October 3, 2001
These are pictures of my motorcycle-mounted APRS setup. Position data is acquired by the Garmin GPS 12XL, and passed via a serial data cable (which also carries power) to the Kenwood TH-D7AG. The D7 takes this data into an onboard terminal node controller (aka, modem, but for radio instead of telephone), and processes it into an APRS packet, which it then transmits. The D7 also receives position information from other stations, and displays it in a shortened form on its display. The radio is hooked up to a halfwave, dual band (2m/70cm) antenna which is attached to the rear luggage rack.
The GPS and radio are mounted using RAM mounts, so they can be quickly disconnected when the bike is parked. The wiring loom was created by me out of a Garmin unterminated data/power cable, a set of 5-pin DIN connectors from Radio Shack, and some connectors I had around the house. The power connector came from my local BMW dealer, and retails for around $10.
In order to see this in action, try clicking on this link, which will show my last reported position. (It's not a perfect system, but it's pretty neat.)
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