Full APRS Controlled Beta

• Licensed amateur radio operators, by invitation. The beta is small and isn’t public.
• It isn’t open yet. Invitations come from HAMORA, once HAMORA’s owner approves the beta. There’s no sign-up.
• Questions about the beta: HAMORA support at support@hamora.app.

As proposed, each invited tester needs:

• a current amateur radio licence that permits APRS on the frequencies, and at the power, they’ll use;
• to be 18 or over;
• a HAMORA account with their base callsign verified;
• the licence statement accepted in the app;
• for radio, their own HAMORA Bridge on their own network, with a TNC and radio from the proposed set-ups.

Not eligible, as proposed: anyone without a licence, a club station without a named licensed control operator, and anyone who can’t keep the radio under their own control while HAMORA transmits.

What the beta covers

• Two-way APRS-IS: replies, new messages, acknowledgements and retries. See Two-way APRS-IS.
• Position beacons you send yourself, at the precision you choose. See Position beacons.
• APRS over radio through your own HAMORA Bridge and TNC, part of the first Full APRS release with APRS-IS. Its status: In Testing · not approved for use. HAMORA RF transmission has been verified in a controlled laboratory environment using HAMORA Bridge and Dire Wolf. Real radio transmission testing is pending. See APRS over radio.
• The APRS kill switch, which stops all sending. See APRS safety.

Automatic beacons by radio stay off, and HAMORA sends by radio only while it’s open on screen. It never digipeats, never passes APRS-IS traffic to radio, and never adds its name to anything sent by radio.

• Proposed: iPhone through Apple’s TestFlight, and Android through a Google Play closed testing track. Both by invitation only.
• It’s separate from today’s public TestFlight beta and the Google Play open test. Those are receive-only, and joining them doesn’t put you in the controlled beta.
• Phones: an iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later, or Android 7.0 or later.
• HAMORA can stop sending for everyone with its kill switch, end the beta, or withdraw the build at any time.

As proposed, all of these must be in place before the first tester is invited. As of 21 October 2026, none of them is complete.

1. A beta build of HAMORA with its controlled-beta transmit gate.
2. HAMORA’s APRS kill feed deployed, and a kill drill passed on iPhone and Android.
3. The version of HAMORA Bridge that can transmit, reviewed and released.
4. HAMORA’s own lab checks passed, for radio and for each TNC set-up.
5. Legal answers on automatic acknowledgements, station identification and attribution on radio, and the consent and store texts approved.
6. HAMORA’s APRS identifier (its TOCALL) allocated.

• The beta build of HAMORA, from TestFlight or the Google Play testing track you’re invited to. Today’s public beta builds, on Download, are receive-only.
• A verified callsign on your HAMORA account. See Verifying your callsign.
• Your own APRS-IS passcode. HAMORA doesn’t create passcodes.
• Ideally, another licensed operator to exchange messages and acknowledgements with.
• For radio: your own HAMORA Bridge, in the version that can transmit, which isn’t released yet; a TNC and radio from the proposed set-ups; a 50 Ω dummy load and an inline SWR meter for every first test; and a monitoring receiver, such as a second radio or an RTL-SDR with Dire Wolf, to decode what was sent. See APRS hardware set-up.
• For radio, a station SSID. APRS over radio needs an SSID, such as -7, not a bare callsign, and a base callsign of 6 characters or fewer. The SSID range is proposed, not final.

As designed, every packet sent by radio takes the same path: your phone, then your own HAMORA Bridge on the same local network, then a TNC, then your radio. It’s never port-forwarded, and never goes through HAMORA Cloud Relay, which isn’t available. HAMORA Bridge builds every frame itself, and the TNC keys the radio: HAMORA Bridge never does.

How far it’s checked: HAMORA RF transmission has been verified in a controlled laboratory environment using HAMORA Bridge and Dire Wolf. Real radio transmission testing is pending. No hardware TNC has been connected yet.

The names are examples from the proposal, not a list of supported hardware. HAMORA doesn’t call a radio or TNC supported until it has been tested. See also TNC options.

Rules for every set-up, as proposed

Not in the beta, as proposed

• A TNC connected to the phone, by Bluetooth, USB or audio. Radio goes through HAMORA Bridge only.
• Bluetooth between the HAMORA Bridge computer and a TNC.
• A Windows HAMORA Bridge computer with a serial TNC.
• 9600-baud packet, other modes, and HF APRS.
• Digipeating, IGate in either direction, objects, items, telemetry and bulletins.

Once you’re invited and HAMORA says the beta is open to you, work through this list:

1. Set-up. Save your passcode and switch sending on. Check the confirmation explains that APRS is public, archived and your responsibility.
2. A wrong passcode. With a mistyped passcode, nothing should be sent: the APRS-IS server won’t verify you, and HAMORA should say so.
3. A new message to the station you arranged with. Watch it go from “Waiting to send” to “ACK received from …”.
4. A reply to a message sent to you.
5. Acknowledgements. Ask the other station to message you. HAMORA should acknowledge it. Block that station, and the next message should get no acknowledgement.
6. Retries. Message a station that won’t answer. Check the try count rises, that retries pause while HAMORA is closed, and that Stop retrying stops them.
7. A position beacon. Choose a precision, check the preview, then send. Compare what appears on aprs.fi with the preview.
8. Near home. Close to your profile’s home location, the button should read “Send my home position”.
9. Stopping. Switch sending off during retries. Nothing more should go out.
10. The kill switch. If HAMORA stops sending with its kill switch during the beta, check that the app says sending is paused and that nothing more goes out.
11. Wording. Note anything unclear. HAMORA should never say “delivered” or “sent on air”.

By radio, as proposed

Only with HAMORA Bridge set up, and one step at a time, each with HAMORA’s go-ahead:

1. Pair and approve. Pair your phone with HAMORA Bridge, approve its radio access at the HAMORA Bridge computer with the code the phone shows, and keep the TX master switch off.
2. Receive first. Watch the stations heard by your radio, with transmitting off.
3. E-STOP drill. Engage E-STOP from the phone, then clear it at the HAMORA Bridge computer.
4. Lab checks for your set-up, into the dummy load with the antenna disconnected.
5. On air, only after HAMORA has reviewed your lab results and asked you to, for one test at a time.
6. After every session, switch the TX master switch off.

Write to HAMORA support at support@hamora.app. Report straight away, and stop sending first, if:

• anything went out that you didn’t send, or more than you sent;
• what was sent differs from the preview;
• anything went out after you switched sending off, or after HAMORA stopped it;
• a blocked station got an acknowledgement;
• your passcode, or any other secret, appeared on screen, in a log or in a screenshot.

In each report, include:

• the time, in UTC;
• your phone, its system version and the HAMORA build;
• what you did, step by step, and what you expected;
• what happened, with screenshots, and an aprs.fi link if it helps.

• Follow your licence and your local band plan. Lawful operation is your responsibility.
• Verify your local APRS frequency yourself. HAMORA keeps no licence or frequency tables for any country.
• Never leave a station transmitting unattended.
• If anything is wrong, stop. Switch sending off, use E-STOP on a HAMORA Bridge station, or switch the radio off. See APRS safety.
• Radio stays off until HAMORA approves it. Then transmit only when HAMORA asks you to, for a specific test, starting into a dummy load.
• Don’t share the beta build, an invitation link or your HAMORA Bridge set-up with anyone.
• Remember that everything you send on APRS is public and archived.

1. H0 · Pre-flight, no transmission

   The operator confirms their licence covers the APRS frequency and notes every version. On the HAMORA Bridge computer: the kill status is fresh and clear, the TX master switch is off and E-STOP is clear. Dire Wolf’s KISS port must be refused from other devices. The radio is on its lowest power, into the dummy load, with the antenna disconnected.

2. H2 · Decode without a radio

   Dire Wolf’s audio is recorded and decoded back, and no radio is involved. A message, an acknowledgement and a beacon must decode exactly as expected, and refused requests must write nothing at all.

3. H1 · Receive only

   With transmit off and no phone allowed to send, the operator watches stations heard by radio for 10 minutes. The radio’s transmit light must never come on.

4. H3–H9 · Into the dummy load

   The radio keys into the dummy load only. The steps: the first key-up, checked against the preview and the SWR meter (H3); the sending limits (H4); E-STOP with packets queued (H5); a kill drill, once HAMORA’s kill feed is deployed (H6); the TNC disconnected and reconnected, with no burst afterwards (H7); the radio off frequency, in use elsewhere, or locked out for SWR/ALC (H8); and how Dire Wolf handles HAMORA’s frames (H9).

5. H10 · On air: one beacon

   Only after every dummy-load step has passed, and with legal questions answered. One beacon, on the exact preview the owner approved, checked on aprs.fi through a nearby IGate.

6. H11 · On air: a message and acknowledgement

   With a second licensed station: one message each way and its acknowledgement. Optionally, a blocked station must get no acknowledgement.

7. H12 · Teardown

   After every session: the TX master switch off, the antenna disconnected and the logs kept.

The operator stops at once on any of these:

• a key-up nobody asked for, or more key-ups than packets;
• a transmission longer than 3 seconds;
• any transmission with the antenna connected during a dummy-load step;
• a high SWR on the dummy load, or a hot load or radio;
• a packet that differs from the preview;
• the app saying “sent on air”, “transmitted” or “delivered” for radio;
• anything going out after a kill, E-STOP, transmit off or a refusal;
• a passcode, credential or key in a log, screenshot or on screen.