Whats's New at the N2RWE Live Real-time APRS Map

About the Software

This site is running on aprs.to backend code 2024-11 build 20e by Steve White, N2RWE. More information about the various technologies in use is available in our FAQ.

What's New (Changelog)

11-20-2024 :: Bug Fixes

Blank Screen after Login
We had one user report that they had a blank screen after logging in. This was due to a bug in the new site settings support code.

Stale Module Caching
Some browsers were holding cached files after the site update last week causing errors. We've introduced a new system for managing delivery of these modules to the browser to ensure the client always has the latest module to avoid compatibility issues.

Saving User Preferences
Fixed a bug where a new user could not save Site Preferences without first going to Map preferences and saving preferences there.

11-19-2024 :: Live APRS Packet Decoder

Live APRS Packet Decoder
This is a tool which you can paste any APRS packet from any website or application, and we'll try to decode it for you using the same packet decoding engine we use for this sites packet data capture. It can optionally only process the packet body, which can be useful in testing manually built packets for software like Direwolf and some hardware like the Microsat devices.

Browser Fixes
Implemented several minor fixes for browser compatibilty issues reported by users. Also implemented a new system for invalidating browser caches when updates are published.

11-13-2024 :: More Google Map Fixes & New Transmit Animation

Google Map Fixes
A couple fixes were missed in the initial release that would cause Google maps to crash. It appears that Google has recently made more tweaks to their API which we had to accommodate.

New Transmit Animation
The Transmit Animation has been improved with a new set of colors and for Leaflet users, a smoother animation sequence. The transmit animation appears around a marker whenever a packet is received.

11-11-2024 :: Introducing APRS.TO Version 3.0!

It's finally here... After four months of development, our third major update has launched! This update includes 36 new features, five new data (packet) types, and 13 major bug fixes, including Google maps. In addition there are more than a dozen minor bug fixes and performance changes included with this release.

New Features

New Look!
We've completely rebuilt the home page to be more mobile-friendly visually appealing. We've changed colors, added icons to each of the menu items, and redesigned the menu to fall-back to smaller screens without any loss of functionality. Menus no longer automatically open, which wasn't always convenient, and submenu's are scrollable so all options are accessible. We've also been able to show the clock on even the smallest of screens! The footer bar has also been re-engineered to be mobile-friendly and will always show the most critical information like connection status and tx/rx indicators.

Advanced Filtering!
The Advanced (Map) Filter makes its' debut in this update. While it has always been possible to filter the map by one or more stations through the many station filter options throughout the site, this release takes filtering to a whole new level. We have a great new centralized user interface for map filtering that extends filtering capabilities with many new options. It is now possible to filter by APRS symbol(s), or hide stations with specific symbols. Filtering can be limited to stations transmit weather and/or telemetry data as well as callsign, speed, and altitude.

Filter Presets!
Filter presets in an Advanced Filter feature reserved exclusively for our registered members! Create and save many different map filtering combinations for quick and easy recall later. Presets store all of the filtering parameters available including stations and symbols.

Marker Type Filtering
There are three types of map markers; Stations, Objects, and Items. Until this release, we only captured and stored packets for Stations and Objects, and ignored the lesser-used Item report packets. The site has been parsing and storing Item packets for a few weeks (since late October 2024) making it possible to display all three types on the map. In the Settings menu there are new menu items for control which of these markers should be shown; Show Station Markers, Show Object Markers, and Show Item Markers. By default all of these are marker types will be displayed but they can be disabled individually. These settings also are stored with Mapshots and User Preferences.

Mobile Friendly Enhancements
There are small, but useful tweaks all throughout the site. For example, to make using the site more touch friendly we are using larger buttons and buttons coupled with checkboxes so touches do not have to be as precise. Some pages have been engineered to be more responsive, such as Site and Account settings where the display of settings will fall back from 2 columns to 1 on narrow screens.

Live Map Snapshots!
Map snapshots are a unique feature to the N2RWE APRS tracker. This facility allows you to capture a map at any given point in time and be able to recall it anytime in the future. This update introduces live Map Snapshots, which enables a full snapshot of the displayed map, including location, zoom, filters, data source, etc., but without any specific point-in-time (TimeTravel) data. This means that anytime a live map snapshot is recalled, it will show stations and data at the current point-in-time. To build a live map snapshot, arrange the map as you'd like, but do not enable Time Travel. The snapshot creation dialog will ask if you want to include a point-in-time (TimeTravel) timestamp. If you don't enable Time Travel, the snapshot will always show current data when it's recalled.

1980s Weather Display!
Inspired by the 1980's TV show Knight Rider, we are pleased to introduce our newest weather display, complete with 7-segment LED's! Designed to resemble the technology of the period, this retro-display is all about nostalgia of that era!

Quick Search
The "See all results" link in the Quick Search (station search box at the top of the page) now goes directly to the search results for the call sign query.

Other Improvements

Make it bigger!
The information windows can now be maximized to full screen. Look for this icon in the top right corner. The window size will be maintained throughout your session, even after closing the window. This can also be set as a user preference for those who have signed up for a free account. This feature can be found in Site Settings under the Account menu.

Intelligent, Responsive Tables
We make extensive use of interactive tables throughout the site and this update makes them both smarter and more adaptive. The tables all make better use of available screen real-estate and will dynamically resize as the size of the browser window changes, or if the popup window is maximized. We've also implemented a consistent row-selection method on all tables throughout the entire site. Buttons are smarter because of the new row selection system... Buttons remain greyed out unless they actually can do something.

Mobile Friendly Tables
In addition to making the table displays intelligent and more responsive, we've also made them mobile friendly. Whenever any table on the site is unable to display all of the columns, a new column appears with an arrow. Clicking this arrow expands a drop-down that displays any fields that did not fit on screen.

Live Maps!
The real-time display of information is what this site is all about. We've taken this a huge step forward and made the site more dynamic than before. The map will continue to show real-time updates when the map is moved or zoomed slowly. Fast movements will not completely redraw until the movement or zooming is stopped. Try it out for yourself!

Responsive Mobile Menu System
In an effort to make the site more mobile friendly, we've introduced a new menu system in all of the popup information windows. If the browser size is too small for the menu, it will change to a new mobile-friendly drop-down menu. This also happens dynamically if the browser is resized and the menu no longer fits.

Show Me (Map Wizard)
Introducing our new "Show Me" Map Wizard. "Show Me" is a tool designed with both new and experienced APRS users in mind. This tool will make it very easy to visualize commonly viewed information on the map, while eliminating the clutter of unwanted information. Users can choose from one five presets; All APRS Stations, OTA APRS Stations, Weather Stations, Aircraft & Balloons, and SOTA Activations.

#APRSThursday Check-ins
It is now possible to include early and late check-ins (+/- 4 hours) in the APRSThursday Check-ins page. Previously this view has been limited to check-ins that were received strictly on the day of the net. Other statistics, leaderboard, etc., still do not include out-of-band check-ins. We've also made a tweak in the backend to return the check-in results a little quicker.

Track Me
Want to include a direct map link to your station in an e-mail website, or Facebook post? The new Track Me feature offers direct, easy-to-remember links to your (or any) station (tracked or filtered) on the map.

HamQTH
Links to HamQTH profiles have been added to the station details and license database pages.

Favorite Stations
The Favorite Stations list has been improved to include the ability to select multiple stations and add them to the map filter.

New Tail Length Options
There are new Track Tail length options, including 5 and 15 minutes, plus 2 hours and 9 hours.

Extended Filter Tail Time
Our registered members can view track history for a filtered station for up to the past 7 days. Guests can still see up to 3 days of track history.

New User Preferences Options
Registered users can save their preferred current weather display as a default that will be used when viewing any weather station.

Moving Stations Speedup
The Moving Stations page has been optimized to retrieve data more quickly.

Packet Path Path Health/Status
We've improved the packet path analysis algorithms to more accurately determine the RF hops, type of path used, and also to detect stations connecting APRS via DMR.

Latest Invalid Packets
The Latest Invalid Packet report is a new troubleshooting tool created specifically to identify which stations are transmitting out-of-spec packets. This new report can be found in the Search menu.

Station History
For registered users, the site will now remember the last 10 stations that were visited. The Quick Search box will always show the last 5 stations viewed at the top of the list if no search terms have been entered, or at the bottom of the search results if a callsign search has been performed. The Station Search page will also show the last 10 stations viewed.

Right-Click Coordinates
Did you know that you can right-click anywhere on the map to get coordinates in a variety of different formats? With this release, that feature is no longer exclusive to OpenStreetMaps, it now works on Google Maps too!

External Service Status Page
We've deployed a new, external service status page that monitors many of the components of this site. You can find it here.

Database Cluster Expansion
A third database instance has been added to the replicated database pool of recorded APRS-IS data. Each database instance lives on a physically separate server, with independent storage. Requests are handled by a load balancer to ensure that database load is evenly distributed and to manage the failure/failover of any database instance.

Websockets Security Improvements
The websocket connections, which are the primary source of map data, which have always been encrypted, are now also completely linked to the web browser session and login credentials (if applicable).

Latest Heard Speedup
The Latest Heard stations (under the Search menu) has been optimized to query and return data 20-30% quicker to the browser for faster report generation.

Backend Performance Enhancements
Implemented caching in a couple backend functions to speed up page load times and reduce server load. Optimized load balancer for aggressive connection re-use.

Data Availability Status
This site uses an innovative data partitioning scheme which enables us to store many years worth of information and still retrieve it quickly. A secondary benefit of this method is that it also allows us to perform tasks such as routine maintenance and data analysis on small chunks of data without having any significant impact on the site, other than to temporarily remove some data from being available to use. There is a new status page to show the availability of our data. Under normal circumstances, all data should be normally online and available. This page will show any data segments (by specific date) that are not available to the site.

Redis Upgrades
All ten instances of the Redis cache server have been upgraded to the latest version. Our Redis cluster has been in service for 3 years making this upgrade significant. This jump in version brings numerous performance improvements that should further boost the speed of the site.

My Stations Diagnostics
The My Stations page has been enhanced to include a diagnostic status to indicate whether the station is on the air, potentially off air, or dead. Stations which are transmitting invalid packets will also be flagged for the operators attention.

Map "My Stations"
Registered users can quickly view all of their stations on a map with a single click. In the My Stations view, there is a new link "Show on Map" which will close the window and show all stations associated with your callsign.

Map Dropdown on Tables
All tables which display a list of stations feature a new Map dropdown when one or more rows are selected. There is currently only one option, "Add to Filter". When clicked, the selected stations will be added to the current station filter. The current map zoom and center will not change when stations are added to the filter with this option.

New Datatypes & Data Improvements

Station Capability Packets
We are now properly parsing and storing Station Capability packets. An example of a station capability packet includes packet statistics from Digipeater (if configured to send such packets). To see capability data for a station, go to that stations raw packet view and select decoded packets.

Item Report Packets
We are now properly parsing and storing Item Report packets. Much like a location packet, an item report can include latitude and longitude information along with PHG and other information. To see capability data for a station, go to that stations raw packet view and select decoded packets.

Peet Ultimeter Weather Station Decoding
Support for the data format that Peet Ultimeter weather stations use has been added. These devices have a unique packet format that does not match the regular weather packet structure.

Telemetry EQNS/BITS Packet Parsing Improvements
Per the APRS spec pertaining to EQNS/BITS "The list can terminate after any field." meaning either EQNS field may not be 15 chars and could contain extraneous garbage at the end if the APRS client is not properly configured. Technically the packet is invalid, but the parser will now attempt to remove them, then decode the packet.

Invalid Packets
Packets that cannot be properly decoded or classified are no longer discarded. They are being stored with a special flag so they can still be recalled for diagnostic purposes only.

Bug Fixes

Google Maps
Google Maps have been fixed. Google made a change to their API in response to the polyfill.io hack earlier this summer which broke the site. We've also fixed the PHG and RNG overlays for google maps. To prevent abuse (and associated costs), Google Maps are now a privilege reserved exclusively for registered guests. As always, account here are free, so this is one more added incentive to sign up for a free account.

Missing Weather Data
A bug in a 3rd party code library caused some stations to be missing some or all weather data. This bug affected approximately 1-2% of stations that report weather. The issue with the 3rd party library has been identified and patched. Archived weather records are bing reprocessed to restore the missing data;

Time Travel Missing Stations
Fixed an issue where most stations would not be visible when using the Time Travel feature within 24 hours of the current time (in UTC).

Settings Bug
Fixed an issue where changes to the Map and Site settings would not consistently be saved, or in some circumstances would revert back to site defaults.

Login Bugs
Fixed an issue where the login dialog box would not appear when no system announcements were available to show.

Map Location Change on Refresh
When refreshing the page, the map no longer jumps to the default map location if center coordinates are specified in the URL. URL coordinates should always take precedence over user preferences.

OGN Model Aircraft Filter Fix
Fixed the OGFLYN filter that would crash the web app if a packet containing no path information was returned by the server.

License Database Fixed
The American and Canadian license databases were not updating properly as a result of invalid characters in the data provided by each respective licensing authority.

MicE Detection of Yaesu VX-8
Parsing of MicE data was not properly detecting the Yaesu VX-8 HT.

Position Ambiguity Fix
Fixed an issue in a 3rd party library that was causing packets containing position ambiguity information to be discarded if the level of ambiguity was not specified in the longitude. The APRS spec does not require ambiguity to be specified in longitude, so this brings processing of these packets in-spec.

Misc Bugfixes
Fixed scale for the Dew Point gauge which had repeating numbers. Fixed several other minor bugs in weather and telemetry data display have been fixed. Site and packet statistics are now more accurate and are also calculated faster. DMR Database correctly shows first and last names.

Map Snapshot Bugfixes
We've fixed a bug in the map snapshot system where station-specific filter details would not be stored with the snapshot in some specific circumstances. Also fixed an issue which would cause the Mapshot UI bubble to not appear in some circumstances.

Mic-E Radio Detection Improvements
The accuracy of reading Mic-E status packets has been greatly improved for new packets. Support for the Kenwood TH-D75 has also been added. Archived packets may in some cases, continue to show incorrect data. We'll address this at some point in the future.

06-11-2024 :: #APRSThursday!

#APRSThursday Event Page Fixes
Fixed the Recent Check-Ins table which was broken by a previous site release. This prevented callsigns from being displayed, instead showing the station ID.

Improved #APRSThursday Mobile Experience
The Recent Check-Ins and Leaderboard tables have a significant improved browser experience. When all data in the tables cannot be displayed an arrow will appear indicating the row can be expanded. This would sometimes be rendered over the checkbox for selecting rows. This functionality has been moved to a dynamic column which will appear whenever the data is too large to fit on the page.

06-01-2024 :: Online Users and Major Backend Changes

Backend/Websocket Changes
In this release a new backend, system-wide messaging bus has been established to enable for the various servers and processes that make up the site to communicate with each other. The websocket servers have been updated with message routing to forward specifically addressed messages to client web browsers.

Online User Count
There is a new statistics section in the bottom status bar located in the lower left corner. The first application of the systemwide message bus is to display the number of users connected to the site in real-time as users connect to our servers.

Received Packet Counter
The second data point displayed in the new bottom status bar is a count of packets that have been received during the current session. It will be zeroed out when the browser is refreshed.

Station Statistics Fixes
Starting a new month today it was found that station statistics were not being properly queried on the first of the month. The date calculation logic has been corrected. Stations will now show the correct stations for Heard and Received stations.

05-28-2024 :: Packet Path Analysis

Packet Path Analysis Improvements
Packet path analysis has been improved and is more accurate. Packet route (hop) counts could in some instances be off by one path segment as well.

05-18-2024 :: Filter Fixes

Station Filter Fixes
Made some fixes to the filtering on the #APRSThursday and Station statistics pages. We found an issue where column reordering in either of these pages would break station filtering when not using the default column order. This has been fixed to ensure that filter selections work regardless of the column order.

Show All on Map Fixes
The "Show All on Map" option (at the bottom of the table view) was also broken on the #APRSThursday and Station statistics pages. This was not related to the column reordering bug, but was fixed as part of the changes applied to the filter fixes.

Filter UI Fixes
The Apply/Clear links at the bottom of the table view on the #APRSThursday and Station statistics pages did not always reflect the active state of the station filter.

04-30-2024 :: Latest Station Beacons

Latest Beacons in Station Details
Beacons in the Station Details page are finally getting the attention they deserve. If a station transmits any sort of beacon (tocall = BEACON) we will now display the beacon text and time received in the Station Details view.

Fix for Missing Beacon Text
This release also fixes a longstanding issue where the beacon (comment) text would be missing if the packet contained no additional payload such as position or MicE data. This has been corrected for all packets stored, including archived data.

04-21-2024 :: Small Enhancement

Saved Login Map Initialization
Who like not having to log-in everytime a website is visited? We've had a saved login aka "remember me" feature for many months, but it came with one drawback; saved map preferences could not be applied when using the "remember me" feature. This release eliminates that limitation. Saved map session are now always applied anytime the site is loaded (or reloaded). We hope everyone enjoys this simple but useful enhancement.

04-11-2024 :: Even More Bug Fixes

Station View
We've fixed a couple things in the station view. The Total packets counter shows the correct quantity of saved packets. The packet frequency counter properly shows the quantity of packets used to calculate the interval. We've also optimized both counters to return results about 25% quicker than before.

QuikLink
Quiklink is the URL bar at the bottom of some pages. In some pages, the link displayed did not include the correct connection mode (https vs http).

04-10-2024 :: More Bug Fixes

Map View
We've fixed a few small but annoying bugs in the map view. One of which would prevent a station icon on the map from being clickable.

Backend
One issue was found that would cause the Apache webserver process to freeze and utilize 100% of the available CPU. This would cause the site to randomly slow down at times.

03-13-2024 :: Bug Fixes

Raw Packet View
The station Raw Packets view was not properly parsing and linking to other stations in the packet path. This led to dead links that didn't open the appropriate station details view.

02-22-2024 :: Latest Object Packets

Latest Object Packets (Beta)
We couldn't stop at yesterdays addition of a recent status packets tool, so we are introducing a similar tool for Latest Objects. Similarly, this view will display the most recent Object Packets sent across the various APRS network(s). The link is in the search menu and is called Latest Object Packets. View up to 500 of the most recently received object packets that our servers have recorded, including information such as sending station, object name, object message text, path, etc.

02-21-2024 :: Latest Status Packets & More Bug Fixes

Latest Status Packets (Beta)
There is yet another new tool for viewing the latest data received by our servers. This view will display the most recent Status Packets sent on the various APRS network(s). The link is in the search menu and is called Latest Status Packets. View up to 500 of the most recently received status packets that our servers have recorded, including information such as sending station, status message text, and packet path.

Assorted Bugfixes
Squashing some small, inconspicuous bugs.

02-20-2024 :: More Cleanup

#APRSThursday Links
Cleaned up link structure and made it more consistent. Also removed duplicate links to the #APRSThursday event page.

New Radio Support
Added Mic-E identification for the SQ8L VP-Tracker and the new Kenwood TH-75 HT.

Misc. Bug Fixes
Cleaned up some minor bugs that were being reported in logs but not impacting the operation of the site.

02-19-2024 :: Misc Bug Fixes

Equipment Type
Under some circumstances, Non-MicE packets would not display equipment type (make, manufacturer, etc.) in the station details page.

Station Details
Fixed a possible condition where calls to session functions could happen prior to user sessions being fully initialized.

02-13-2024 :: 24 Hour Time & Other Fixes

24 Hour Time Support
The choice of 24 hour (i.e. military) time is can now be set in user preferences under the Map Settings tab in the Localization Settings box. This setting controls how time is displayed in all areas of the site.

Personal API Documentation
Personal API documentation is back. It actually never went anywhere but the link had been broken in a previous site update and is now fixed.

Misc Bugfixes
This release squashes a couple behind the scenes bug, including an out-of-order initialization of the weather and telemetry graphs that could in some instances prevent them from rendering.

02-05-2024 :: More #APRSThursday

#APRSThursday Check-in Tracking
The #APRSThursday Recent Check-ins page will now show the method by which someone checked into the net (ANSRVR or APRSPH). There are also statistics broken out by the number of checkins through each method.

02-05-2024 :: #APRSThursday

#APRSThursday Fixes
The #APRSThursday pages now display the correct NET dates to visitors in all timezones. Date/Time format also checks the browser locale information to properly format dates and times.

#APRSThursday Missing NET Data
NET data for December 28th, 2023 was missing due to a database error. We've imported the net check-ins for this event from the data posted on the #APRSThursday Facebook group.

01-30-2024 :: Database Monitoring & Bug Fixes

Database Cluster Status
We have two database servers that are in constant replication. This is for redundancy as well as load balancing. To better show the health and status of the database, the Server Status monitor has been updated to show which database is acting as the master (read/write) and which server is acting as the replicant (read-only).

Websocket Bug Fixes
We have made some improvements to the websocket servers to better detect the loss of database connection. A database connection loss could occur during a database failover event where all connections to the old master are closed. This change will make sure the connection to the database is still alive during the websocket connection process. If the connection has gone away a new connection will be established.

01-24-2024 :: Have it Your Way!

Station InfoWindow Customization
One way in which this site differs from the other APRS trackers is that we try to put control and customization of the data into the hands of our users. Todays update takes further builds atop of that philosophy by making the station InfoWindow almost totally customizable. The InfoWindow is the popup that appears whenever a station marker is clicked. Registered users can now customize 8 features of the InfoWindow.
* Packet Path
* Course & Speed
* Mic-E Data
* Comment
* PHG/RNG
* Distance
* Weather Summary
* Choose from Small (new) or Large Symbol size To customize the InfoWindow, log in, and visit Map Settings in your account.

01-20-2024 :: Coordinate Spotter

Coordinate Spotter
Finding coordinates on a map is easy. Getting them in the right format, not so much. About 6 months ago we introduced the Coordinate Converter which can convert coordinates displayed anywhere on the site into the most commonly used systems. We are taking that one step further with the Coordinate Spotter. The Coordinate Spotter activates the Coordinate Converter for any given point on the map. To activate it, simply right-click anywhere on the map where you want to get the location and choose Get Coordinates from the popup menu. The Coordinate Converter will open and show the locations' coordinates in all 6 commonly used geolocation systems.

01-20-2024 :: #APRSThursday Improvements

History Graph
We've added a Bar Graph View view to the #APRSThursday statistics page! This graph shows the lifetime check-ins for each event since the start of the #APRSThursday net.

Mobile Fixes
We've made a couple small tweaks to make the site more mobile friendly. The top menu will close upon a successful login, and some adjustments have been made to the positioning of the icons in the top menu as well.

01-17-2024 :: HamFiles.net File Sharing Service

Free File Sharing
We have launched a brand new service that has absolutely nothing to do with APRS. It is a file hosting service that is targeted at ham radio operators, but open to anyone who wants to use it. This project was created with two goals in mind, first to serve the ham radio community by offering trusted and convenient way to share files, and to create a way to generate a small amount of income that will help to support projects such as the this site.

HamFiles allows anyone to upload any kind of file and share it with anyone via a web link or email. Registered accounts have access to a file manager web interface for managing their uploaded content. In addition to web links, files can be easily shared with popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter & Google+. Visit HamFiles.net and check it out for yourself!

01-11-2024 :: #APRSThursday

Support for New Check-in Procedure
Support has been added for the revised #APRSThursday check-in procedure. The two ways to join the net are:
* To: ANSRVR Message body: "CQ HOTG" followed by check-in message.
* To: APRSPH Message body: "HOTG" followed by check-in message.

01-11-2024 :: Cluster Improvements!!

Database Cluster.
We've now spun up a second fully replicated and redundant database server for storing APRS data. There are located behind a pair of IP load balancers that will manage the automatic failover between the two database servers. Both of these database servers are available for read-only access and will share the load for the site.

N2RWE Server Cluster Maintenance.
We've added a new node to the cluster for a total of 5 nodes, far more compute power than needed for this site, even after copying the 4.4 billion APRS records over to a new database. The memory of all high performance compute nodes has been upgraded to 128GB of memory, and an additional 24TB of NVME storage has been added to the entire cluster.

01-03-2024 :: Happy New Year Bug Scrub!!

Bug Fixes.
Over the past few months there have been a lot of changes and new features added to the site. To start the New Year off on a good note, we did some house keeping by giving the code a good scrub. This update implements numerous bug fixes in the backend code.

Manual Reconnect.
We've added a way to manually re-connect to our websocket servers. Look for a small refresh (circle) icon in the lower status bar by the APRS connection status.

12-31-2023 :: Happy New Year!!

Search Box Favorite Station Indicator.
This is a small enhancement for our registered members. The header search bar will show a star next to the search results for any station saved in the user's favorites.

Station Deduplication.
We've run some tools against the database to consolidate stations that have duplicate records. There will be another attempt at this in the near future once we've gathered the data and results of this effort.

12-29-2023 :: Tracker 2.1

APRS Path Analysis.
This minor release introduces APRS Path Analysis, a feature that was not ready in time for yesterdays' launch. This feature, available on the Station Details page, will show a 4 segment "LED" bar graph indicating the quality of the link. Additional information presented includes the number of hops that the packet took as well as the route the packet took (i.e. RF, APRS-IS, etc.).

Related Stations.
The related stations list in the Station Details page now looks back and displays all related stations (matching CALLSIGN) that were active in the past 30 days. Previously, related stations were only displayed if active within the past 24 hours.

12-28-2023 :: Tracker 2.1 - Happy Holidays!

Tracker 2.1 is HERE!
Over the past few weeks we have been working hard behind the scenes on this latest update. This update bring the dawn of a new era, or at least a new, and shorter domain name! But that's not all, we've improved and streamlined how we present data across the entire site, putting more control into the hands of our visitors.

We've Moved!
The site has a brand new domain, aprs.to! It's hard to argue that it's shorter and easier to remember than aprs.n2rwe.com was!

Information Table Displays.
We have reengineered the way we present data across the entire site. All data tables are now consistent throughout the site. We have made them all full searchable, sortable, and customizable! Customize each table display by choosing sorting preferences and even column order! Columns in every table can be dragged into any order. For our registered guests those settings can even be saved for future use! Each table throughout the site is independently customizable too!

Information Filtering.
We have also introduced filtering on most of the reports we show across the site. This can include data source (APRS, CWOP, etc.) or message type (Announcement, Bulletin, etc.). For our registered guests those settings can even be saved and applied every time a particular page is accessed!

Auto Refresh.
Auto refresh is available for some of our realtime information pages (i.e. "Latest Heard", "Latest Weather", etc.). When auto refresh is enabled, the information is updated every 10 seconds. For our registered guests this setting can be saved and applied every time a particular page is accessed!

Auto-Ranging Distance Calculation.
We've made the distance displays a bit smarter in several areas of the site (more to come). For our metric guests, distances under 1km will be displayed in meters. For those who use imperial (English) measurements, distances will be displayed in in feet when the distance is less than a yard, yards when the distance is under a tenth of a mile, otherwise miles.

Improved Websocket connection Handling.
The websocket is the primary connection to our servers in which information is delivered to your browser. We've made a lot of changes and improvements to the handling of this connection. We have added a watchdog monitor to automatically recover the connection whenever possible and have improved the alerting to the visitor when the connection cannot be automatically recovered. We have added internet connection monitoring to the front end app to look for the loss and/or restoration of the local internet connection and take the appropriate action, or alert the visitor when we can't reconnect.

Central Log Collector.
While this is not a guest-facing feature of the site, we've added centralized collection of the Apache web server logs so we can monitor for site errors and other issues. This will also help us to collect visitor metrics so we can understand who our audience really is and where they come from. This will help us to better tailor the content and presentation of the site over the coming months.

Shorter, Friendlier URL's.
This update goes to great lengths to make all URLs throughout the site shorter and easier to remember and share. The Quiklink feature bar is still present for those looking for personalized URLs.

Bug Fixes.
A lot of small bugs and glitches have been fixed in this release. There are too many to list, but we've fixed a lot of display bugs, optimized database queries, and improved the overall responsiveness of the site where we could.

12-9-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 - Live Packets

Live Packet View.
We've added a new tool for viewing the live packet feed as the browser is receiving it. The Live Packet view has been constructed to be similar to the station live packet view and is very simple to use... Set the map to a specific region and zoom level (except heatmap-level), then go to the Tools menu and choose Live Packets. The Live Packet view can be set to show as few as 5 lines or as many as 500, and can be filtered to a specific data source (APRS, CWOP, etc.). The packet view can be stopped and started as needed, or cleared entirely without closing the window. We've also made it easy to download and save the packet capture logs as text files.

12-7-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 - Connection Management

Websocket Improvements.
The background websocket is the lifeline of this website as it is the browsers exclusive connection to the APRS Networks. We've made quote a few improvements to the connection management strategy using technologies available in newer web browsers. The web application is now aware whenever the client web browser experiences a loss of internet (i.e. background tab sleep, PC sleep, etc.), when connectivity is restored, or the site is moved to a foreground tab (browser dependent) the web app will automatically attempt to reconnect to our servers and will redraw the map with the latest information available. This also applies to browser navigation (forward/back buttons). This change also allows web app to to restore the server clock as well as the footer connections status indicators on a successful reconnection to our servers.

12-4-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 - More Tweaks

Map Reset Menu Feedback.
Since map resets can take extra time we have added a "Please Wait" message with the Clock icon next to the Map Reset menu item. This will show when the Map Reset option is clicked, and will disappear when the map has been reset.

12-4-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 - Announcements, Bulletins, Tweaks, & Bug Fixes... Oh my!

Announcements & Bulletins.
Introducing the new Latest Announcements and Bulletins view. This new tool follows a similar purpose and design as the other "Latest" views we've recently released. This new tool allows you to view the Latest Announcements (BLNA-BLNZ), Latest Bulletins (BLN0-BLN9), as well as messages sent to other groups (addresses).

UI Tweaks for "Latest" Views.
Latest Heard, Latest Beacons, and Moving Stations views now feature a nice multiple selection option for choosing the data source (APRS, CWOP, etc.). With this change any of these reports can be displayed with more than one data source selected at a time.

User Registration Bugfixes.
A couple issues involving datas corruption during the account signup process have been resolved. This issue specifically affected callsigns and passwords that were entered during the signup process. There were also a couple UI glitches that could occur under certain circumstances.

APRS Bulletin Parsing.
We made a tiny (in terms of code) fix to add missing bulletin groups to our packet database. This was not happening specifically for APRS bulletin packets. This was caused by the external aprs-python library we use to parse packets where it would ignore the addresse fields if a packet was sent to a bulletin address. For those who use aprs-python, we've posted a small patch to our aprs-python-telemetry repo at github. This patch is now in service across all of our servers. We ran a tool to fix addresse fields for the past 30 days worth of packet data (the limit we store bulletins and messages) so that data is fully searchable.

12-3-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 - Uncluttering the Map

Live Transmit/Receive Indicators.
Take a look down towards the very bottom of the screen on the right-hand side and you will notice a new set of indicator "lights". These show the activity over the websocket connection to our servers. They're a convenient means to show that the connection is active. They also look very cool too!

More Map Space.
The "Connected to APRS" message has been moved from the map coordinates box all the way down to the lower right-hand side of the bottom status bar. This small change uncluttered the map enough to provide just a little bit more usable map space.

12-2-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 - Bug Fixes & Screen Real Estate

Auto Refresh for "Latest" Views.
We've added auto-refresh capabilities to all of the latest packet views, including Latest Heard, Latest Beacons, Latest Messages, Latest Weather Reports, and even the Moving Stations report. A nice new animated icon will indicate anytime auto-refresh for any of those views is active.

#APRSThursday Bugfixes.
The links in the Time column on the #APRSThursday recent check-ins page are working correctly again. Clicking them will center the map on the location of the station and set the map state to that point in time.

Screen Real Estate.
We've made some small tweaks to the stylesheets to make better use of available screen space for those with wide screen monitors, which is pretty much every display made in the last 10 years. We're just finally catching up with the times!

12-1-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 - The Latest Stuff!

Latest Weather Reports (Beta).
Attention weather buffs!! There's another great new tool to view the latest weather reports, anywhere in the world. Keeping in line with how creatively we named the latest beacon view, we are calling this new tool the Latest Weather Reports. View up to 500 of the most recently received weather reports, including full weather information such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, even snow for those stations that report those readings.

Latest Messages (Beta).
In addition to the latest weather report, there's another new tool for viewing the latest messages sent on the APRS network(s). This simple tool will provide the last view of messages that have been received by our servers. The link is in the search menu and is called Latest Messages. View up to 500 of the most recently received messages that our servers have recorded, including information such as sending and receiving station, message text, and packet path.

11-30-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 - A Beacon of Hope

Latest Beacons View (Beta).
There is a great new way to see the most recent beacons sent by any station, anywhere in the world. We are calling it, quite creatively, Latest Beacons. View up to 500 of the most recently received beacons, including station information, APRS icon, and a link to see the station on the map. This view unique in that is also displays the raw packet information with direct links to the profiles for every station that handled the packet. Web links within the packet comment are also hyperlinked too.

11-27-2023 :: Tracker 2.0 Continued...

Station View Counter.
There were a couple things that didn't make the release of the massive Tracker 2.0 update. One feature is the station view counter, which is essentially a good ole-fasioned page counter. It counts how many times a particular station has been viewed by others. This includes views to the main page, telemetry, weather, raw packets, etc. pages There is some filtering to reduce page refreshes from artificially inflating the view counts.

11-22-2023 :: Tracker 2.0

Introducing N2RWE APRS Tracker 2.0
This is a massive update that adds an user account backend, Map Snapshots, personalized #APRSTHursday reports, and much more!

User Accounts!
User accounts have arrived! Its now possible to register for an account which allows visitors to personalize their experience, view their personal #APRSThursday progress, and best of all, set default map preferences.

Customized Map Preferences at Login.
The brand-new user preferences manager enables registered users to define their preferred default map preferences, including data sources, map settings, layers, map location and zoom. These map settings are loaded after successful login. The new animated login window will show the progress as the default map preferences are applied.

Map Snapshots ("Mapshots").
Have you ever wished that you could save a map view to recall later? Perhaps it was from a special event, or an APRS track from a long trip. A Mapshot is a moment-in-time snapshot of the map, including location & zoom, date/time, filter settings, historical information, ("Time Travel"), and more. Mapshots make it possible to recall and map any event with just a click of the mouse!

Shared Mapshots.
A great new benefit of Mapshots is that they can be shared to the public. This is very useful for special event station who want other participants to be able to view the same info on the map. Not only can Mapshots be shared, a shared mapshot can be saved to user favorites for later recall!

#APRSThursday Personal Profile.
A new benefit of signing up for an account is the new #APRSThursday personal profile. This page shows leaderboard progress, SSID (station) check-in history, and a nice graph that depicts the past year of #APRSThursday check-ins.

Favorite Stations.
Maintain a searchable list of stations that you frequently follow with at-a-glance information such as latest received packet, location, and even a link to activate Time Travel to the time and location of a stations last known activity. The favorites list can be selectively plotted to the map, exported, and event printed.

Personal API.
The Personal API allows our registered members to query data from any of their stations associated with their callsign into 3rd party apps and web pages. The Personal API can query station data, plus current weather and telemetry data. Data is returned in JSON format. There's also a documentation tab with a built-in link generator to make querying our database as easy as possible.

Moving Stations View.
A new view has been added to show all of the Moving Stations across the entire world. This includes stations from the APRS network, gliders on OGN, and others. The view includes station name, symbol, grid square, and last comment. It's a perfect compliment the Latest Stations view!

Backend Changes.
This massive update adds facilities for new user signup (with e-mail confirmation), user login, forgot password, and "remember me". In addition, a new account management page here users can change their username, password, and e-mail address. This release also introduces new facilities for sending sending e-mails (e-mail confirmation and lost passwords), a separate high-availability backend for securely storing use accounts, session tokens, e-mail codes, user profiles, and user settings separate from APRS packet data.

Menu Reorganization.
Our menus have been reorganized so some items such as Map Api and Map Type have been combined into a single menu. There's also a new Account menu for our registered guests.

Redesigned About Page.
It's certainly not the most significant part of this site update, but our new about page has received a badly needed update. If you have a minute of time, check it out.

Redesigned FAQ.
Probably one of the least signficiant changes of this update is that we've given the FAQ page a very small facelift. If you still have some free time, after checking our the new About page, check out the FAQ.

Other Additions.
Server health now monitors and reports on up to three secure backend database servers.

Fixes.
#APRSThursday leaderboard stats now properly filter out duplicate checkins across multiple SSIDs. (Sorry stations that were checking in multiple times from different SSID's each week!).

10-15-2023

Canadian Amateur Database Integration.
The Canadian call sign database joins the FCC database with full integration into the site. For Canadian Amateurs this includes license class and qualifications. The license class is now displayed in the station overview page below the APRS icon.

New License Status Page.
There is a brand new License status page showing license details for both US and Canadian amateurs. This information is accessed by the call sign link at the top of the station details page.

New License Search Page.
With all of these new call sign database integrations, it makes sense to be able to search both of these databases. The license search can be found in the main menu under Search, and also appears in the tab menu on the other search pages.

10-10-2023

FCC Database Integration.
The FCC call sign database has been intergrated into the site. For US Amateurs, the license class is now displayed in the station overview page below the APRS icon. More integration of this information is planned for the future.

Fixed DMR Database.
The DMR database import process is working again. It was broken by a recent code update.

10-10-2023

Updated Server Health Page.
The Server Health page has been streamlined to better present the status of the various server components that make this site operate. Check it out!

10-9-2023

Wind Chill in Graphs.
Wind chill data is now available as a separate line in the Temperature graph for stations that report both temperature and wind speeds.

#APRSThursday Statistics Fixed.
Statistics for the most recent #APRSThursday events have been posted. The automated processing script was broke during the recent database upgrade and has since been fixed and past stats processed.

10-8-2023

Wind Chills!
Just in time for Winter, wind chill readings are available in the current weather conditions page, including the table and gauge views. It is also available in the historical table view. This may eventually be expanded to the graph view.

10-7-2023

See where it is Night! (Beta)
There's a cool new way to illustrate the day/night cycles across the world. In the settings menu there is a new option called Show Day/Night Overlay. When active, the map will darken areas where the sun is currently shadowing the earth (i.e. where it is dark) and will update every 5 seconds. A widget also appears on the right side of the map with controls to change or stop the updates. Set the refresh to 1/2 second and watch the sun set across the world in real-time!

We're on Facebook!.
Drop by our new Facebook page and post a hello message! We've added a Facebook button to the top of the page to help you get there!

10-5-2023

External Library Updates.
Updated external libraries to the latest available and optimized loading.

File Download Fixes.
Fixed broken file downloads (raw packets & live view) when Google Maps is selected as the map API.

9-29-2023

DMR ID Lookup.
The DMR Radio ID database has been integrated into the site and ID lookup has been added to the station overview. If a station is an amateur station and has been assigned a DMR radio ID, all assigned ID's will be displayed below the APRS icon with a link back to their profile on radioid.net

9-28-2023

Tail Length Improvements.
The tail length for tracking all moving stations on the map can now be extended up to 18 hours, which is an increase from 12 hours. The tail length when filtering on individual stations can now be extended to show up to 3 days of past movements!

Hide APRS Stations.
We've added the ability to hide APRS stations from the map. This is useful for viewing the map with only a specific type of station(s) (i.e. CWOP Weather or OGN). It can also cut down on marker clutter when zoomed out.

"Loading" Indicator.
When hiding or showing specific station types in the settings menu, there can be a considerable lag in redrawing the map. This is entirely dependent on browser and connection speed. To solve this, during the redraw process the menu text will change to "Please wait..." with a clock icon. When the map redraw is complete, the menu text will revert back. Give it a try to see what we mean!

USGS Satellite Map.
In addition to Google maps satellite view, we now offer USGS Sateliite Imagery as a map choice.

9-27-2023

Database Upgrade.
The Postgresql server has been upgraded to the latest operating system while the Postgres database was upgraded to version 16. This process took longer than anticipated and resulted in a couple hours of downtime this evening (apologies!) which was unexpected.

Server Status Monitoring.
Following this evenings upgrades the database server has been added to the server status page.

9-26-2023

Server Status Improvements.
The server status page now reports the status of the APRS-IS services, APRS collection services, web servers, and websocket servers. This service status is updated in the background once a minute. The collection status is also more accurately reported based on the latest records available in the database for a particular data source.

9-25-2023

Contact Us.
We've added a convenient way for you to reach out. The new Contact Us page is waiting whether you have a comment, question, or suggestion on ways to make this site better. Your input is valuable to us. Give it a try!

Version Control.
A new version control workflow has been enabled allowing for more streamlined coe deployment throughout the server cluster.

9-21-2023

#APRSThursday Leaderboard.
The Leaderboard has been improved with a new view called "Top Participants" This view shows rankings based on a total of all check-ins across all of a stations SSID's. The top stations (call-ssid) still remains and will show only stations with 20 or more checkins.

9-20-2023

#APRSThursday History.
We've imported past event history from the official #APRSThursday site that goes back to April 21st, 2022. Unfortunately, our full data set only goes back to July 13, so some data points will still be missing.

#APRSThursday Station Badge.
The station details page (Overview) will now show a badge on the right side if that station has participated at any point since January 19th, 2023.

9-19-2023

#APRSThursday Leaderboard.
We've added a new Leaderboard to our #APRSThursday page. Initially this will show stations that have checked in to the net 10 or more times. Unfortunately, our data only goes back to July 13, so as the site accumulates more data we will add some some more exciting ways to filter these results.

#APRSThursday UI Tweaks.
We've changed the #APRSThursday tables (Checkins, Statistics) to be more in line with the design of other areas of the site.

Telemetry Print, Save, & Export.
Controls have been added to the Telemetry Data & Bits Tables to allow for copy to clipboard, print, and save to file. Telemetry data can be copied to the clipboard or saved in either of these file formats; CSV, XML, and PDF.

SOTA Fixes.
Small tweaks to better identify current SOTA activations and show hyperlinks to several SOTA resource sites.

9-18-2023

New Dew Point Data.
The weather pages have received a significant overhaul in todays release. First we've introduced Dew Points to many areas of our weather pages starting with a new Dew Point gauge in the Current Weather Conditions. The Temperature graph has a a new line depicting the calculated Dew Point.

Wind Gust Data.
Continuing with todays weather page enhancements a new Wind Gust gauge has been added in the Current Weather Conditions. For the graph view, the Wind Speed graph has a second line depicting Wind Gusts while a new column was added to the table view for Wind Gusts.

Humidity Data.
Max and Min humidity values are now displayed as part of the Alamanac page for daily and weekly summary. Weekly max and min humidity values are also highlighted to identify the days with the highest and lowest humidity.

Pressure Data.
Weekly highest and lowest pressure values are now highlighted in the Weather for the Past Week table in the Alamanac page.

Current Weather Table View.
In addition to the weather gauge view, current weather conditions can be viewed in a table view.

Print, Save, & Export Table View.
Controls have been added to the Weather Data Table View to allow for copy to clipboard, print, and save to file. Weather data in the view can be copied to the clipboard or saved in either of these file formats; CSV, XML, and PDF.

9-17-2023

Weather Data Fixes.
Fixed a couple weather report bugs in the underlying aprs-python library responsible for parsing packets that was causing wind speed/direction data in weather reports to be recorded as course & speed, instead of wind direction and wind speed. Updated all exisiting weather records in the database to re-classify the wind speed/direction data so it's available in table and graphs format with correct values.

Weather Data View Cleanup.
The weather data table view now shows empty cells anytime a weather station does not report a specific type of data.

CWOP Station Popup in Map View.
Hide course/speed information from the station popup dialog in the map view for CWOP stations.

9-15-2023

Cardinal Direction Support.
Direction information now shows cardinal directions (N, S, E, W, etc.) in addition to degrees. This includes the the station pop-up window in the map view for both weather and course, station overview page for course information, and the weather data table view in the station weather tab.

Escape Key Closes Main Window.
Pressing the escape key will now close the window and return to the map view.

Google Maps Fixes.
Map pop-up windows were not working as a result of a change introduced in a recent release of the Google Maps API. We are now falling back to an older version of the Google Maps API which has restored the map view pop up windows.

Wind Speed Fixes.
Wind speed information was not being shown in the correct area within the station pop-up window in the map view. In addition to wind speed and direction, wind gust information is also being displayed in the window.

9-14-2023

Mic-E Support.
We can now decode Mic-E encoded packets! Last-known Mic-E status is shown in the station details (Overview) page and also in the station pop-up window in the map view.

Comment Cleanup.
With the addition of Mic-E packet decoding, the packet capture and storage subsystem for newly recorded packet comments will no longer record extraneous characters at the beginning or end of comments.

9-7-2023

Telemetry Graph Fixes.
Telemetry graph data is now properly converted to the correct unit based on the latest EQNS data available from the station.

9-1-2023

Equipment Identification Enhancements.
Attempt to use MIC-E radio data (when present) to identify station equipment when the packet TOCALL cannot be resolved against the known equipment database.

8-31-2023

Station Comment Display.
We will always display the latest non-empty comment received within the last 24 hours under the station's callsign on the station details page. This is seperate from the comment that is shown under the "Latest packet" section which always shows the comment of most recent packet.

Packet Path Linking.
In the station details page, any real station that relayed a packet as shown in the packet path are now hyperlinked to their respective station details pages.

Extraneous Characters in Comments.
Cleaned up extraneous characters in packet comments when the packet contains Mic-E data.

8-30-2023

More Telemetry Bugfixes.
Fixed an edge case that occurs when a BITs data packet is arrives several seconds after the last telemetry packet. When this occurs, the system displayed out-of-date BITs data that was one packet behind.

8-29-2023

Telemetry Bugfixes.
Fixed an issue that prevented Telemetry values and BITs data from displaying in both the table and graph views if the BITs values change too frequently. The symptom of this bug was seeing significantly less data in the table or graph views than what is expected.

8-28-2023

APRS Passcode Generator.
This update adds a passcode generator to our APRS toolkit. The APRS-IS network requires the use of a call sign and passcode to connect directly to the APRS-IS network over IP. You can now request a passcode on this site by entering your callsign by going to Tools -> APRS Passcode Generator.

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy.
Published our Terms of Service and Privacy Policies.

Coordinate Converter Bug Fixes.
Identified and fixed a rounding error in generating the DDM-APRS and NMEA coordinates.

8-26-2023

New Coordinate Converter.
This new tool will display geographic coordinates in a variety of coordinates systems. This is especially useful for converting coordinates to DDM-APRS format (4304.93N, 07601.16W) for configuring TNC's, trackers, etc. The converter is available wenever there is a globe icon next to a set of coordinates. Clicking the globe will bring up the converter dialog. This is also integrated into the previously released Find a Place / Geolocation search feature, allowing a location to be searched and coordinates to be displayed in a variety of systems. The converter also features a one-click copy to clipboard feature; clicking in any cell in the converter table will copy the cell contents to the clipboard.

8-24-2023

What's New (Changelog) Added.
This new page will allow us to announce changes, new features and other improvements to the site. Check back here often for updates!

8-19-2023

Find a Place / Geolocation Search.
Finally! You can now search for an address, park, landmark, business, etc. The list of results contain links that will move and center the map to the location of the search result. These geolocation search results are provided courtesy of Nominatim.