Showing Your Rover on the Map with APRSdroid

APRSdroid is a free Android app that sends your position as APRS reports. It works with only the phone and its data connection; no radio is needed. The K1RZ / W3SZ map shows any APRS station whose SSID is 9 and whose comment contains the word "rover".

A rover stays on the map for 30 minutes after its last position report. The settings below make the phone report at least every 10 minutes, even while you are parked at a grid corner.

1. Install APRSdroid

Get it from the Google Play Store (search for "APRSdroid") or from the APRSdroid website, aprsdroid.org.

APRSdroid main screen (the log) (click to enlarge)

2. Callsign and SSID

Open the menu, then Preferences. Under APRS Settings:

Callsign (without SSID): your plain callsign, for example W3SZ. Do not add "/R"; the map adds it for you.
SSID: choose 9 (Mobile).

Choosing SSID 9 (Mobile station) (click to enlarge)

3. Connection

Under APRS Connection, set Connection Protocol to Internet (APRS-IS) if you are using the phone alone. Then, in Connection Preferences, enter your APRS-IS Passcode. If you don't have one, use Request Passcode there. Without a valid passcode your reports are not passed on and you will not appear on the map.

(If you connect the phone to a radio or TNC instead, choose that connection type; the rest of this page still applies.)

Connection Protocol: Internet (APRS-IS) (click to enlarge)

4. Comment: the word "rover"

Under Position Reports, set Comment field to include the word rover (upper or lower case), for example "rover 10 GHz". You can also pick a car under APRS symbol if you like.

Comment field set to "rover" (click to enlarge)

5. Location Source

Under Position Reports, open Location Source. It has three choices:

SmartBeaconing Position — use this one for roving (it is the default). It reports about once a minute at highway speed, extra times when you turn a corner, and once every Slow Rate seconds when you are parked or moving slowly. The default Slow Rate is 1200 seconds (20 minutes). Change Slow Rate to 600 (10 minutes). Leave the other SmartBeaconing settings alone.
Periodic GPS/Network Position — reports every Minimum update time minutes (default 10), but only after you have also moved Minimum update distance kilometers (default 10). With the default distance, a parked rover never reports and drops off the map. If you use this mode, set Minimum update distance to 0.
Manual Position — sends a fixed latitude/longitude that you type in. It does not use the GPS, so it is for fixed stations only, not for rovers.

Location Source: SmartBeaconing Position (click to enlarge)

SmartBeaconing Slow Rate set to 600 (click to enlarge)

6. Exact position

Under Privacy, make sure Position Ambiguity is off (no reduced precision). Otherwise the map shows you in the wrong place.

7. Start tracking

Go back to the main screen and tap Start Tracking. When Android asks, allow APRSdroid to use your precise location, and turn off battery optimisation for APRSdroid, so that Android does not stop it when the screen is off.

Tracking running: your own reports (green, ending in "rover") show TCP OK (click to enlarge)

8. Check the map

Within a few minutes your callsign, with "/R" added (for example W3SZ/R), should appear on the map. If it doesn't, check that the SSID is 9, the comment contains "rover", and the passcode is correct.