<div dir="ltr"><h1>APRS-Parkinson's UK</h1><p> We have all heard of Parkinson’s and if you're like me, probably associate it with older people. My grandad had Parkinson’s but a few years ago my sister was also diagnosed with it whilst in her 40's. </p>
<p>Typically, she doesn't complain but calls me up and asks me if I would be interested in cycling 100km around London to help raise funds for Parkinson's UK. </p><p>It was suggested by one of the local radio club members that I should carry an APRS tracking beacon with me. So the project was born. A brief email to the <strong>Welland Valley Amateur Radio Society</strong> (WVARS) members, asking for help resulted in various gps receivers, antennas, bits and bobs all pledged for me to use. Within a couple of hours I had everything I needed (isn’t amateur radio a great hobby). </p>
<p>To keep the weight to a minimum I decided to build DK7IN’s version of the Tiny Trak from Byonics and run it into my Baofeng UV-5R. The GPS unit was donated by Navtech Systems Ltd.</p><p>After a few late nights in the shack and a bit of messing about getting the signal levels correct the unit was built. Mounted into the top of my rucksack all I had to do was take it out on the road. It worked great, much better than my cycling, well it has been about 25yrs since I was on a bike!</p>
<p>So only a few days to go until the big event, 100km cycle around London through the night starting at 11pm. Drop me an email if you can see me, I will be checking in on route. If you would like to donate to this great cause you can find my Just Giving page at:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Paul-Bruce2" target="_blank"><font color="#0066cc">http://www.justgiving.com/Paul-Bruce2</font></a></p><p>Thank you.</p><p><strong><em>Paul Bruce, G1FJH</em></strong></p></div>