GPS tracking and SkyWarn repeaters

[Brian Davidson]

Does anyone know of a program that tracks your GPS location and then gives you a list of SkyWarn repeaters that are in range?

If not, could anyone write up such program?

 

[Brian Davidson]

found one for Grlevel3: here is the link for grlevel3
http://grlevel3.tornadocentral.com/repeaters.txt

 

[Matt Tottle]

That file is missing a lot of data just from what I can see of the repeaters around here.. It is missing quite a few K-Link and Kan-Okla system towers, plus there is no PL for any of them. I'll see what I can add to update the Kansas/Oklahoma area.

 

[Brian Davidson]

Thanks Matt!

How can you update the file? I guess I didn't go searching for an update link.

 

[Matt Tottle]

It's just a text file. You can edit it all you want on your own machine, you just need to know the decimal coordinates of the repeater and the comm details. Then point GR to it using the hard drive path rather than the url. The thread on the GR forum hasn't been touched in over a year, but the original author is still active, so if you post any updates you do here: (owner's forum) http://www.grlevelx.com/owners/viewtopic.php?t=1075 I would assume he will merge them into the host file.

 

[Matt Tottle]

Know what, I just had a great idea for improving this file. Don't do anything to it yet until I see if I can make what I'm thinking about work.

 

[J Tyler]

Matt, just wanted to let you know that I am also VERY interested in having that file updated. I have used it over the last year in GR3, and it is better than nothing, but it does have a lot of repeaters missing. Good luck in whatever efforts you have under way!

 

[Jason Foster]

Not as fun, fancy, and maybe harder, but not by much...the poor mans way would be to get a Repeater directory and just highlight the various skywarn repeaters. I believe they have map page layouts in the directory (not the annoying little book, the travel directory...comes with a CD rom I think).

 

[Matt Tottle]

Ok guys, see what you think of this. It is a work in progress, and because of the clutter it adds to the map, I'm going to keep it as a separate placefile rather than merging it with the original. That way it can be turned on and off separately. I have the zoom threshold set to 999 (always show) for testing, when it's done it'll be set lower. I have a few other plans too..

This is ONLY going to contain linked repeater systems and down the road it will contain local repeaters confirmed to be monitored by NWS and/or used by Skywarn. As the original file stands, it is basically any random repeater, which isn't really useful to us. Now you'll be able to see what repeaters are linked to where, and what is standalone. So far I have six systems spanning Kansas, Oklahoma, extreme western Arkansas, and Texas panhandle.

This was my first time writing a PF, so I'm sure there's ways to make it even better. Let me know what you think, and if you know of other linked systems in your area, let me know, throw up a link to the system map and I'll get them in here.

Just save the file to your hard drive and point GR to it.

 

[Karen St John]

Not as fun, fancy, and maybe harder, but not by much...the poor mans way would be to get a Repeater directory and just highlight the various skywarn repeaters. I believe they have map page layouts in the directory (not the annoying little book, the travel directory...comes with a CD rom I think).

http://www.arrl.org/shop/TravelPlus-with-Bonus-Repeater-Directory/ I use this constantly for traveling purposes!

 

[Karen St John]

Not as fun, fancy, and maybe harder, but not by much...the poor mans way would be to get a Repeater directory and just highlight the various skywarn repeaters. I believe they have map page layouts in the directory (not the annoying little book, the travel directory...comes with a CD rom I think).

http://www.arrl.org/shop/TravelPlus-with-Bonus-Repeater-Directory/ I use this constantly for traveling purposes!

 

[Brian Davidson]

You rock Matt! Thanks for all your hard work. If I create or if you create a post that is cleaned up, could a mod sticky that?

Edit:
Where did you get this information? I want to help you on western Missouri.

 

[Matt Tottle]

I use K-Link and Kan-Okla myself, so I'm already familiar with them and the fact that ICT runs their nets there. Most of the WFOs have the repeaters they monitor on their Skywarn page (I also have emails out to several other offices as to what repeaters they monitor or go to for Skywarn). Then I did a lot of googling to find out what is part of a system, and what the system maps look like. For example, the Amarillo office has a map that simply shows stars where the repeaters are and frequencies, but does not tell you that those repeaters make up the Caprock Intertie System, or even that they're linked. So I started googling the frequency and city to get the call sign. That's basically all the info you need to find the system's website, which will have the list of all its repeaters, locations, frequencies, PL, and the actual system map.

If you're lucky, the system will use a Google map, then all you have to do is click on a tower, hit Directions To Here, and it will display the coordinates. Otherwise you have to map it out yourself - find the town or location, right click, and select What's Here to see the coordinates.

I'm already working on adding the NEKSUN/K0HAM system in eastern KS (used by Topeka NWS), so don't worry about that one but whatever you can add would be fantastic. It should be fairly easy to figure out how to make the file work. The Icon: lines are the repeaters themselves, and the Line: paragraphs are what controls the lines between them.

The Icon lines are formatted as follows:
Icon: (lat.####,-lon.####),000,1,1,"City: Freq\nPL ##.#\nName of repeater system\nWhich NWS office\nOther notes"  (\n means New 
         Line.  You can have as many lines as you need to add important info)

The line command was a little little tricky for me to figure out at first because it has to be done exactly this way:
Color: ### ### ### (Only need ONE color command per system before the first line.  Use an RGB color picker to get the 3 sets of numbers for any given color)
Line: 2,  (the 2 is how many pixels wide the line will be, and you must have the comma after it)
  lat.######,-lon.###### (point A. This must be indented TWO spaces directly under the Line: command)
  lat.######,-lon.###### (point B. This must also be indented TWO spaces)
End: (No indent here. There must always be an End: command when using a Line:, or else GR will kick back an error when you load the file)

A quick side note, you can technically put many line segments on the same line command, which would be a little bit less work writing it and would save space. But I did it purposely this way because if a repeater ever needs to be removed for some reason, its icon and line segment can be easily removed.

 

[David Wolfson]

I'm just getting into setting up a mobile (Yaesu FT-8900 quad band) to use my license. There is an almost-free app for the iPad called Repeaters that displays nearby repeaters with offsets, PL tone, notes, etc., using the iPad's location capabilities. Supposedly the database is regularly updated. Now here's the trick.... The records are user-editable, so add a special character, e.g. a '*', in front of the city name to designate skywarn repeaters. The main page of the app has a search box, and entering the special character then selects only the skywarn repeaters -- done.

KD7SMQ

 

[Jim Hunt]

...and if you know of other linked systems in your area, let me know, throw up a link to the system map and I'll get them in here.

Here is the central Indiana Skywarn system - http://w9nws.org/repeater_map