A comprehensive guide to using various APRS bots for amateur radio communication, spotting, weather information, and more.
Welcome to the MAIL APRS bot! Below you’ll find simple instructions on how to use the bot for messaging, group management, and other helpful features.
To send a message directly to another user, type:
@CALLSIGN followed by your message
Example: @N0CALL Hey there! How's it going?
To check your incoming messages, simply type:
APRSM
The bot will fetch your latest messages.
To delete messages that you haven’t ack’d, simply type:
del
The bot will delete your unacknowledged messages.
If you’re actively using APRS and want to automatically retrieve messages while on the air, include one of the following in your comment beacon:
APMAILALLMSGThe bot will monitor your beacons and send your messages as they come in.
To join a group, use the following command:
join group_name
Example: join bigfoot
This will add you to the specified group.
If you want to leave a group, simply type:
unjoin group_name
Example: unjoin bigfoot
To send a message to all users in a group, type:
#group_name followed by your message
Example: #bigfoot Let's organize the next meetup!
This will send your message to everyone in the “bigfoot” group.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need more help. Enjoy using the MAIL bot!
APSPOT supports a number of commands, and depending on what command is sent will depend on how APSPOT responds. To get started with APSPOT, simply send a message “usage” to APSPOT on APRS and as long as you have gone in via a Tx-Enabled APRS IGate (Or you were heard by a Tx-Enabled APRS IGate) the system will reply with a number of messages on how to use the system.
“usage” Replies with the list of usage types of the system.
“usage <type>“ Replies with basic usage information for each type within the system. Valid types are “aprs”, “sms” and “winlink”
Examples: usage aprs, usage sms, usage winlink
“usage <type> <activity>“ Replies with an example message for your activity.
Example: usage aprs sota replies with: EXAMPLE: "! SOTA VK3/VN-030 7.090 CQCQ"
“spots <activity>“ Replies with the 3 (SMS/APRS) or 10 (Winlink) most recent SPOTS under the activity you provide. Currently the system supports POTA (from pota.app), SOTA (from parksnpeaks.org) and WWFF (from parksnpeaks.org).
Example: spots POTA would return 3 messages via APRS:
K0DME | K-1210 | 14057.0 | CW
N9FAL | K-2234 | 14287 | SSB
B3WAV | K-7724 | 14294 | SSB
The “spots” command has a couple of filtering options:
Filter by mode: Add the desired mode onto the end of the command
spots pota cw – will return CW POTA spotsspots wwff ssb – will return SSB WWFF spotsRequest more spots: Add a number onto the end of the command
spots wwff 5 – will return a maximum of 5 WWFF spots via SMS and APRSCombine filters: The mode filter must be specified first
spots wwff ssb 5 – will return up to 5 SSB WWFF spotsNote: If less than the requested amount of spots are available for the given request – only the available spots will be returned.
APRS Format:
! <Activity> <Ref> <Frequency In MHz> <Mode> <Comment(Optional)>
Winlink Format (Place in Subject of message):
! <Activity> <Ref> <Frequency In MHz> <Mode> <Comment(Optional)>
SMS Format:
!<Callsign> <Activity> <Ref> <Frequency In MHz> <Mode> <Comment(Optional)>
Note: For SMS Spotting, please append your callsign immediately after the “!” WITHOUT a space.
APRS & Winlink: For APRS send the message to “APSPOT” in the callsign field For Winlink send the message to “apspot@apspot.radio” and place the command in the SUBJECT line.
Examples:
! WWFF VKFF-1929 7.144 SSB CQCQ! POTA VK-3024 7.195 SSB CQCQWXBOT provides current weather conditions and forecasts for locations worldwide.
Send a message to WXBOT with a location to get current weather conditions:
WXBOT <location>
Examples:
WXBOT New YorkWXBOT London, UKWXBOT 90210 (ZIP code)WXBOT EM12 (Grid square)The bot will respond with formatted weather information for your requested location.
The TIME bot provides current time information for various locations and time zones.
Send a message to TIME with a location or time zone:
TIME <location>
Examples:
TIME New YorkTIME LondonTIME UTCTIME PSTThe bot will respond with the current local time for the requested location.
PING is a simple connectivity test bot that responds to confirm your APRS messaging is working properly.
Send any message to PING and it will respond back, confirming your APRS path is functioning:
PING test
This is useful for testing your APRS setup and verifying message delivery.
The REPEAT bot is a handy tool for finding information about amateur radio repeaters. Simply provide a location or grid square, and REPEAT will return details like frequencies, tones, and offsets for nearby repeaters.
Send a message to REPEAT with your location or grid square:
REPEAT <location>
Example: REPEAT EM12
If you’re interested in satellite communication or just want to know where the International Space Station (ISS) is, the ISS bot has you covered. It provides the current location of the ISS, including its latitude, longitude, and altitude.
Send a message to ISS to get the latest position:
ISS
CQSRVR is an APRS server designed to facilitate initial contact between amateur radio APRS stations (hams) worldwide with similar interests. It is not a messaging server, BBS, or any other type of interactive forum. It is a global service and requires unique callsign-SSIDs to be used.
To use CQSRVR, send an APRS numbered message to CQSRVR that looks like:
CQ groupname your message here
“CQ” and “groupname” are each one word separated by a space, and may be any mix of upper and lower case. “your message here” is the message text you want to be sent to other registered members of “groupname”.
AE5PL-10>APRS::CQSRVR :CQ MYTEST Listening for APRS contacts{01
CQSRVR>APJIC1,TCPIP*::AE5PL-10 :ack01
CQSRVR>APJIC1,TCPIP*::AE5PL-10 :Message has been sent to MYTEST{00
AE5PL-10>APJIC1,qAO,CQSRVR::W5EJL-1 :CQ MYTEST Listening for APRS contacts
Every time you send a CQ groupname message to CQSRVR, it “registers” you with that group. You may only send one CQ groupname message per 30 minutes to keep activity manageable.
To unregister from a group, send a numbered APRS message to CQSRVR with:
U groupname
Example: U MYTEST
If the group is inactive for 12 hours or you are inactive for 12 hours, you will be unregistered automatically.
? - List all active groups? GROUPNAME - Reply with how many are in the groupL - List all groups I am a member ofThese commands are sent just like the CQ and U commands (the text portion of an APRS message to CQSRVR).
The easiest way to send email is to send a message to EMAIL with the recipient’s email address as the first “word” of the message. You may only send one line messages (67 total characters maximum).
Send APRS message "email@address message text" to EMAIL.
APRS Format: URCALL-10>APRS::EMAIL :urname@urdomain.bogus This is a test.
Note: Keith Sproul WU2Z retired the EMAIL server in 2019. It has been replaced with a javAPRSSrvr Email Gateway (EMAIL-2).
javAPRSSrvr supports email via EmailGate. This server supports the EMAIL method of sending email and supports some new features. EmailGate now properly supports UTF-8 in both APRS messages and emails.
Currently, EMAIL and EMAIL-2 are the callsigns for the general email servers. Both support delayed delivery of APRS messages and messaging to/from Winlink.
To create a shortcut:
Send APRS message "shortcut email@address" to EMAIL-2
APRS Format: URCALL-10>APRS::EMAIL-2 :me urname@urdomain.bogus
To use the “me” shortcut from any of your stations:
Send APRS message "shortcut message text" to EMAIL-2
APRS Format: URCALL-7>APRS::EMAIL-2 :me This is a test.
List all shortcuts:
Send APRS message "shortcut L" to EMAIL-2
Remove a shortcut:
Send APRS message "shortcut R" to EMAIL-2
Note: Shortcuts are associated with the callsign so each amateur can have their own shortcuts. They can only include alpha and numeric ASCII characters (no punctuation, white space, or Unicode characters).
Shortcuts may be used by persons on the Internet to send an APRS message to a station via email. The email must meet these requirements:
From: urname@urdomain.bogus
To: EMAIL-2 email address
Subject: URCALL-10:Testing email to APRS.
Body:
This is a test userid:me: of APRS email gateway.
Your Name URCALL
Some javAPRSSrvr email gateways support unacknowledged message caching. If a valid email goes unacknowledged after 4 tries, you may retrieve cached messages by sending:
Send APRS message "get" to EMAIL-2
APRS Format: URCALL-10>APRS::EMAIL-2 :get
The ?APRSM query is equivalent to the get command.
EMAIL-2 supports caching for up to 24 hours and supports both the get command and ?APRSM query.
This guide covers the major APRS bots available for amateur radio operators. Each bot provides unique functionality to enhance your APRS experience. Happy operating!