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Byonics MT-RTG aprs tracker review

Sam Buchanan

been here awhile
Herein are my initial impressions of the Byonics MT-RTG (Ready-to-Go) aprs tracker. Since this tracker is basically a repackaging of proven components, I have no reason to believe the initial tests won't be validated during longterm use.

One objection to installing an aprs tracker that is sometimes presented by prospective users is a reluctance to delve into geekdom and software setup. The traditional trackers are quite easy to configure, but I guess even that degree of customization is intimidating to some.

The Byonics MT-RTG is the answer to those who express technophobia but still wish to have the safety enhancement of an onboard tracker. The heart of the MT-RTG is the TinyTrac3 encoder which carries well-proven technology. This encoder is paired with a ten-watt transmitter and regulated power supply which provides a package that is RTG (read to go).

MT-RTG-1.jpg


Since the tracker is delivered with the user's callsign and a generic config that is suitable for aviation tracking, there is no need to crack open the case or do any programming. However, the RTG is fully programmable like the other Byonics trackers for the user who wishes to customize the config. The software and user manuals are downloadable from the Byonics website.

MT-RTG-2.jpg


One end of the high-impact plastic case carries an SMA antenna connector.

MT-RTG-3.jpg


MT-RTG-4.jpg


The other end has a standard 6 pin mini DIN connector for the supplied harness for 12v aviation or auto bus power and serial GPS data input. Since this is a readily available connector, it will be easy to fabricate a harness if a particular installation requires customization. The serial connector is also used for custom programming like the other Byonics trackers. Also visible in the photo is the dual-color LED that indicates valid GPS data and transmitter operation.

The MT-RTG is available either with just the harness, or as a bundle that includes the GPS2 mini GPS receiver/antenna and a 20" magnetic base transmitting antenna.

So....what we have is a very neat package that is about as close to plug-n-play as we can get. How does it fly?

Very nicely, thank you. I slapped a magnetic 5/8 wave antenna on top of the car and took to the road to see if the little black box could land some beacons on the local digis. It had no problem hitting a couple of digis about thirty miles away.

The MT-RTG was tested in the aircraft with a belly-mounted VHF-band whip antenna. The first flight was with the Byonics GPS2. The second was with the Garmin GPS35 that usually provides data for my tracker. In both cases the MT-RTG delivered flawless tracking.

Aprs tracker packaging has been advanced several steps with this tracker. It is compact, ruggedly housed, preprogrammed, offered by a reputable vendor, and based on proven components. And the icing on the aprs cake...the price including the GPS and antenna is under $200!

From now on, the MT-RTG is the device I will recommend to pilots who want the easiest aprs tracker installation for their aircraft.

Highly recommended.
 
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Sam, great report, nice pics; and Allen...home run, brudda!

I had a lot of fun packaging my MT8000FA, but the more I see of the RTG, the more I like it. The package is so small (even with both the tracker and power supply in it), and the ability to remotely connect the DB-9 and power plug (or hard wire the power/ground if desired) make this tracker package, as Sam called it, pure plug and play, easily mountable or hide-able, with as low a hassle factor as I can imagine. Just way cool!

I'm thinkin' you're gonna have to crank up the production floor for this baby!

Nice work!

Cheers,
Bob

PS: Sam, I was waiting to see if you tested the whole package...and put the mag-mount antenna on your airplane! ;) (Heck, if Allen can put a CI-122SP on his mini-van, why not do a little quid-pro-quo!? Allen, how did your wife take to that antenna after all?) :D
 
PS: Sam, I was waiting to see if you tested the whole package...and put the mag-mount antenna on your airplane! ;) (Heck, if Allen can put a CI-122SP on his mini-van, why not do a little quid-pro-quo!? Allen, how did your wife take to that antenna after all?) :D

Bob, I don't have the mag mount antenna, but even if I did, I'm not sure what I could "mag" it to. :)

Since it has a 20" radiator, it should work fine once a mounting scheme is devised.
 
It does not look like the transmit power is programmable. 10 Watts in an aircraft would be considered an abuse of the amateur radio airwaves by some.

I like the concept of the self-contained module, but I wish there were transmit power settings, or a lower power version for airborne applications. In my opinion, one or two watts would be plenty.

There have already been complaints in the ham community in my area-- some valid, some not. Some complaints are that APRS Tx only does not follow the 'listen before talking' protocol, but this argument is invalid for low power FM transmitters due to FM capture effect. High power transmitters that can reach hundreds of miles can swamp a lot of 300 mW transmitters in a wide region, however.

A listen before talk protocol (CSMA/CA) is also a problem with a wide mix of transmit powers in an area.

At any rate, I hope our abuse of APRS does not lead to its demise.

Vern
 
10 Watts abuse?

I know we have covered this ground in lots of forums before, but it may be time to revisit it. Your inference that having a transmitter at altitude allows it to hit digipeaters at enormous range is quite correct, and the corollary to that, is that the tracker at altitude can detect very low power transmitters at enormous ranges. This would mean that at altitude, your tracker would be hearing signals so loud and clear from ranges out more than 15% over the horizon, that it would never allow a transmission. I can easily provide transmitters that will never send a signal-I have boxes of dead ones! I fear that their utility would be questionable.

The key to polite operation of an airborne tracker is not so much in the power, but in the settings. Sending beacons too often and using overly wide digipaths ( The number of times you allow your transmitter to be retransmitted by digipeaters) are what make for abusive operation.

If your goal is to avoid hogging time on Digipeaters, you could just delete the digipath altogether, and rely on I-Gates to port your data over to the APRS-IS system. At altitudes over a few hundred feet, this would be a wonderful, thoughtful thing to do, that is unless of course your altitude is low because you are embedded in the side of a mountain or something. The digipeaters allow the APRS tracker to act as a supplement to Search and Rescue. On the Search side, at low altitude operation, the track drawn on the map can help HQ people determine if an airplane has actually covered an area to be searched.

The MT-RTG has a fixed power output. We have found that with power variable devices, some people will try to set the power and deviation without having any test equipment to do so. (And vice grips don't count) This keeps us from having to do a lot of repairs from end-users trying to set the power to "11" on the 10 scale or assuming that all the way counterclockwise will be low power and the opposite will be high power. You need actual electronic expertise and equipment to make meaningful adjustments, and many of our clients just want to plug it in and turn it on. The MT-RTG is as close to that as it comes.

Now knowing hams, I did make a simple concession to their desire for controls. I left a pair of pads on the board allowing an external switch to be used to select a secondary configuration. You could switch between a set of values with no digipath info, so you will only hit I-Gates, and a second path with a more conventional path setting, for use at low altitudes, or for your car if you keep it set up as portable.

73,

Allen
VHS
 
Hi Allen,

The Garmin aviation GPS units (all the x96 models) output a proprietary NMEA sentence ($PGRMH) that contains the aircraft's current height above the ground. If you ever create a tracker that has software-adjustable power output, you could potentially listen for this height value and dial down the transmitter power as the airplane gets higher off the ground.

Free idea, worth at least as much as you paid for it!

FMI: http://www8.garmin.com/support/pdf/NMEA_0183.pdf

cheers,
mcb
 
RTG Received yesterday...Flown today

I did a quick and dirty temp install last night and flew the RTG today on our trip to see the grand kids in Pinehurst, NC.

With the GPS laying on the dash, cig adapter plugged in and the mag mount in the cockpit off I went.

This little guy dropped my first bread crumb as I was barely airborne (20 feet) from SC99. My AIO never could do that.

Up until the cig adapter backed out this little guy worked flawlessly. This unit, properly configured and utilizing Smart Beaconing, will be a friendly and great addition to the airborne APRS community. Can't wait to get the proper install completed. ETD from KSOP back to SC99 is scheduled for around 12:00 hrs so we shall see how it works tomorrow with the cig adaper securely attached.

This is a must have for every RV'er.

Now all we need is a dedicated APRS site for our APRS equipped RV's so we can easily spot those that are aviating.
 
Rubber Ducks?

We have had a number of people ask us about substituting the rubber whip antenna we ordinarily provide with the MT-AIO on the MT-RTG. I am not sure if it will present any problems, but if anyone with the gear gets a chance, and could do a quick fly/function test, I would greatly appreciate it.

Sam, Thanks for the great review! Your name shall live forever in the halls of Valhalla!

Allen
 
100%

I did a quick and dirty temp install last night and flew the RTG today on our trip to see the grand kids in Pinehurst, NC.

With the GPS laying on the dash, cig adapter plugged in and the mag mount in the cockpit off I went.

This little guy dropped my first bread crumb as I was barely airborne (20 feet) from SC99. My AIO never could do that.

Up until the cig adapter backed out this little guy worked flawlessly. This unit, properly configured and utilizing Smart Beaconing, will be a friendly and great addition to the airborne APRS community. Can't wait to get the proper install completed. ETD from KSOP back to SC99 is scheduled for around 12:00 hrs so we shall see how it works tomorrow with the cig adaper securely attached.

This is a must have for every RV'er.

Now all we need is a dedicated APRS site for our APRS equipped RV's so we can easily spot those that are aviating.


My flight today was a perfect APRS flight. The new RTG worked perfectly. I just noticed that I have the wrong icon for my aircraft. I'll fix that before the next flight.

And Richard thanks for the link to the aviation site. Looks like it will track all aircraft when they have the little airplane icon setup. Nice tool.
 
So Sam, assuming I want to hard wire the thing instead of using an HT and other such doo-dads that will leave wires everywhere, how would you mount the GPS antenna? I suppose I could purchase another Garmin antenna that mounts permanently and uses a BNC connector....just curious how you would do it.
 
So Sam, assuming I want to hard wire the thing instead of using an HT and other such doo-dads that will leave wires everywhere, how would you mount the GPS antenna? I suppose I could purchase another Garmin antenna that mounts permanently and uses a BNC connector....just curious how you would do it.

Hugo,

If you want a concealed installation, you might consider following Pete Howell's lead and mount the tracker, GPS, and j-pole antenna in a wingtip:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=26797

Completely out of sight and mind. :)

You can see the way I did it here:

http://home.hiwaay.net/~sbuc/journal/tracker.htm

Having said all that and looking at your profile, are you talking about installing the tracker in a plane or some other vehicle? The reference to HT (handheld transmitter??) and BNC makes me wonder if I understand your question...
 
Hugo,

I hope I'm reading your Q right, and not veering off-course with this thought. Whether you do the (very cool) wingtip install as Sam suggested, or keep it in the cockpit/behind the panel, I don't think you need another Garmin antenna, as Byonics sells one that fits well (GPS-2, $69).

I bought a GPS-2, mounted the "puck" on the glareshield, and ran the wire from it through the glareshield, then behind and below the panel to my tracker. The puck is quite small and is out of the way, the wire is 6' long (plenty long), and the DB-9 from it mates to the DB-9 on the RTG's dongle (or in my case, the DB-9 on the MT-8000FA). Only downside is that the hole in the glareshield has to be large enough to fit the DB-9 through (but the puck covers most of it afterwards). I need to take a pic of the install, but here's a web-file pic of the GPS-2:

gps220small.jpg


The nice thing about the RTG is that you can tuck that remote DB-9 connection behind the panel. Heck, the RTG looks so small, it should be easy to tuck it all away. And if you cut off the 12V plug and hard-wire the power and ground, all you have left to do is plug the mini-din into one side of the tracker box, and screw the transmission antenna lead onto the SMA fitting on the other side of the tracker, wrap-nip-tuck it away, and your in biz.

Pretty cool set-up!

Hope that's on-target for what you were asking. Have fun!

Cheers,
Bob
 
RE:MT-RTG set up!!!!

While I await the FCC call sign I am planning for / purchasing the stuff / and getting ready to install the MT-RTG in my RV7A.

What follows is my first blush notion on where to install the tracker.

Port side baggage wall with the MT-RTG velcroed on the side wall. Electrical will be provided by a SteinAir supplied cigarette lighter (power point) receptacle (installed on the F722 Bulkhead) connected to a switch on the panel. The antenna will be 1/4 wave whip on the belly just aft of the main spar on the port side (Sam B. style). The antenna to MT-RTG will be connected by RG-6 coax (would probably use RG-58 but can't find any locally). The GPS puck will sit just aft of the bow on the F757 gusset. (???? I am not sure if this will give a clear veiw of the sky.....)

My reason for this set up was ease of wire/coax runs. Ease of portability. Clean/out of the way installation position???????

My second option is jpole with the MT-RTG and GPS in the wing tip. My main problem with this is portability. Electrical setup complications.

Third option is to put the MT-RTG behind the panel. Ease of elecrical setup. GPS on the glare sheild. Antenna ????????? Coax runs not as convient wheather to the wing tip (jpole) or the belly whip antenna.....

Any ideas, suggestions, novel approaches, ......... that I may have over looked.

Frank @ 1L8 ..RV7A.. Flying getting ready to track!!!!!!!!!
 
The GPS puck will sit just aft of the bow on the F757 gusset. (???? I am not sure if this will give a clear veiw of the sky.....)

Frank @ 1L8 ..RV7A.. Flying getting ready to track!!!!!!!!!

Frank, don't worry about the GPS. It is a tenacious little receiver and will lock on if it has the slightest glimpse of the sky.

Sounds like you are getting close to finalizing your tracker installation!
 
RTG tracker

I received my RTG in the mail yesterday. I dashed right out to the car, plugged it into the power and connected the magnet mount that I use with my HT. It powered up and started sending packets just as advertised. Preloaded with my callsign, N number and everything. It could not be more simple.

I had been using my VX-8R in the airplane and I thought that was about as easy as it could get. This is much better. I'll wait until my condition inspection in July to install it in the airplane but anyone that wants to get a APRS system going without a lot of the trouble of configuration should get one of these.
 
Which Bionics APRS model is currently being recommended for aircraft installation? I took the Technician Class exam today. As soon as I receive my call sign I would like to place an order.

I plan to install Kate’s antenna (twin lead) and the entire unit in the wingtip.

Thanks
 
I installed the Micro-Trak RTG (Ready To Go) FA and GPS2 antenna along with the competing antenna to the "Kate" ( my aprs antenna was made by her older brother :) )

The system works great!
 
I installed the Micro-Trak RTG (Ready To Go) FA and GPS2 antenna along with the competing antenna to the "Kate" ( my aprs antenna was made by her older brother :) )


Glen,

The system works great!

There are two models that may apply:

Micro-Trak RTG-FA, GPS/Antenna combo (Its only costs a $1 less to purchase the GPS without the antenna)
or
Micro-Trak RTG-FA, High Altitude combo

I assume the first model is what you have installed.

Thanks,
 
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There are two models that may apply:

Micro-Trak RTG-FA, GPS/Antenna combo (Its only costs a $1 less to purchase the GPS without the antenna)
or
Micro-Trak RTG-FA, High Altitude combo

I assume the first model is what you have installed.

Thanks,

Yes. The high altitude package was designed for balloon weather launches.
 
Got my M-T RTG-FA programmed and operational today. Since it won’t get installed in the -8 until September, I programmed it for auto use. When we start our “RV” cross country to South Carolina next month in our Saturn Relay (ugh), we’ll run the tracker for an exciting “ground” following adventure…this is a very "un-Vlad" utilization of APRS technology.

My thanks to Byon, Allen, Sam, and Glen, for all their helpful posts!

Regards,
 
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What antenna's are good specifically for aircraft?
I have an RV9 and I'm thinking of ordering the RTG kit from byonics.

http://www.byonics.com/mt-rtg


Got my M-T RTG-FA programmed and operational today. Since it won?t get installed in the -8 until September, I programmed it for auto use. When we start our ?RV? cross country to South Carolina next month in our Saturn Relay (ugh), we?ll run the tracker for an exciting ?ground? following adventure?this is a very "un-Vlad" utilization of APRS technology.

My thanks to Byon, Allen, Sam, and Glen, for all their helpful posts!

Regards,
 
I (and others) who added APRS to a flying airplane ended up mounting the Byonics RTG in a wingtip. A J-pole is easy to install inside the wingtip.

Pete Howell (his kids make great antennas) has some pictures of an older Byonics install but it still applies to the RTG.
 
ordered byonics RTG and the ETRA1440 antenna...
now, just how to mount the antenna!

I'm thinking i need one of these for all my vehicles.. and maybe one for my house. So I can track wherever it goes while Im at work. Im sure its heading downtown hanging out at pool halls and arcades dropping quarters into pacman and space invaders machines. harlot!
 
NMO Mount antenna

The antenna utilizes an NMO style mount ( which won't be included in your antenna purchase) and this requires a 3/4 inch hole for mounting.

Allen
 
Allen, would it be possible as a feature request to send user-configurable telemetry with the RTG via one of the serial ports on the PIC?
 
Telemetry

Bob,

The RTG only has one serial port, but does have built-in support for internal telemetry for power supply, and temperature. There is an auxiliary input for a 0-5 Volt analog telemetry feed. If your goal is to send your EFIS data, there is no way to do both tracking and external digital telemetry with the RTG. However, there is a version of the PIC firmware called the "TinyPack" which will take serial input and format it as Ax.25 data, APRS packets for transmission. It can't do both tracking and act as a one-way modem simultaneously. The TT4 does have two serial inputs, so one can be dedicated to the GPS, and the second used to send data in KISS mode ( Whatever data you send it at the programmed baud rate gets transmitted as packets) We have been working on a TT4-based version with an integrated receiver for quite some time, and we have a couple of solutions in the works; Right now, these include a TT4-based MT-AIO transceiver ( working very well, just waiting for a code refinements to switch the GPS that is single channel on 144.390, and a version of the RTG that is a frequency agile TT4 based transceiver. This project has significant code development still to go, but the RF side seems to work joyously.

Best regards,

Allen
 
Which APRS Antenna to use on the -12?

de500973.jpg


I used the Phantom Elite 144 MHZ antenna and get amazing results on my APRS tracks.


Thinking about running APRS on the -12. DakotaHawk highlights a possible good antenna choice but I am reluctant to drill any more holes in the fuselage than necessary.

Also, I wonder if you just use the small APRS vertical antenna (with the magnetic base) that came with the M-T RTG tracker placed on top of the fuel tank would work? The top of the fuel tank may not be the best location for antenna reception but it would be worth the try. Has anyone tried this?
 
You can definitely make it work with the "package antenna". My ferry flight home with the new-to-me RV-8 consisted of that antenna stuck to the mounting plate of the roll bar (the only convenient ferrous material). You may also consider the "Pete Howell Family j-pole" antenna needs no ground plane so if there may be some options for it as well. I'm not as familiar with the RV-12 to suggest in any detail.
 
You can definitely make it work with the "package antenna". My ferry flight home with the new-to-me RV-8 consisted of that antenna stuck to the mounting plate of the roll bar (the only convenient ferrous material). You may also consider the "Pete Howell Family j-pole" antenna needs no ground plane so if there may be some options for it as well. I'm not as familiar with the RV-12 to suggest in any detail.

I'll give it a try when we return to the "right" coast in a couple of months.
 
J-Pole in wingtip

After a little bit of a rough start due to a faulty GPS antenna puck, this week I got the Byonics RTG mounted in my wingtip using a J-Pole antenna I fabbed from a drawing. EZ to install and works GREAT!

I can't say enough good about the support I got from Byonics! Allen worked me evenings and weekends via e-mail. They are the best!
 
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