Getting Going with the XASTIR APRS client

You could always just double click on the little xastir icon, but that will probably give you a less-than-optimal experience. A little extra preparation up front will make it better.

Get Xastir to display some APRS data

Odds are good you're going to want Xastir to do more than just display a map --- you will want it to display APRS data. Unless you already have a TNC and a radio set up, the easiest way to demo the system is with an internet server. Make sure your windows set-up is set up to access the internet, and this virtual machine will also be --- it's set up to masquerade as if it were your regular windows machine for internet purposes. Please test that fact out now by clicking this link. That's the Xastir home page. Visit it, then come back here with the "Back" button.

Get your "callpass" for logging in to the internet server

Before we get started running xastir for the first time, there's one little thing to do. There should be a terminal windo open --- look in the panel below and see if there is a box called "terminal" there -- if so, click it, if not, open one by selecting the menu at the top left under "Applications->System->Terminal". In that terminal window, type the following command:

callpass {your callsign}

Your reward should be a five-digit number. You'll need that number to log in to the APRS internet server. Write it down for later. Once you set up xastir to use the server with that code number, you don't really need to do it again unless you need to log in to other servers --- but even then you can just copy the number from xastir's "interface" window.

Preparation done... run the thing

Double click the little "Xastir" icon in the top left corner of the desktop. It will launch the xastir APRS client program. The first thing you'll be asked for is to enter your call sign and some other basic information about your station. If you aren't running APRS some other way right now, you can just enter your callsign where it says "NOCALL", but if you're using APRS in some other equipment then add a "Sub Station ID" (SSID) after your callsign to make it unique. SSIDs are just a number from 1 to 15. Pick any one you're not using, and enter it like this:

   KA5XYZ-5

where KA5XYZ is replaced with your callsign, and 5 is the SSID chosen.

If you know your lat/lon coordinates, go ahead and enter them in degrees and decimal minutes in this screen. Later, when you have a GPS attached, you won't need to do that, but we're just doing an internet demo here. If you don't know your lat/lon, don't worry --- you will be able to set your station location graphically later. Ignore the rest of the settings on that initial dialog box, just click OK.

What you should have now is a map of the world that you can explore by zooming in and out, panning around, and otherwise just messing around. Explore the help menu (stay away from the "EMERGENCY BEACON MODE" button, which someone thought was a great thing to have in the "Help" menu because it calls for emergency help!). Try to find your current location on the map (there are pretty detailed maps of Bernalillo County here), and use the right-click menu to set your current location using the "Move My Station Here" entry if you didn't set it by lat/lon earlier.

Setting up an interface through the internet

Go to the Interface menu and chose "Interface Control." I've set up three skeletal interfaces, one internet server and two different types of radio interfaces. Ignore the radio interfaces for now, because they'll take a little more set-up. Choose the "Device 0 Internet Server" line (it should become highlighted in black), then click "Properties". I've got it all set up for you except for that "Pass-Code" you were supposed to have written down earlier. Enter that five-digit number in the box and click "OK". Reselect "Device 0 Internet Server", and click "Start". You should now be connected to the APRS Internet System, and should start receiving APRS data from a 300 km radius centered near Albuquerque. You can click the "Close" button on the Interface Control dialog box now.

To make sure that stuff is actually coming in, you can watch the raw data by selecting "View->Incoming Data". If all is well, you should see something that looks like this way at the top:

 0:NET-> # javAPRSSrvr 3.12b07
 0:NET-> # logresp KM5VY-4 verified, server T2APRSWST, adjunct "filter r/35/-106/300" OK - Filter definition updated
 0:NET-> # javAPRSSrvr 3.12b07 28 Nov 2006 10:41:06 GMT T2APRSWST 206.123.154.98:14580

with packets of data following it. If you got your callpass wrong, it'd look like this:

 0:NET-> # javAPRSSrvr 3.12b07
 0:NET-> # logresp KM5VY-4 unverified, server T2APRSWST, adjunct "filter r/35/-106/300" OK - Filter definition updated

You'd still receive APRS data, but if you attempt to transmit your packets will be ignored by the server because you haven't given the right passcode.

Now explore more

Please explore the program, but if you are going to tinker a lot, please turn off transmitting while you're doing it --- choose "Interface->Disable Transmit:ALL" so that you don't send a bunch of bogus data to the APRS internet system.

Go visit the Xastir home page for more information about this program, and the APRS Wiki for more information about APRS in general.

When you're ready to put an actual APRS station on the air, you can use the help documents in the program itself to create "interfaces" to connect your computer to a TNC. I've provided two examples, one that could be used very easily to connect to a Kenwood D700 and another that could be used to connect to a Kantronics KPC3 TNC. Both of these could probably be used as is, but you might have to change the serial device unless you're very lucky. It is currently set to /dev/ttyS0, which is appropriate if you have a free real serial port on your computer. The virtual machine should have detected that it was available, and you should have an indication of that fact in VMware Player's control bar above the window. If not, then you'll probably need to add a USB to Serial adapter to your system. I am more than happy to help you get set up that way.

There is another way to get on the air with APRS without a TNC, and it is through the AGW Packet Engine. This uses your computer's sound card instead of an external TNC and is quite cool. It is fairly complex to set up the packet engine itself, but once you set it up it's a simple matter to get xastir to use it. Please see the Xastir Wiki under Notes:VMware. That page will tell you to get hold of a VMware virtual machine, but if you're reading this you already have it, and can skip all his instructions on building xastir, coz I already did it for you. Just worry about the parts where he talks about getting the AGWPE running and telling your xastir to use it.