APRS is a digital communications protocol originally developed by Bob Bruninga (WB4APR). APRS is used to communicate information over a (large) local area. It is probably most well known for broadcasting position information but can also include text messages and other data. The messages can be broadcast across a wider area using repeaters called digipeaters. These can form wider area APRS networks. They can also connect to the internet through an APRS Internet Gateway extending their reach to anywhere.

Today a lot of radios are APRS capable and may include built-in GPS so that precise real-time position information can be made available.

There are also a lot of software packages available that can be used for APRS. One such free program is Dire Wolf.

References:

• Wikipedia  🔗 Automatic Packet Reporting System
• APRS Protocol Reference  🗒  APRS Protocol Reference Document
• APRS Mode  🔗 APRS Mode Introduction (ARRL)
• Dire Wolf  🔗 Dire Wolf APRS Capable Software