General FAQ's

Q: Is PinPoint APRS an Open Source Project?
A: Not at this time. Maybe it will be Open Source sometime in the future.

Q: I have a feature request for future development. Can I send it to you?
A: Yes, absolutely. If enough people ask for a certain feature to be implemented, I may add it to the roadmap. Send it to ab0wv at arrl.net.

Q: Why does PinPoint APRS require a passcode to use APRS-IS if I want to beacon using the Internet?
A: It's actually the APRS-IS servers that require the passcode. It helps to prevent unauthorized use. The passcode is directly tied to your ham radio call sign (regardless of the APRS SSID you use) and never changes unless your call sign does. You can send me an email at ab0wv at arrl.net with your ham radio call sign to obtain your passcode.

Q: Does PinPoint APRS track my use of the application?
A: No. There is no tracking inside the PinPoint APRS application. The only time PinPoint APRS reaches out to the server where the website is hosted is to check whether there is a new version available. No personal information is passed to the server at that time. It just requests the latest (non-beta) build number and compares that to the build number of the running application. The https://pinpointaprs.com website has basic Google Analytics tracking installed, mostly so I can see if the website is actually being used and which countries people are visiting from. You can opt-out at the bottom of the website at any time.

Features

Q: Does PinPoint APRS support APRS Objects and Items?
A: PinPoint APRS supports APRS Objects/Items receive-only at this time. The ability for you to mark your own APRS Objects on the map and beacon them out is being tested and is actually available as a beta version (see Beta Versions on th Download page).

Q: What kind of GPS is supported by PinPoint APRS?
A: PinPoint APRS supports any NMEA compatible GPS that outputs its data via serial port. The GPS can be USB, but must be presented to Windows as a COM port, which is common.

Q: What kind of TNC's are supported by PinPoint APRS?
A: PinPoint APRS supports all Kenwood radios with built-in TNC, Kantronics TNC's, Byonics TinyTrak4, any KISS TNC via network or serial port, Yaesu radios with built-in TNC (receive only, which is a shortcoming of the radio)and you can customize your own definition using TNC2 commands. In addition, it supports SoundModem, VARA, Direwolf and other applications that have a built-in soft-TNC via the network KISS interface.

Q: I don't like the default sounds. Can I change them?
A: Yes. The .WAV soundfiles are stored in C:\Program Files (x86)\PinPoint APRS\Sounds. You can change them into anything you like, just keep the names the same, since that's what PinPoint APRS looks for.

Q: Can I create my own custom TNC definition?
A: Yes, you can create your own configuration file for a custom TNC that uses TNC2 or something similar. Just navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\PinPoint APRS\TNC and find the file Startup_Custom.txt and Shutdown_Custom.txt. Edit those files to add the specific TNC commands your TNC uses. Then, Under Tools > Options > TNC, select the "Custom" TNC and enable the two checkboxes that send the initialization and shutdown script when connecting/disconnecting.

Q: Can I use PinPoint APRS with the International Space Station (ISS)?
A: PinPoint APRS can be used to digipeat your APRS packet off of the International Space Station (ISS) and other APRS equipped satellites. In order to do so, you will need the following:
- A good, basic APRS transmitter setup. Chances are that your current 2 meter rig and a good antenna (either a base or even a mobile antenna) will work on medium to high passes of the satellite. Discones, verticals, Eggbeaters and yagis are all possibilities!
- A satellite tracking program such as Look4Sat will give you the expected passage times for your location.
The ISS and other satellites use a different frequency to uplink APRS traffic. It's usually 145.825 MHz. In PinPoint APRS, you will need to change the "APRS Path" under "Tools > Options" to the satellite's call sign. For example, the call sign for the ISS is ARISS. Set the minimum APRS beacon to at least every 30 seconds. These satellites are moving incredibly fast and you want to optimize your chances of being heard by the satellite.
Once a pass has completed, you can check to see if your packet was received. If it was successfully received by the satellite, digipeated and received by one of the APRS ground stations that are linked to the APRS network, you will be able to see the info on the regular aprs.fi website. Search for your callsign on aprs.fi. The ISS contact will appear as RS0ISS. If your info on an ISS pass does not show on aprs.fi, it could mean that your packet was heard by the ISS but just not received from the satellite by a ground station. However, you can also check the listing of the latest amateur station packets received by the ISS at ARISS.net. You may have made it after all!
All satellites including the ISS are not always available for APRS comms due to competing science priorities, on board power issues, etc. Keep trying! When you're finished, don't forget to switch your PinPoint APRS path in Options back to your regular setting. (Thanks to Craig, KB8AKZ, for this contribution).

Troubleshooting

Q: PinPoint APRS crashes when I start up the application or the map doesn't show up.
A: It's possible that the PinPoint APRS configuration file was corrupted somehow. You can reset PinPoint APRS by exiting PinPoint APRS first and then going to your user directory (usually C:\Users\{yourusername}) and find the AppData subdirectory (which is usually a hidden directory, so you may have to unhide that first in View > Show > Hidden Items, depending on your Operating System), then navigate to the Local directory. Inside the Local directory, delete any directory that starts with PinPoint. You can now start PinPoint APRS and you will have to configure it again. Don't forget to drag the map to you location, SHIFT-Click on your location, and "Set As My Position" and also enter you call sign under Tools > Options > APRS.

Q: When selecting a new map provider, I noticed that there are a number that don't work. Why is that?
A: PinPoint APRS uses an Open Source mapping library called GMap.Net (GreatMaps). The maps in the dropdown list are the ones that the library provides. I will probably spend some time in the future to filter out the ones that don't work anymore.

Radio/TNC Related

Q: Does PinPoint APRS interact directly with my radio?
A: No. PinPoint APRS needs a TNC (Terminal Node Controller) to talk to via serial port or network port that converts bits and bytes into very specific signals for your radio, like a modem during the dial-up Internet days. The TNC can also be a piece of software (combined with a simple radio interface) that runs on the same (or separate) computer, like SoundModem or Direwolf. The TNC controls the radio. PinPoint APRS talks to the TNC.

Q: Can I get both internal GPS data and the KISS TNC connected to PinPoint APRS with a Kenwood D74 or D75?
A: Yes, but you will have to define the GPS interface as Bluetooth or USB and the built-in TNC as the other interface (USB or Bluetooth) and connect the USB and Bluetooth as separate COM ports to PinPoint APRS, and connect the GPS inside PinPoint APRS to the COM port for the GPS and connect the TNC to the COM port for the TNC. The radio can not pass both GPS and KISS TNC signals over the same interface.

Q: My Kenwood TM-D710G has a built-in GPS. Can it share GPS data into PinPoint APRS together with providing TNC access?
A: The last time I looked at this, the firmware inside the TM-D710G was unable to output the GPS data at the same time, on the same serial interface to PinPoint APRS. There are some 'hacky' ways to do this, but PinPoint APRS does not currently support this. However, if you connect an external GPS to the TM-D710G, you can use GPS passthrough mode as long as the TM-D710G is in TNC2 mode.

Q: I have an AnyTone APRS capable radio. Can I use it with PinPoint APRS?
A: The AnyTone APRS implementation is self-contained inside the radio with no external TNC access, which means no external software can control the TNC inside the AnyTone radio, so for this to work you would have to connect an external TNC to the radio and to PinPoint APRS.

Q: Can PinPoint APRS control APRS on Yaesu APRS capable radios?
A: While PinPoint APRS can display APRS data received by the Yaesu radios that are APRS capable, PinPoint APRS can not control the TNC inside the Yaesu to send anything out, since the TNC inside the radio is 'deaf', meaning it doesn't respond to external commands, hence the 'receive only' limitation.

Q: I have a TNC that requires different commands than the standard Kantronics KPC-3 or Kenwood TNC's. Is that supported?
A: Yes. Select the "Custom" TNC inside of PinPoint APRS, under Tools > Options > TNC, and then go to the location where PinPoint APRS is installed under the TNC directory (usually that is C:\Program Files (x86)\PinPoint APRS\TNC). Find the Startup_Custom.txt and Shutdown_Custom.txt files and edit those with the commands your TNC requires during TNC connect (startup) and TNC disconnect (shutdown). Make sure the "Send initialization script when connecting to TNC" and "Send shutdown script when connecting to TNC" checkboxes are enabled under Tools > Options > TNC, so these files actually are sent to the TNC when Connecting and Disconnecting.

Known Issues & Shortcomings

APRS Messaging in PinPoint APRS has been a bit of a red-headed stepchild and hasn't (yet) received the attention it deserves. While it does work, it's a bit cumbersome. Expect a complete overhaul of this in the near future. The reason for not spending a lot of time on this is that in the ARES world (Amateur Radio Emergency Service), we use WinLink for digital messaging, rather than APRS. Anyway, a completely overhauled version of APRS messaging is being worked on.

Position reports with position ambiguity enabled should show up as a rectangle within which the station is located, because the position report that was sent gives an approximate location. Right now, Pinpoint APRS just shows the position based on the latitude and longitude digits that are known. While this feature is not used a lot, I will probably need to spend some time to re-implement this type of position report to clearly show the position ambiguity.

Currently, PinPoint APRS only supports Digipeating through turning the feature on in a TNC2 capable TNC, which means that PinPoint APRS itself doesn't digipeat, but it tells the TNC to do it if the feature is enabled. This means that no digipeating is currently supported for non-TNC2 TNC's, like KISS. This will be added the in the future.

PinPoint APRS only supports receive-only iGate functionality and will not iGate from APRS-IS to the RF network at the moment. This is a feature that will be added in the future.

While PinPoint APRS does receive SSID's that contain alphanumeric characters or SSID's greater than 15, you can not currently set your own SSID outside the 0-15 range for transmit purposes. This check for a valid SSID range (Tools > Options > APRS) needs to be tied to the type of TNC that is being used in the TNC tab (Tools > Options > TNC). Strict AX.25 only supports an SSID of 4 bits, so a value of 0-15, but not all TNC's use strict AX.25 (LoRa and APRS-IS for instance). This needs some attention.