HAMfinder

HAMfinder is a Ruby gem built to make developing Ruby on Rails-based amateur radio programs easier to develop.

Querying Repeaterbook.com's data using application-defined criteria, this gem returns a collection of repeaters matching the criteria as JSON objects - conveniently named by their callsigns! For example, here is a record for a 2 meter band repeater near me in Washington, DC:

{:K4DCA=>
  {:frequency=>"145.1100",
   :offset=>"-0.6MHz",
   :tone=>"CC1",
   :call=>"K4DCA",
   :location=>"Washington",
   :state=>"DC",
   :usage=>"OPEN",
   :voip=>"",
   :distance=>"0.8",
   :direction=>"S"}}

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'hamfinder'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install hamfinder

Usage

When using HAMfinder, you must first instantiate a new parser in your application:

parser = Hamfinder::Parser.new

Now you can use your parser's query method to retrieve data according to your provided parameters.

@results = parser.query( zip:"11232", radius:5, band:"2m" )

The .query() method accepts the following options:

• zip
• radius
• band

The zip parameter must be a valid 5 digit US postal zip code passed as a string (i.e. zip:"22181").

The radius parameter (in miles) must be an integer greater than 0 and less than or equal to 200 (i.e. radius:50). If no radius is entered as a parameter the default is a radius of 10 miles, roughly the maximum distance a low powered handheld radio can reach on 2m band.

The band parameter specifies the frequency band you wish to query, and must be passed as a string. band accepts the following values, or defaults to 2m:

• "10m"
• "6m"
• "2m"
• "1.25m"
• "70cm"
• "33cm"
• "23cm"
  

Examples of output:

#10m band repeaters within 5 miles of 20009, Washington DC
puts parser.query( zip:"20009", band:"10m", radius:5 )
=> ["NO REPEATERS FOUND WITHIN 5 MILES of 38.9191485, -77.0362967."]

#2m band repeaters within 2 miles of 20009, Washington DC
puts parser.query( zip:"20009", radius:2 )
=> { :W3DOS=>{:frequency=>"145.1900", :offset=>"-0.6MHz", :tone=>"151.4", :call=>"W3DOS", 
              :location=>"Washington,HarryS.TrumanBuilding", :state=>"DC", :usage=>"OPEN", 
              :voip=>"", :distance=>"1.7", :direction=>"S"}, 
     :W3AGB=>{:frequency=>"147.3600", :offset=>"+0.6MHz", :tone=>"", :call=>"W3AGB",
              :location=>"Washington", :state=>"DC", :usage=>"OPEN",
              :voip=>"", :distance=>"1.7", :direction=>"S"},
     :K4DCA=>{:frequency=>"145.1100", :offset=>"-0.6MHz", :tone=>"CC1", :call=>"K4DCA", 
              :location=>"Washington", :state=>"DC", :usage=>"OPEN",
              :voip=>"", :distance=>"0.8", :direction=>"S"},
     :K3MRC=>{:frequency=>"145.4300", :offset=>"-0.6MHz", :tone=>"114.8", :call=>"K3MRC", 
              :location=>"Washington,D.C.", :state=>"DC", :usage=>"OPEN", 
              :voip=>"", :distance=>"1.7", :direction=>"S"} }

#2m band repeaters within a default 10 miles of 20009, Washington DC     
puts parser.query( zip:"20009" )
=> {:W4HFH=>{:frequency=>"147.3150", :offset=>"+0.6MHz", :tone=>"107.2", :call=>"W4HFH", 
             ...

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/jasonallenphotography/HAMfinder_gem. This project is intended to be a welcoming space for collaboration, and contributors are expected to adhere to the Contributor Covenant code of conduct.

License

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.