MicroTrak300 Test - Oregon Trip 2007

The Setup

I took a trip up to visit my parents for the July 4th holiday and decided to bring along an APRS tracker. Since we took my XYL's vehicle, which is a company car, I don't have any type of radio equipment installed. The picture below shows the operating conditions. I didn't have any 12v ports available at the time, so I ran off a 9V battery for the whole trip. As you might be able to see from the photo, I am using a Duleo puck GPS unit and powering it from the MicroTrak. More information on building and setting up one of these gems is available at: http://ham.spectrox.com/microtrak300/

As you see, this is a VERY bare configuration with a lot of RF loss to the interior of the car. The Yaesu 2M Rubber duck antenna was not the optimal high gain antenna system, but as you see below, it actually got out.

The trip consisted of drive north from Pleasanton, California to Albany, Oregon followed a few days later by a southbound return.


Yahoo Maps Trip Estimation

Northbound Journey

I turned the tracker on once we reached Redding, california.


Mapping Data from db0anf website


Mapping Data from Findu.com website


Movement Data from db0anf website

RAW APRS Packets:

N6ACA-9>TQ5SQV,KFALLS*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAR,STUKEL:`2=Bq}@p/":q}Oregon Trip
N6ACA-9>TR2RTR,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`2QtrA-p/"85}
N6ACA-9>TR2SUV,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`2SBr7*p/"8!}
N6ACA-9>TR2UXR,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`3[hqTmp/"7N}
N6ACA-9>TR2UYP,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`3]Dr6Lp/"7T}
N6ACA-9>TR2TUP,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`3`2r@Up/"7E}
N6ACA-9>TR2TUR,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`3`Gr@vp/"7D}
N6ACA-9>TR2TYP,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`3a@rA4p/"7D}
N6ACA-9>TR2VPS,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`3&Fq|yp/"7@}Oregon Trip
N6ACA-9>TR2XUR,FIELDR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`30nqsp/"8I}Oregon Trip
N6ACA-9>TS0VVV,LANE,BEAR*,WIDE2,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`316psVp/"7<}
N6ACA-9>TS0VWW,LANE,FIELDR*,WIDE2,WIDE2,qAo,K7BBS-5:`31>q-4p/"7=}
N6ACA-9>TS1QXU,LANE,BEAR*,WIDE2,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`31Wqz-p/"5^}
N6ACA-9>TS1RXR,LANE,BEAR*,WIDE2,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`31:qsHp/"5]}
N6ACA-9>TS4UPW,CGRV*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3^Rrz[p/"6H}
N6ACA-9>TS4UXT,CGRV*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3\SrRYp/"6/}
N6ACA-9>TS4WYW,BEAR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3Zbr /p/"6*}Oregon Trip
N6ACA-9>TS4YUT,BEAR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3Y{rH.p/"5v}
N6ACA-9>TS5VPW,BEAR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3XVr4!p/"5Y}
N6ACA-9>TT0TYR,WIDE2-2,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3ZIlR{p/"59}

Southbound Journey

On the way down, the 9V died and I popped another one in while I was at a gas station. Overall this end of the trip didn't get out much.


Mapping Data from db0anf website


Movement Data from db0anf website

RAW APRS Packets:

N6ACA-9>TS5VVQ,BEAR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3XQr5mp/"5a}Oregon Trip
N6ACA-9>TS5PSS,CGRV*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3YXr+~p/"5p}Oregon Trip
N6ACA-9>TS4XXP,BEAR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3Z
N6ACA-9>TS4VQY,CGRV*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3[lr"1p/"69}
N6ACA-9>TS4TYY,BEAR*,WIDE2-1,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`3_
N6ACA-9>TS0VXQ,LANE,BEAR*,WIDE2,WIDE2,qAo,AC7TK:`31FqqIp/"6f}

Conclusion

This little board is pretty darn effective. If I would have installed this with an external mag mount antenna and powered directly from the car's 12V source, I think that we would have had a lot more success.

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