APRS Digipeater

Please note, this page is currently under construction. Check back soon for pictures and updated information!

W5AC maintains an Automatic Position Reporting System digipeater on 144.39 MHz, the standard APRS frequency in North America. It is located on top of the Richardson Building on TAMU Main Campus, with a height above ground of about 150 feet, and a transmit power of about 5 watts.

APRS-equipped hams often beacon their location periodically; when our digipeater receives this signal, it re-transmits it a moment later so that it can be heard over a much wider area. When an internet gateway, or iGate, receives these signals, they are translated and posted on the internet here. The callsign of the club digipeater/iGate is W5AC-2. To see information about our digipeater/iGate on aprs.fi (estimated range, stations heard directly, stations who heard us directly, other statistics) click here.

APRS can be used for things besides finding the exact position of an amateur radio operator. For example, here is our county's current National Weather Service radar with APRS stations overlayed on it, and here are some spacecraft in orbit. APRS maps may also include non-moving objects, storm shelters, runners in a marathon, hurricanes and weather warnings, or even a virtual chess board in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, just to name a few.