Checking in to #APRSThursday from your phone
This post walks a first #APRSThursday check-in from start to finish in APRS Connect, for regulars of the net and for hams who have heard of it but have not joined yet. It covers what ANSRVR does with a post, the group directory, joining, the room on the Messages tab, the APRSPH logger, and delivery states.
What ANSRVR does with a post
ANSRVR is the APRS group-messaging service. Subscribe to a group and it relays every member's post to you, and yours to every member. #APRSThursday runs on the group HOTG, so a post to the net is a message to ANSRVR reading CQ HOTG followed by your text.
What each subscriber receives is not a message from ANSRVR. The relay arrives from the originating operator's own callsign, addressed to you, with CQ rewritten to N: and the group name kept: N:HOTG Happy #APRSThursday de Jon in California CM98 is one operator's post, passed on. ANSRVR's own confirmations use the same shape but come from ANSRVR itself; N:HOTG 206 Messages Sent says your post was relayed, with the subscriber count at that moment.
APRS Connect collects a joined group into one net room: one conversation with everyone in it, in order, each post attributed to the operator who sent it.
Finding the group
Groups & Nets lives on the Services tab and lists every group on ANSRVR, what each is for, and the ones you are in. You can fetch the full directory from ANSRVR itself; the app warns you first that ANSRVR answers with about 35 messages over a minute or two. The list is searchable and sortable, and each entry shows its subscriber count with the date it was fetched.
You can also ask ANSRVR which groups your callsign is subscribed to, or join a group by name. A group that does not exist yet is created, with you as its owner.
Joining, and the 12-hour clock
Joining sends J <group> to ANSRVR and opens the room. Subscriptions lapse after 12 hours; that is ANSRVR's rule, not the app's, so staying in a net across a full day means renewing. Renew sends K <group> to hold your subscription another 12 hours, and the room warns you when it is nearly up. Leave sends U <group>; net traffic stops arriving, and the conversation stays on your phone.
Both show their own send status, because APRS gives no guarantee a command arrived, and a renewal ANSRVR has not yet confirmed says so rather than showing a countdown.
The room on the Messages tab
Once joined, the group appears on the Messages tab under the Groups & Nets kind.
Every relayed post lands in one room, attributed to the operator who sent it, with the roster and head count above the conversation.
The strip at the top carries your standing in the net: "Checked in" with how long is left, "Not checked in yet", or "Subscription lapsed". The net runs Thursday UTC, and the room's banner says "Net is live" with when it closes, or "Net is closed" with when it next opens.
The roster lists the operators heard in the net and how many posts each has made. It covers the current check-in only: the net runs into the same room every week, so checking in again starts the list over, and the roster answers who is here now.
The same strip shows how many operators are subscribed, with how long ago that figure was true. ANSRVR only volunteers the number when it relays one of your posts, so Update asks for a fresh one by sending L, the roll call. One packet goes out, nothing reaches the room, and your 12 hours are not affected. The button shows only while you are checked in, since L reports on groups you belong to.
Posting the check-in
Check in drafts a check-in post and opens the composer so you can add your name and location before it goes out. Post sends anything you write to the whole group. The exact packet is shown above the composer as you type; the CQ HOTG prefix uses part of the 67-character limit, and the preview shows how much room is left.
APRSPH, the net logger
#APRSThursday keeps a published log through APRSPH, the #APRSThursday logger. When APRSPH confirms your check-in, the room shows "Logged on the net list" with the logger's own UTC timestamp, the same figure printed beside your callsign on the published list. The two confirmations answer different questions: ANSRVR says the net heard you, and APRSPH says the net recorded you.
APRSPH also accepts a check-in that is not relayed to the group. A message sent directly to the logger, HOTG followed by your text, reaches the log without every subscriber receiving a packet. The logger does not reply to it, and the service screen says so, so a quiet check-in does not read as a failed one.
What the delivery state means
Posts carry the same delivery states as any other message in the app.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Queued | Waiting for the channel |
| Sent | Handed to the radio or APRS-IS, not yet proof it was radiated |
| Digipeated | Your own packet came back through a repeater, proof it went out over the air |
| Delivered | The recipient acknowledged it |
| Rejected | The recipient explicitly refused it |
| Not delivered | Every attempt failed |
For a post to the net, the recipient is ANSRVR, so Delivered means ANSRVR acknowledged the packet. The relay confirmation with the subscriber count arrives separately, and the APRSPH receipt separately again.
Notifications in a room
Net rooms alert like any other conversation. The room suppresses notifications while you are looking at it, and its header carries a switch to quiet it. A muted room stops notifying but still shows its unread count in the Messages list.
Where to read more
- Groups and nets: the directory, the room and the logger in full.
- Messaging: delivery states, retries and the thread list.
- APRS services: the rest of the service directory.
- Connect to APRS-IS: the connection a radio-free check-in uses.
