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What to listen to · Fax and digital signals

APRS on 144.390 MHz: the North American frequency

The same packet network as on 144.800 MHz in Europe, on the frequency used across the United States and Canada. ShackDeck takes a receiver in the USA and puts the cars, weather stations and digipeaters on the map.

Frequency144.390 MHz
ModeAPRS

What you hear

Bursts of 1200-baud packet radio in narrow FM, each a fraction of a second long, carrying positions from cars and handhelds, weather reports, beacons from digipeaters and internet gateways, messages and telemetry. The packets, the symbols and the network are described in the main article; this entry is the same system on the other side of the Atlantic.

Who transmits and why

North American radio amateurs. APRS was born in the United States, and 144.390 MHz has been its continent-wide frequency since the 1990s. The density is the difference: around a large American city the frequency is busy day and night, and weather stations are many, as storm spotters use the network alongside the National Weather Service.

When and where to listen

Around the clock, busiest in the rush hours and at weekends in the receiver's local time. The signal is VHF line of sight, so a receiver in a metropolitan area or on high ground hears the most. The receiver has to be in North America and have 2 metres; receivers with VHF are fewer than shortwave ones.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Fax and digital signals → APRS 144.390 (USA). The program picks a public receiver in the United States with 2 metres, tunes it to 144.390 MHz in narrow FM and sets the APRS mode; no receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed. The packets appear in the APRS panel under the waterfall and every station lands on the map with its symbol and callsign; a click on a symbol shows the details.

More stations

MSK144 on 144.360 MHz: meteor scatter pings on 2 metres

144.360 MHz · MSK144

On 144.360 MHz European stations bounce short bursts off the ionised trails of meteors, waiting for a ping. ShackDeck decodes the pings and puts the stations on the map; best before dawn and in the big showers.

APRS on 144.800 MHz in Europe: cars, weather stations and digipeaters on the map

144.800 MHz · APRS

On 144.800 MHz European amateur stations send short packets with their position, weather and messages: cars on the move, home weather stations, digipeaters on hills. ShackDeck decodes them and puts everything on the map.

SO-50: the FM repeater satellite on 436.795 MHz

436.795 MHz · FM

SaudiSat 1C, known as SO-50, carries an FM repeater that amateurs work with handheld radios: up on 145.850 MHz, down on 436.795 MHz. ShackDeck picks a receiver under the satellite's footprint.

NCDXF beacons on 14.100 MHz: eighteen stations that show where 20 metres is open

14100 kHz · CW

Eighteen beacons around the world take turns on 14.100 MHz, each sending its callsign and four dashes at falling power in a ten-second slot. With a receiver and a clock you can tell where 20 metres is open.

FT8 on 15 metres: 21074 kHz, long-haul by day

21074 kHz · FT8

On 15 m the short paths vanish and what remains is distance: Japan, South America, the Pacific in daylight. FT8 on 21074 kHz lives by the solar cycle and is easiest in the years around a maximum.

Ukrainian Radio on 1386 kHz: the night relay from Viešintos, Lithuania

1386 kHz · AM

The first channel of Ukrainian Radio relayed overnight on medium wave from Lithuania, 21:30 to 04:00 UTC, with short inserts in Slovak, Bulgarian, Belarusian and Romanian. Where it reaches and how it shares the channel.