How does this system compare to using a HAM Radio and GPS to send data to another HAM radio?
For years, amateur radio users have ‘homebrewed’ HT-telemetry devices’ by hacking a small handheld, wiring in a GPS to the speaker port, and creating a lightweight APRS station. These are heavier, and have much less range than the GPSFlight units because the radios are not tuned to send data, and suffer from significant fade-in/out that trashes the telemetry data. What’s more, assembling the HT+GPS+TNC components will cost much MORE than GPSFlight units, be heavier, and require a license. In fact, the ‘hacking’ method is lots of fun, but does not deliver true ‘telemetry’ like GPSFlight.
