ATGP Appliance
Since the inception of the event, ATGP required all participants to operate a Kenwood APRS-enabled radio.
Why Kenwood? Ask any ham radio operator who is knowledgable of APRS what the best solution is and, in most if not all cases, they would answer Kenwood.
Kenwood is the GOLD STANDARD in APRS - hands down!
Bob Bruninga (WB4APR) - the creator of APRS (and the Appalachian Trail Golden Packet) - worked directly with Kenwood to introduce support for APRS in their flagship amateur radio HTs and mobile radios.
Kenwood guaranteed APRS compatability across all of their radios at both 1200 and 9600 baud
ATGP requires several not-so-commonly used APRS features that simply aren't found in other APRS-enabled radios
ATGP 2022 was the first year where participants were allowed to use a non-Kenwood radio for the event.
We commissioned Don AB1PH to select the ideal combination of hardware which allowed for portable operations under demanding conditions and satifies the not-so-commonly used features of APRS.
Don worked diligently over a period of 6 months in which he designed and tested a several iterations of the APRS Appliance until he finally settled on the hardware we use for the ATGP Appliance.
APRS Appliance
APRS Appliance + DigiPi + DINAH USB Audio Interface + Adafruit 1.3" OLED Display = ATGP Appliance