio connector. The Kenwood D710,  which I use in the car, accepts a 2.5 mm 3-conductor plug.  The tip is to 'data in'on the gps, the centre is to 'data out'  on the gps. The top is the shield'to ground' on the gps  unit. For other radios you have to consult your radio  manual and the plug you have to use. For connecting the radio to a laptop or tablets  you also need a cable, depending on the radio and laptop or tablet you are using. In my case  I use the RT system cable, you can order those from RT systems in the States. I also use a special support system for the tablet I use for in the car. My support was for  the vehicle system 2006-Toyota Camry or the Vibe by Pontiac (RAM-VB-137-SW1). I use  this system when I drive the Pontiac Vibe. Everything in my car is sturdy and securely  fastened to the car for safety, and positioned so that it is very easy to operate. If in  doubt, you can always get other hams to help you on tips and setups and installation of  APRS. In my car and at home I use APRS-IS program for running APRS on both the  computer and the tablet. Just have a look at my setup here in this article image. Adrian is not the only one with this kind of setup. Check out Jerry's assembly! Jerry's (VE6AB) Assembly In this photo, I just finished  installing a new Garmin Montana  bi-directional device into my radio  stack, and with my newly made  up data cable, connecting the  Garmin Montana to my  Kenwood TM-D710, it was as simple  as making a couple of changes in the APRS menu of my Kenwood TM-D710, and one change to the menu of the Montana. and they shook hands, and were off and running. Needless to  say I was very pleased, as I couldn't  find any information on the Internet,  in pairing the two together, so I just  ran with it, and I am glad I did, as they are playing nice together. The Montana proving to be compatible with my Kenwood APRS TH-D72A, and my TM-D710A, provides GPS location information for my transmitted APRS beacons, and it shows the received APRS information on the map. You can set it to navigate to your favorite APRS mobile station and get rerouting instructions when the new position is reported! You also can watch APRS activity right on the screen. Static positions are indicated with a blue icon with the associated call sign, although you may assign a custom Icon for each station. The Montana provides fast and accurate fixes, and you get 2D, 3D and night views. You also get to enjoy turn-by-turn vocal instructions with street names, like on a Garmin Nuvi. With the Canadian Topo maps enabled, the driving experience is superb, as you have all the mapping as per normal in your driving of urban and rural roads, and highways, but you now have national, regional and local parks, forests and wilderness areas, including points of interest such as campgrounds, scenic lookouts, hiking trails and land contours shown with elevations, as well as your elevation tracks and more. I also am involved in Geochaching, so when I head out from my mobile, I grab my Montana and hit the trail with my trail maps enabled. The view that is shown on the Montana in this photo, shows the screen in night-view-mode, with a number of beaconing stations depicted. I also have assigned custom Icons to each station, or at least for the hams in my local area, allowing me to identify them at a glance. I also can change the size of the font for the callsign, allowing for easy reading of the information shown on the screen of the Montana. Another cool feature, is by touching any of the beaconing stations on the screen, all the pertinent information is high-lighted on the screen, and by touching notes, a keyboard comes into the view, and I am able to include notes for that station, that may be anything of importance to me, like maybe the name of the ham, or possibly his email address and phone number, or anything else I might want to add to his resume, that is saved under waypoint management in the menu. So to give you a heads up, I now have a view of the objects on the screen of my Montana, that can show repeater frequencies in the area, meetings, nets, events, hamfests, echolink and IRLP nodes and frequencies, traffic speeds, accidents, emergency situations and more. As well, the Montana can show the location of each of these events that are happening now. I am connected, and loving it!