Chapter 8
Stations, Packets and Station Detail
#Packet explained
Long-press a packet on the Packets screen, or tap 🔍 Explain this packet under RAW in Station Detail, to see the packet taken apart: who sent it; the software it came from (read from the destination, such as APDR = APRSdroid); each step of the path — WIDE1-1 fill-in hop, WIDE2-1 with hops left, * where it has been repeated, qAR and the iGate that gated it; the kind of packet from its first character; and every value decoded — position and any ambiguity, locator, symbol, speed and heading, altitude, PHG, weather, telemetry, message text and ID, status and comment. Copy puts the raw packet on the clipboard.
#Station Detail
Station Detail opens when you tap a station on the map, a row in the station log, a packet or a conversation header. It shows the most recent information for that station, arranged in sections. Long-press any value to copy it.
| Section | Contents |
|---|---|
| Header | Callsign (or object name) in large type, packet type, the sending station for objects, and the interface it was heard on (APRS-IS, KISS TNC, Bluetooth TNC, BLE TNC, AGW, USB Serial TNC, Audio DSP TNC). |
| POSITION | Grid square, latitude and longitude, distance and bearing from your QTH. |
| MOTION | Course, speed and altitude (in your chosen units). |
| COMMENT | The station's comment text. |
| WEATHER | Temperature in both units, wind direction, speed and gust, humidity, pressure, rain. |
| MESSAGE | Addressee and text, for message packets. |
| PHG | Power, antenna height and gain, if the station sends PHG. |
| PATH / RAW | The digipeater path and the complete raw packet. Show path on map draws the route the packet took (see below). |
Below the sections are action buttons. Only those that apply are shown:
- Telemetry History — chart of the station's analogue telemetry channels, named and scaled from its PARM, UNIT and EQNS definitions where it sends them.
- Track History (N positions) — draw the station's movement on the map.
- Weather History — charts of temperature, wind, pressure and so on (up to 30 days).
- QRZ.com and APRS.fi — open the station on those sites.
- Look up CALL (HamQTH) — name, QTH, country, grid, zones and QSL details shown in the window itself. HamQTH.com is free but needs an account: the first lookup asks for your HamQTH user name and password, which are kept on the phone only. Change or remove them in Settings → Station.
- Log QSO — open the QSO log with the callsign filled in.
- Watch / Watching — add to or remove from the watch list.
- Position history — the last five positions with time and distance.
- Message CALL — open the conversation with this station.
- Map — back to the map, centred on the station (when it has a position).
- Share and Copy All — the station's details as text.
- Find — an arrow that points at the station, using the phone's compass, with the distance, whether you are getting closer, and how long ago its position was heard. It follows both your position and the station's as they change — useful for meeting up, events and fox hunts. On a phone without a compass the arrow is drawn with north up.
- ISS and Sun — ISS passes and sunrise/sunset for the station's location.
Show path on map draws a dashed orange line from the station through each digipeater that repeated the packet to the iGate that put it on APRS-IS — or to your own station if you heard it on RF — with an arrow on each hop. Generic path entries such as WIDE2 say nothing about who repeated the packet and are skipped, as are digipeaters whose position the app has not heard. The line clears itself after three minutes.
#Stations tab (station log)
The Stations tab lists every station heard — one card per callsign — and is the best way to see what is around you. The header shows the number of stations matching the current filters, and a statistics line gives the session length, how many have positions or weather, and the most active station.
| Control | Function |
|---|---|
| Search | Filter by callsign or comment text. |
| All / Pos / WX / Mobile | All stations; those with a position; weather stations; or moving stations (position and more than one packet). |
| All / IS / RF | Where the station was heard. |
| Recent / First / Call / Count / Distance | Sort order (Call: by callsign). The choice is kept. |
| Clear | Empty the station log. |
Each card shows the type icon, callsign, source, last heard time, packet count, badges for position, weather and telemetry, distance, bearing and grid, and the last comment. Tap a card for Packet History, Station Detail, Centre Map or Weather History. Packet History lists the station's recent packets newest first, colour-coded by type; tap one to see its raw text.
The station log is saved and reloaded when the app starts; stations not heard for seven days are dropped.
#Packets screen
Menu → Packets is a live list of decoded packets (up to 300 shown). Each card shows the time, a type code (POS, MSG, WX, OBJ, ITM, TLM, STA, QRY), a source pill (IS, KISS, BT, BLE, AGW, USB, AUDIO), the callsign, distance, symbol, and decoded position, motion, weather, message or comment lines.
- All / IS only / RF only and the type chips filter the list; the search box filters by callsign or comment. RF covers every radio interface, including USB and the Audio TNC.
- Auto (on by default) keeps the list at the newest packet. Turn it off to read: the list then holds its place while new packets arrive above.
- Tap a packet for Station Detail; long-press it for Packet explained (below).
- Raw switches to a raw-text view, one line per packet, coloured by type; your own transmissions start with
>>and are red. In raw view Save writes the list to a text file and shares it. - Clear empties the packet list.
#WX Stations
Menu → Tools → WX Stations lists every weather station heard, nearest first, with temperature, wind and humidity. Tap one to see its weather history charts.
#Station Export
Menu → Export → Station Export saves the station log as a CSV spreadsheet (callsign, first and last heard, packet count, source, position, grid, distance, comment) or a KML map file of the stations with positions, and opens the share sheet.