Fun with the Earthlink SPARK

I won my Earthlink SPARK in a contest sponsored by Earthlink. As the top prize winner, I got the unit, a year of service ($39/mo), and $500.

First order of business, and the rather simple proposal which won the contest, was to gateway the Earthlink positions to findU. Took all of two hours...which works out to over $800/hr! The SPARK unit sends it's position to the Earthlink server. Each user can configure the server to generate a URL whenever an event is received, I have mine pointing at a cgi on findU. The notification is simply an ID (like a callsign) and the type of event. If the type is 'location' it means a new position is available, and the findU server will query the Earthlink server for the position data. You can see my last AVL position here:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=avl&radar=***

Interestingly enough the unit seems to like to return home to California when it is powered up without a GPS attached, as I have been doing lately while working with the two way messaging, so don't be too surprised if it appears on the wrong coast! My ham-radio reported position is at:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=k4hg-8&radar=***

Next project is to use the two way messaging capabilities of the unit to transmit images from findU to a laptop in my truck. With this I hope to get a nearly real-time radar image displayed in the truck!

email questions and comments to Steve Dimse k4hg@tapr.org.

APRS is a registered trademark of APRS Software and Bob Bruninga, WB4APR.