APRS is not required to participate in SKYWARN nets, but spotters are asked to turn it on if available. CCARES will use APRS at the discretion of an NCS to help manage the position of spotters. Members are encouraged to consider developing equipment that can perform both APRS and WinLink functions (not necessarily at the same time).

For safety reasons, CCARES discourages net participants from using a laptop and smart phones in their vehicles during nets.

The D/FW area contains a heavy concentration of APRS users. In order to keep the system from being overloaded, all APRS users are requested to use the following settings:

APRS Settings

Frequencies

144.390 MHz (National standard)

144.340 MHz (Alternate in portions of DFW)

SSID

Your call sign followed by a dash and a number from 1-15.

Beacon Rates

• Mobile stations - No less than 3 minutes

• Home stations - 20 minutes

• Weather stations - 5 minutes

Path (for mobile stations in the D/FW Metroplex)

• “WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1”

Path (for fixed / weather stations in the D/FW Metroplex)

• Use the call of your nearest digipeater

Beacon Message

• Use your email address so you can be contacted if there is a problem with your station.