9M2PJU APRS Bot

9M2PJU APRS Bot

User Guide

Bot callsign: 9M2PJU-4

The 9M2PJU APRS Bot is an APRS messaging assistant running on FreeBSD server. Send a short APRS message to the bot, and it replies with useful information such as weather, location details, satellite passes, nearby places, SOTA spots and alerts, POTA spots and alerts, DAPNET messages, radiosonde information, and email position reports.

What The Bot Can Do

  • Weather forecasts and current conditions
  • Your own APRS position details
  • Location lookup for other APRS stations
  • Distance and bearing to another station
  • Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, golden hour, and moon phase
  • Satellite passes and amateur satellite frequency information
  • Latest global SOTA spots and planned SOTA alerts
  • Latest global POTA spots and planned POTA alerts
  • Nearby repeaters with band and mode filters
  • Nearby OpenStreetMap places such as fuel stations, cafes, hospitals, ATMs, hotels, and more
  • Radiosonde landing predictions
  • Email position reports
  • DAPNET pager messages, including high-priority messages

How To Use The Bot

Send an APRS message to:

9M2PJU-4

Keep commands short and simple. APRS messages have limited space, so short commands work best.

Help Commands

help
info

Weather Commands

Use these commands to request weather forecasts or current weather information.

today
tomorrow
50634 monday
new york tuesday
temp
wind

Examples:

  • today returns today’s weather for your location.
  • tomorrow returns tomorrow’s weather.
  • new york tuesday returns weather for New York on Tuesday.

HF Propagation Commands

Use these commands to check current HF band conditions and solar indices.

prop

prop 40

prop 15 

Examples:

prop returns all HF band conditions and solar indices. prop 40 returns conditions for the 40m band only. prop 15 returns conditions for the 15m band only.

Location And Tracking Commands

Use these commands to check your location, find another station, or calculate distance and bearing.

whereami
whereis 9m2pju-8
track 9m2pju-5
distance 9m2pju-3
bearing 9m2pju-7

Examples:

  • whereami returns your own APRS position details.
  • whereis 9m2pju-8 returns the last known position of that station.
  • distance 9m2pju-3 returns the distance to that station.

Sun And Moon Commands

Use these commands to get sun, moon, and light information for your location.

riseset
sunrise
sunset
moonrise
moonset
goldenhour
moonphase

Satellite Commands

Use these commands to get satellite passes or satellite frequency information.

satpass iss
satfreq noaa-19
satpass ao-91

SOTA Spot Commands

SOTA means Summits On The Air. SOTA spots usually mean an activator is active now. The bot can show the latest five global SOTA spots.

sota
sota spots
spots sota

Example response:

SOTA: KE6TH W6/IN-015 14.271 SSB
SOTA: JP3DGT/3 JA/KT-014 430.03 CW

SOTA Alert Commands

SOTA alerts are planned SOTA activations. Alerts usually mean an activator has announced a future activation. The bot can show the next five global SOTA alerts.

sota alerts
alerts sota

Example response:

SOTA ALERT: OE6TNO/P OE/ST-302 12:15Z 145-fm
SOTA ALERT: MW0TSU/P GW/MW-017 13:00Z 145.500-fm

POTA Spot Commands

POTA means Parks On The Air. POTA spots usually mean an activator is active now. The bot can show the latest five global POTA spots.

pota
pota spots
spots pota

Example response:

POTA: K2L US-2912 14080.0 FT4
POTA: KE8PZN US-7038 7248 SSB

POTA Alert Commands

POTA alerts are planned POTA activations. Alerts usually mean an activator has announced a future activation. The bot can show the next five global POTA alerts.

pota alerts
alerts pota

Example response:

POTA ALERT: K2AYE US-3812 2026-02-15 20:25 20 meter
POTA ALERT: PF2X/P NL-0253 2026-05-18 11:00

Radiosonde Commands

Use these commands to request radiosonde landing prediction information.

sonde EB123
landing S4710234

Repeater Commands

Use these commands to find nearby repeaters. You can include band, mode, and result count filters.

repeater
repeater 2m
repeater 70cm c4fm
repeater c4fm 70cm top3

Nearby Place Search

The bot can search nearby places using OpenStreetMap data.

cafe
fuel
hospital
atm
pharmacy
hotel
supermarket
police
post_office
train_station
toilets

You can ask for multiple results where supported:

cafe top3
fuel top5

Common Place Keywords

aerodrome
alpine_hut
ambulance_station
atm
bakery
bank
butcher
cafe
car_rental
car_repair
charging_station
chemist
clinic
college
deli
dentist
doctor
drinking_water
dry_cleaning
electronics
fire_station
fuel
hairdresser
hospital
hostel
hotel
information
laundry
mall
motorcycle
optician
pharmacy
phone
photographer
police
post_box
post_office
pub
school
shoes
subway
supermarket
taxi
telephone
tobacco
toilets
train_station
university

Email Position Report

The bot can send a position report by email.

posmsg [email protected]
posmsg [email protected] message text

The email may include coordinates, timestamp, Maidenhead grid, and map links when available.

DAPNET Message Commands

The bot can send messages to DAPNET when DAPNET access is configured on the server. This allows you to send pager-style messages through the DAPNET network from APRS.

dapnet CALLSIGN message text
dapnethp CALLSIGN message text

Examples:

dapnet 9M2PJU hello from APRS
dapnethp 9M2PJU priority test message

Command details:

  • dapnet sends a normal DAPNET message.
  • dapnethp sends a high-priority DAPNET message.
  • CALLSIGN is the recipient callsign registered on DAPNET.
  • message text is the message you want to send.

Example successful response:

Message was sent to DAPNET

If DAPNET is unavailable, the recipient callsign is not valid, or the bot configuration is incorrect, the bot will reply with an error message.

Tips For Best Results

  • Wait 30 to 60 seconds between requests.
  • Use short and simple commands.
  • Start with simple commands such as today, whereami, sota, or pota.
  • APRS is public, so do not send private information.
  • If you request multiple results, the bot may reply with several APRS messages.
  • Some features depend on external internet services and may be temporarily unavailable.

Troubleshooting

No Response From Bot

  • The bot may be offline.
  • APRS-IS, RF coverage, a digipeater, or an iGate may be unavailable.
  • Try again after a minute or two.

Invalid Command

  • Check your spelling.
  • Use a simple command first.
  • Try help or info.

Location Not Found

  • The station may not have transmitted recently.
  • Check the callsign.
  • Try another known active station.

Weather Not Available

  • Try a city name, postal code, or nearby location.
  • Remote areas may have limited forecast data.
  • Try again later if the weather service is unavailable.

Quick Command Summary

help
info
today
tomorrow
temp
wind
whereami
whereis 9m2pju-8
track 9m2pju-5
distance 9m2pju-3
bearing 9m2pju-7
riseset
sunrise
moonphase
satpass iss
satfreq noaa-19
sota
sota alerts
pota
pota alerts
sonde EB123
repeater
cafe
fuel
hospital
posmsg [email protected]
dapnet 9M2PJU hello from APRS
dapnethp 9M2PJU priority test message