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Waiting for an AP510/AVRT5 APRS tracker
14 December 2014 | by 
I just ordered an AP510/AVRT5 APRS tracker and am anxious to get my hands on it to try it out. I like the small size and the fact that it is self contained – no external wires are needed to have a fully functional tracker for the automatic packet reporting system APRS: But is it useful or just a toy?
The specifications from the Amazon.co.uk site are (adapted from Chinenglish):
- SainSonic AVRT5 APRS Tracker VHF with GPS/Bluetooth/Thermometer/TF Card, Support of APRSdroid
- GPS module: SIRF3 module, high sensitivity, fast positioning, stable power.
- GPS antenna: 18mm x 18mm active GPS antenna, built-in LNA amplification, Star Search, locate quickly.
- VHF Module (1W): The latest 1W VHF transceiver modules, small size, high stability for all types of wireless data transmission.
- VHF antennas are individually matched to transmitter to ensure that the standing wave ratio is proper and the emission is efficient.
I also signed up for the Yahoo group AP510 AVRT5 APRS.
What attracted me were the reviews given by DK7XE, DJ7OO (German), and APRS.facile.fr (French) and the descriptions at Radioddity and Sparky’s blog,
It is evident that the 2. harmonic suppression leaves something to be desired, that the antenna is inefficient, that the programming interface isn’t the easiest to deal with, and that it can be hard to set the frequency for people in countries such as Norway with PC’s set for “,” rather than “.” as the decimal point. Hopefully I can figure out ways to deal with all these and also other issues that may show up.
2 Responses to “Waiting for an AP510/AVRT5 APRS tracker”
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Do you really want to make your exact location public knowledge? If someone wants to track you down to do you harm this is the perfect way, seems to me. There are a lot of weird o’s out there nowadays. I am not criticizing, but I will not be doing aprs. I am concerned about safety is all.
Good point, and also for me the main reason why I don’t use APRS in my car or in general. However, for special purposes I would consider doing it, as trips in the mountains etc.