Bicycle Mobile

back to ham radio

Created 2011 June 28
Updated 2011 June 28, cbd

After about five years of experimentation, I am still developing a workable Ryan Recumbent APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) setup.

The GPS, transmitter, control board, and enclosure itself is the Byonics Micro-Trak AIO (All In One).

This is a plot of power out versus key-down battery voltage.



This is a plot of battery voltage versus trip on the "Solstice to Solstice battery pack" 2010 December 28 to 2011 June 21.



The AIO is set to 60 second updates so I'll get a good outline of my bicycling route.  I get better coverage coming home because it is uphill and slower.

This is the standard "south route."

This is the standard "Foothill route."

This is the standard "Henry Memorial" (north) route.

This is a further north route

This is the same xxxx route without WA8LMF-13, a Pasadena digi.  Due to the geography of the Crescenta Valley, we don't get into our local N6EX-N system very well.  Sometimes I do, but just as often I'm covered by KF6ILA-10 on Palomar Mountain over 100 miles away!  To do this I had to go to the end fed half wave antenna on a stick above my head.

[Picture]

Here's the backpack off the bike, ready to go.

Here is a typical ride down Foothill.

Here is my record speed at the bottom of the steep hill on Foothill just before Oak Grove.  Going up this hill the speed typically reports as zero.

On a typical commuting ride I first connect and deploy the antenna, then power the AIO.  Then I mount the backpack on the bike behind my seat and do all the other preparations (unlocking, setting odometer, helmet, etc.)  This give it time to acquire a GPS position and get a packet or two into the system to anchor that end of the ride.  On the other end the process is reversed.  Do all the other stuff (helmet, lock, odometer, etc.) then turn off the AIO and disconnect the antenna.  That gives it a few minutes (a few packets) to anchor the other end in the system.  Of course, this is beacon mode.  Packets that aren't received are just lost.  With WA8LMF-13 running, my reception statistics are 60-80%, depending on route.  Without, they are 40-60%.  Here is a typical raw dump.