IBCNU: First "Must Have" Ham iPhone App

IBCNU’s maln screen

First Take: IBCNU is the first amateur radio application that has really earned its place on my iPhone, by turning it into an APRS tracker and message terminal.

IBCNU—as in “I Be Seeing You”— sends position reports, beacons, and messages into the global APRS-IS network using the iPhone data connection. This makes an iPhone running IBCNU a good way to send your location and messages into Internet-based APRS displays, such as aprs.fi.

aprs.fi display of my IBCNU tracks

Because it does not use RF (not on amateur frequencies, anyway), an iPhone running IBCNU will get an APRS packet into the network wherever a data connection is available.

You can also send packets as often as you like, up to once a minute, providing close tracking of a moving user.

The downside is that since you aren’t using 144.390 or some other APRS frequency, you won’t show up on the displays of stations that use ham frequencies for APRS.

Here are about half the settings on the IBCNU settings screen.The lack of connectivity between IBCNU and users on the local RF network may or may not be a show-stopper, depending upon your application.

(Maybe there is some way to get local APRS networks to retransmit packets received over the Internet from nearby stations—it would be a useful feature—but I am not aware of it being available).

Thus, a mixed network of RF-based and IBCNU trackers would only be visible on a computer. I have tried using an iPhone and aprs.fi for this, but have been unhappy with the results. Using aprs.fi on a laptop, however, works quite well and the speed with which an update appears on the Web site after being transmitted onto the RF network is impressive.

(Be aware that the link between the RF network and Internet requires iGates which may not be available in all areas. If it possible to use iGates to receive frequencies other than 144.390 and send those position reports to the Internet, which might be useful if you are running an event on a different frequency).

The program costs $1.99 at the App Store (search on IBCNU). Do not be concerned about negative reviews for earlier versions of the product. Including the ones where I suggested the author should remove the product from the App Store until it was fixed.

The current mapping feature is pretty useless. To get to this display of my location I had to zoom in about five levels.There had been a problem with some combination of iPhones and operating system releases that kept the program from working on many handsets, including mine. It would work for a few moments and then become unable to connect to the APRS servers. That has been corrected with the newest version and my current review in the App Store gives IBCNU four stars.

Why not five stars?

The program will send and receive text messages with APRS stations, including those on the RF network. That is wonderful, I suppose, if you want to use APRS as an SMS or instant messaging replacement. I don’t, so the feature is fairly useless to me.

IBCNU does not offer any mapping support for incoming packets, which I see as a huge opportunity. It would be nice to be able to use the iPhone as an integrated APRS transceiver and map display for received position reports, albeit using packets received from aprs.fi or some other online source.

That is not a major failing, but it makes the program much less useful for emergency communicators than it might be.

Another useful feature would be the ability to drop icons (EOC, helispot, etc.) onto a map and periodically transmit what would amount to a map of an entire incident to the APRS Internet servers.

I’d happily pay extra for such features and will contact the developer to see if it might be possible to get them added.

Documentation for the program is available online at www.ibcnu.us. It takes about five minutes to learn to use the program, thanks to the simple interface. It is, however, important to learn what the buttons do and the icons are telling you.

IBCNU is a great product that does what it promises. It is easy to use, the price is right, and if you already own an iPhone, IBCNU gives it Amateur Radio functionality that many hams would otherwise lack. On that basis, I think it is fair to call this the first “must have” iPhone application for hams.

A Dedicated GPS Receiver for the Kenwood D-710

The Green Light Labs GPS-710 is a dedicated GPS receiver designed specifically for the popular Kenwood D-710 radio. It mounts onto the backside of control panel. AES is selling them for $129.99.

This unit is a GPS receiver and obviously has no display. With it, you be able to transmit your position. The D-710 is able to display some APRS information on its display, but no mapping.

If you don’t need/can’t afford a GPS that will display incoming APRS information as waypoints, this seems like a nice, integrated solution.

Back to Business

I will soon be migrating all 97.113 posts to their own blog. When something important happens I will link to it here.

I am anxious to write about other things again and separating petition-related content will help.

As an aside, I am writing and posting this using the new Squarespace iPhone app. The pic is of Trevor, KI6VMM, in one of San Mateo SO’s comm vans. We are at a SAR training for our Explorer group.

Useless Features? Yaesu's ARTS and WIRES

If there is a single radio feature that gets people in trouble more than Yaesu’s WIRES, I don’t know what it is.

WIRES is a proprietary Echolink-like system for connecting repeaters that relies on a single Touch Tone sent at the beginning of every transmission. While the Touch Tone is being transmitted and for a beat afterwards the mic is muted.

This results in a transmission where the first few words are cut off—and you may or may not actually hear the sure-giveaway Touch Tone. If someone has a Yaesu radio, you tell them to key-up and start counting, and the audio cuts in at two or three, then WIRES has been turned on by mistake.

This is a common enough error that most of the time I can diagnose and help get it fixed over-the-air. So can most long-time Yaesu customers. But, why should we have to?

WIRES seems to be used by precisely no one in the U.S.

Yaesu should remove WIRES from all future units and promise to sin no more.

Likewise with ARTS, a transponder system that theoretically will tell users if they are close enough (or too far away) to communicate simplex.

Fine enough, but it only works with other Yaesu radios and is obnoxious to non-users sharing the frequency.

Again, precisely no one seems to actually use ARTS and it, too, should be relegated to the scrap heap of good, but failed, ideas.

Or am I missing something?

"San Joaquin" ARES Vest Nears Completion

Click on image for larger view.For several months, our ARES group has been searching for the “right” vest for our personnel to wear in the field. This has been an exhaustive search, including vests imported from Canada and China, as well as a number of vests available domestically.

We have considered as many as 40 vests during our search, yet I am sure there are still some we missed. Very few met a basic requirement: pockets for two radios.

Our vest project is not complete, but I want to offer a “sneak peek” at something close to the final design. When finalized, this vest will be available from a commercial vendor that is experienced in the design and manufacture of custom and semi-custom vests for emergency workers.

Click on image for larger view.

Our vest draws heavily from a Canadian design, but includes some special touches of our own or that were suggested by the manufacturer. Our vest is also available in a variety of sizes, which the Canadian vest is not. “One-size-fits-most” doesn’t when you are almost 6’3” and 270 pounds, as I am.

I am awaiting the first sample (which you see here) to arrive from the manufacturer. Once I have it and we’ve had a chance to try in on (and out) and, perhaps, make changes, I’ll get back to you concerning the final design and it’s availability.

Warning: This vest will be priced in the $130 range as shown, though a less-expensive (and single radio) version will be available.