[FedCom] Re: CAP 149.940

[Ted and Kim Moran]

It's almost undoubtley a local transmit site in the Civil Air Patrol's APRS
net. It's virtually identical to the APRS systems used by hams, a packet
radio / GPS based unit location reporting and tracking system. There's a CAP
APRS beacon locally here at Palwaukee Airport in the 149 Mhz band. The (not)
funny thing is I haven't been able to get it to "read" using some crude
packet software I've tried. Maybe a slight variation of the ham packet
format? Anyone know more? Basically, in the event of an incident (or just
for "coolness" purposes!) they can get an accurate idea of where there
so-equipped actually are. I can see it really helping out with setting up a
search in the field. But I've never understood the logic in having the bases
reporting. One would hope your base stations don't go moving around too
often! It's neither aircraft nor satellite based, though an equipped
aircraft could certainly use the network. I've been told CAP hopes to one
day have near nationwide coverage for their APRS network.

Our web master put up a nice little page of Misc CAP freqs, available at:

http://www.carmachicago.com/cap.htm

Happy Scanning! - Ted