I've just received an email from a ham friend of mine, who is also an avid
bicyclist. I'm posting this here because I've received emails about my
posts about the ham radio APRS GPS tracking invented by Bob Bruninga,
WB4APR, at The Naval Academy.

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cg...e=0.04&terra=1

Ken has a functional APRS VHF rig aboard his bike in the "Tour to Cure" for
Diabetes today and tomorrow. Today they go from Columbia, SC, to St
George, SC on their way to Charleston. They'll camp in St George, tonight,
then proceed through Charleston to James Island County Park, the finish
line.

Ken's APRS station is a walkie talkie and GPS receiver transmitting only 5
watts to a small antenna, so you will only be able to see his last APRS
automatic reporting transmission, now 5 hours old as I type this, near Lake
Marion. The internet links get data from repeater stations that receive
Ken's transmitter and relay it to a much wider area, so he must be in range
of those stations. On a boat, we'd be on HF, not VHF, on the international
APRS frequency of 10.151 Mhz on the upper edge of the 30 meter band, which
ends at 10.150 Mhz. Using Lower Sideband, this puts the packet
transmission just inside the ham band, where they've been operating for
years.

Just follow the link and you can see what other hams have done with the
APRS to Internet link. There is a map showing, now, Ken's bike in
someone's yard, probably a rest stop. Just below the map, the findu.com
software also shows his bike's exact location along side some farmer's
driveway in an aerial photograph of the area! That won't mean much at sea,
but wouldn't it be nice if the family you left at home could go to
findu.com with your ham station on the boat and see your last transmission
showing exactly where your GPS puts you, your speed and course, reassuring
them that you are OK and moving along nicely (or at anchor in some exotic
place, making them green with envy)?