[CRAPRS] RAGBRAI bicycle tracking

[Gary Bishop]

(Bob and Ryan:  This comes from our local Cedar Rapids ARRS email reflector.  I thought you might get some useful information. -Gary)

 

After checking at aprs.fi, it looks like I had about 90% coverage (based upon miles travelled)  on my bike during RAGBRAI.
It looks like the only holes were between Chariton and Blakesburg, and again between northwest of Ottumwa to near Gernamville.  I was running NQ0V-2.  The rig was pretty unassuming:  eTrex GPS, Tinytrak3, Radio Shack HTX-202 HT set to 5 watt output, a 14.4 volt lithium RC battery, and the 5/8 wave moble antenna on the rack. I was running the path WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1.  I had considered changing it to WIDE2-2, but ran out of time before the ride to make the change.  I doubt if that would have made much difference.

 

The fidelity was quite high.  Nearly every turn got recorded, and most excursions to the support vehicle or scouting for food were faithfully recorded.  It's pretty interesting to see some speed reports like 2.7 MPH, while I was winching my way up some hills.
 
I ran into another bicycle APRS: NF0T-9.  N0YJ-7 was along also, but I never did run into him on the route.  Maybe others I haven't found yet.

 

#hits:

                    Day

Call               Sun      Mon      Tue     Wed     Thur     Fri     Sat
NQ0V-2          57        76         66       8         18       45      62        

NF0T-9          20        33         22        3         11       0       0 

N0YJ-7            8        11          6        0          4       13       8

 

Maybe I have my beacon rate and reporting rate turned up too high.  I don't think so, I believe I have the slow speed of 3 MPH set to 10 minutes, and 10 MPH high speed rate set to 5 minutes.  Also, the other bikes might not have ridden on days with a zero, or their batteries ran down, or their report rate was set much slower than mine, or terrain/ERP limited their reach, or...   Just raw data to contemplate.

 

I had my dual band HT along also.  I set one side to 52, which is the normal frequency we all seem to gravitate towards on the route.  The other side was set to 144.39, so I could not only hear my packets, but if I was being relayed by a nearby digi.  It would also pick up an other nearby packets.  Now I can't copy 1200 baud in my head, but I made an estimate based upon approximate signal strength, number of packets in a row, and generally how many packets were on the channel.  Voice coverage from an HT with a decent extended duck antenna is only a few miles, bike to bike.  I'm guessing I could here a digi at 5-10 miles, due the its suspected higher elevation and power.

 

I knew I was in a hole on Wednesday because I didn't hear any digis relay my position reports.  I'm surprised I got picked up at all.

 

Overall, I was quite pleased with this kind of coverage from a bicycle, in very rural and isolated Iowa.

 

 

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