Skip to content

qtbpqaprs

G8BPQ's Qt APRS client, the messaging-focused one

What it does

An APRS client that connects to a BPQ node (or APRS-IS) and focuses on the messaging half of APRS -- station list, message exchange, beacons -- with a map view fed by an internet tile server.

Why you would want it

Xastir and YAAC are mapping-first; this is messaging-first, and it is the APRS front end designed to sit on the linbpq node this catalog already configures. If your APRS use is "exchange messages over the local network node", this is the shortest path.

Before it will work

A running linbpq node with its APRS component enabled, or an APRS-IS account for internet-only use. Nothing touches the radio directly; RF access arrives through the node.

How it installs

  • git (qmake) — https://github.com/g8bpq/QtBPQAPRS at 00.13
  • build dependencies: build-essential, pkg-config, qtbase5-dev, qt5-qmake, qtbase5-dev-tools
  • the project's build system has no install rule; the binaries listed below are copied into the prefix instead
  • Built from this tag on the Debian 13 VM on 2026-08-30: qmake and make exit 0 and produce QtBPQAPRS with only qtbase5 installed. Upstream's last push is 2024-08 -- slow-moving, like the rest of the G8BPQ suite, and versioned tags mean slow is fine (D-024).

Binaries this produces:

  • QtBPQAPRS → qtbpqaprs

Known problems

The build emits sprintf truncation warnings (upstream C in a Qt shell); they do not fail the build and are upstream's to fix. Map tiles need internet access; there is no offline tile store.

Keeping it current

  • probe: github tags (g8bpq/QtBPQAPRS)
  • strategy: rebuild
  • G8BPQ tags releases irregularly. Check alongside linbpq updates -- they are designed to move together.

Where to get help with the software itself

John Wiseman G8BPQ, via the BPQ32 groups.io list -- the same channel as linbpq itself.

Source: catalog/packages/qtbpqaprs.yaml