There are already tonnes of applications for the Apple iPhone, which are either designed for or useful to the radio amateur, but just as I am thinking I would really like to have one of those along comes Android and people start coming out with useful stuff for that too.One such is M3OYQ’s Repeater Range. It is a free application designed to run on the Android mobile phone platform and works by listening to the on-board GPS and displaying the bundled repeater database as a simple list sorted by the range, it also displays the bearing from your current location. The list updates every 30 seconds making it useful whilst travelling. On selecting a particular repeater from the list, another screen is displayed allowing you to view or update the information relating to the selected repeater, such as Input/Output frequencies, CTCSS Tone, Maidenhead Locator, Latitude, Longitude, and a status setting.
Version 1.0 is really a proof of concept and has quite limited functionality, however if there is enough interest the author will develop the app further.
The problem as I see it is the lack of up to date information on the UK repeater network and that if it is to be truly a success it needs to have up to date information on all amateur radio repeaters worldwide. There have been one or two bugs such as the application crashing when the handset is rotated to landscape, but I am sure this will soon be sorted out.
Best of luck to Noel M3OYQ with his project.
You can download the app at Noel’s website here.
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