WA8LMF Mirror of WB4APR Website - 21 July 2008 APRN Annapolis

99 US Naval Academy Football Run

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR

130 midshipmen from the 13th Company ran the Army/Navy game football from Annapolis to arrive at the stadium in Philadelphia this morning for kickoff. The Satellite Lab maintained comms with the runners using GPS, APRS and SSTV relayed in part by the AEROSPACE department's Satellite Simulator installed thursday night on top of the Gate 8 water tower. The street maps below showed the current position of the ball every 2 mins. Followed by live KEN-CAM photos from along the route.

The next photo shows the gang at Oxford Fire Station, which is used as a forward staging area. Time is about 2230.

..

The above street maps only showed the Football position. The following map ran javAPRS live and showed all amateur radio APRS stations participating. Since the ball has arrived, it is now showing a replay of the event.


javAPRS Commands (Case Insensitive)
U or D
 zooms up/down (you may also use PGup/dn)
L, S, or M
 List stations, Show Status or Messages to Java console
CTRL or ALT-click
 Centers or Zooms map on clicked location
Arrow keys
 scrolls map

Remote Amateur Radio Ken-Cam LIVE Images:

The following section was updated in real time* via amateur radio link whenever new images were received from the lead vehicle. Most images were taken by the handheld Ken-Cam during changes in runners at each of the legs. (Also, see last year's 1998 Photos). Here's this years:

  • Helmet mounted GPS unit (not used this year)
  • Time Runners
  • 1130 W3ADO Radio team
  • Noon VIP's ready to go!
  • 1215 Admiral and first runners leaving Bancroft
  • 1230 First 13th Co runners
  • 1245 Headed out Gate 8
  • 1315 Armstrong/Lewis
  • 1500 1/c Crouch
  • 1700 Murphy & Riley
  • 1900 Group at night
  • 1930 In car headlights
  • 2000 Skewed view
  • 2030 Volunteers at Oxford
  • 2100 Sleeping/wounded
  • 2130 The Group at Oxford Fire Stn
  • 2200 Group Shot
  • 2230 Nice Legs
  • 0130 WEBmaster shut down for some sleep!
  • 0230 Next bunch for the road
  • 0330 They found the ball
  • 0430 On the Road Again
  • 0530 Dark as Pitch
  • 0600 The hour before dawn
  • 0630 Running between the lines
  • 0700 BALL Arrived in Philly and Mids start getting cleaned up
  • Thanks to LT Skip Johnson for capturing these at the 7th wing Radio Club and forwarding them.

    These images are transmitted back live via Amateur radio using what is called SSTV, Slow Scan TV. HAMS have been doing this for over 30 years, but now with WEB technology, we can instantly post these live images to our WEB page too...

    APRN BACKGROUND: APRN (Automatic Picture Relay Network) is a live amateur radio channel for the transmission of remote KEN-CAM images. We can even automatically place the station on the map if he uses an attached GPS unit. Thus this APRN web page is automatic and catalogs, indexes and makes available images instantly. There is no better mechanism than APRN for diseminating real-time, in-the-field images from amateur radio operators in support of emergencies or public service events. APRN augments the worldwide APRS amateur radio position reporting and mesaging system by giving vision to remote and mobile operations.

    APRN is a concept presented by Bob Bruninga, WB4APR at the Digital Communication Conference in Chicago, 25 September 1998 and his robotic VISION system presented at the DCC in Baltimore, Sept 1997.

    Here is also a replay of the 1993 Army-Navy game football run to NJ Meadowlands(picture)

    • Return links:
    SAT-STATION APRN Annapolis

    APRS

    You are visitor: Since 1 Dec 99 when it was started .

    The Naval Academy is a registered user of APRS and WinAPRS. The purpose of this web page is to show several applications currently in use at this site and should not be considered as an advertisement or an endorsement of any commercial product.

    WA8LMF Mirror of WB4APR Website - 21 July 2008