Dust off your APRS gear and check in next week to the New England APRS Test Net! This is a great opportunity to figure out the APRS functions on your latest HT or other gizmo.
Why participate in the test net? During the first month, there were a number of reports of operators who tried to check in, but needed to figure out how to send a message or worse, realized they needed to update the firmware of their device. As Amateur Radio Operators, we often market ourselves folks who can send a message “when all else fails” so this is the perfect time for you to find out in a fun environment what isn’t working BEFORE you need to do something important!
KC1VMZ sends the details on the neaprs mailing list:
WHAT: NE APRS Test net
WHEN: second Monday of the Month (for February, this is Monday February 9th): 0600 ET – 2200 ET
WHERE: APRS
HOW: Destination Station = ANSRVR
HOW: Message body = CQ [space] NEAPRS [space] “your text: check-in message of choice.”
Extra credit – send out a location beacon during the net time period as well.