APRS and messaging

With this repeater network and what I have read it seems like short messages can also be sent through the network. It would be great to encode the equivalent of an SMS or short email to folks on the ground using the APRS transmission. Is this a practical suggestion, or do I wait to spend $7K on my ADS-B unit in a few years?

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Doug Nebert - RV-10 project, started 2/2006
Tail, wings, engine: ready, working on fuselage

APRS E-Mail

Doug,

You can send E-mail through the APRS network, and to a lesser degree, receive E-Mail. There are transceivers that offer support for this, such as the Kenwood products. Our TinyTrak4 (www.byonics.com) with external keyboard and LCD display will make this fairly easy, since you can plug it into any transceiver. Software to support this is still developmental. As soon as Byon has this firmware done, I will be producing a Micro-Trak Transceiver utilizing the TT4 controller.

Allen
VHS