Local Station Setup

  1. Open QTH Preferences, QTH → Preferences... Station Preferences
  2. Select callsign
    1. If you have installed your QTH license, you will be able to select your callsign in the popup menu.
    2. If you are using QTH without a license, you will see NOCALL in the popup. QTH will be unable to transmit any outgoing information, but you will be able to receive and view data.

  3. Enter your Secondary Station Identification suffix.

    This suffix, which is generally a number, will be appended to your callsign. This is useful for differentiating between different stations that may be using the same callsign, such as a home station and a mobile station.

    Here are the recommended SSID conventions:

    SSID Recommendation
    -0 Your primary station usually fixed and message capable
    -1 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc
    -2 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc
    -3 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc
    -4 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc
    -5 Other networks (Dstar, Iphones, Androids, Blackberry’s etc)
    -6 Special activity, Satellite ops, camping or 6 meters, etc
    -7 walkie talkies, HT’s or other human portable
    -8 boats, sailboats, RV’s or second main mobile
    -9 Primary Mobile (usually message capable)
    -10 internet, Igates, echolink, winlink, AVRS, APRN, etc
    -11 balloons, aircraft, spacecraft, etc
    -12 APRStt, DTMF, RFID, devices, one-way trackers*, etc
    -13 Weather stations
    -14 Truckers or generally full time drivers
    -15 generic additional station, digi, mobile, wx, etc

    For more details, please see APRS SSID Recommendations

  4. Choose symbol

    Choose the symbol that you would like to represent your station on the APRS map.

    Click the image to popup the symbols picker. If you are unsure what a particular symbol represents, you can hover your cursor over a symbol and a tooltip will pop up with the description. symbol picker

  5. Power / Height / Gain (Optional)
    • Station Power: Enter the power your station is using to transmit
    • Height: Enter the height of your antenna
    • Gain: If your antenna has a gain, you can enter it here
    • Directivity: If you are using a directional antenna, you can indicate the direction it is pointing, here. Otherwise, if the indicator dot is pointing up, it is considered an omnidirectional antenna.

Continue on to Add a Connection