Finally put my Digirig to the test. Drove out deep into the Arizona Back Country in the Agua Fria National Monument and to Sycamore Creek / Sycamore Canyon. Had it wired to the TYT TH-9800 running to a Diamond SG 7500 that gets roughly 3dbi gain. Since the bursts of data from APSDroid are so short and infrequent, I ran it at the full 50 watts.
In all locations tested from the top of a mesa to down below in canyons and around low water crossings, I was able to beacon out and be heard by a radio somewhere. I was in places that the sun only hits for a few hours a day when it is directly overhead and still had dependable, reliable comms.
Part of this is the radio and antenna.
Part of this is the APRS Digipeaters on mountain tops like W7MOT on Mt. Ord or K7YCA on Mt. Union.
But the Digirig Lite tied it all together in a seamless and easy manner that allowed me to keep tracking progress and reporting back all while driving off road and negotiating technical terrain.
I can’t begin to express how much this little device has level’d up my Amateur Radio Abilities. It’s important enough, I should probably start buying up extras to keep with each radio.