SMSGTE

Infrastructure

amateur radio messaging gateway

SHOW HN2021

SMSGTE

Sending and Receiving SMS via APRS (VHF Amateur Radio)

smsgte.org

#aprs#amateur radio#sms gateway#vhf#digipeater

134points
44comments
#382of 2,533 in 2021
Top 16%of 2021 by points

How HN took it

CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments

5 positive, 8 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 2 critical, out of 15 comments about the project. Thread score +0.24.

Privacy: 2 for, 1 againstIdea: 2 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Useful for emergencies and off-grid calls for help.

    From 2 comments
    • It does work! I have called for help in a non-life threatening situation with no cell service by using APRS to SMSGTE while doing some off-roading. Even better, you don't even…
      fishermichael on HN
    • Also supports optional message ack by placing ? after callsign. I’m looking to use this in the woods in case of emergency as you can forward your APRS message through one of the…
      jlturner on HN
  • Practical application of amateur radio.

    From 1 comment
    • This has to be one of the most practical applications of amateur radio. Keep in mind that all of these comms are unencrypted and are visible by anyone who has the ability to…
      lxe on HN

Objections

  • Messages are unencrypted and publicly visible on aprs.fi.

    From 2 comments
    • All these messages are of course completely public, and you can even get a full history of people using this service here: https://aprs.fi/?c=message&limit=50&call=SMSGTE Very…
      georgyo on HN
    • This has to be one of the most practical applications of amateur radio. Keep in mind that all of these comms are unencrypted and are visible by anyone who has the ability to…
      lxe on HN
  • Replies from SMS often fail to reach the radio without a two-way igate.

    From 2 comments
    • These are visible not just by anyone who can receive, but pretty much everything on APRS ends up online. Most areas have an igate that forwards messages from the radio to the…
      twothamendment on HN
    • It supports an ACK, but unless you have a two-way i-gate nearby you should probably consider it to be a one-way protocol. All of the ones near me just go RF -> internet so…
      mackmgg on HN

Requests

  • Setup guidance for running a two-way APRS gateway locally.

    From 1 comment
    • Where would I find out how to set up bidirectional APRS for our local club?
      dicknuckle on HN

Questions

  • Whether encryption over amateur radio is legal.

    From 2 comments
    • Because it’s a legal requirement to not encrypt the message?
      chrisseaton on HN
    • Not actually enforced, and in some cases Amateur Radio transmissions are actually required to be encrypted:…
      georgyo on HN
  • How to set up a cheap handheld APRS system.

    From 1 comment
    • Holy shit game changer. Finally time to dust off that ham license. Any tips on how to setup this ? Ideally I want a cheap handheld system I can send apfrs messages.
      bitcoinmoney on HN

Alternatives named

  • Dire Wolf and Aprx software TNCs for APRS.

    From 2 comments
    • Google “APRS digipeter setup”, you’ll find lots of solutions which fit your needs (mobile, home station, etc). This video explains a raspberry pi setup with Dire Wolf (software…
      jlturner on HN
    • I used this because my hardware list was similar. https://www.foodstoragenow.com/non-food_essentials/communication/APRS/Aprx-mobilinkd-setup.html Aprx works for me, Direwolf…
      twothamendment on HN
  • Mobilinkd Bluetooth TNC.

    From 1 comment
    • "Radio -> cable -> cellphone audio jack -> APRS app" While this works, it is just the start. Soon you realize that you want to actually use your phone AND APRS at the same time…
      twothamendment on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

Add a badge to your READMEShown on HackerShow
[![Shown on HackerShow](https://hackershow.org/badge.svg)](https://hackershow.org/show/29060280)