Rate limitations...

[Bob Radvanovsky]

I'm trying to reach the gent responsible for the APRS.FI website, as I'm encountering query rate limits.  I'd like to discuss what I'm doing and why I'm asking for permission.

Callsign is KC6ONL.

Danke.

[Ricardo Guzman]

Hi ,

most of the times is better to have a feed "listener" (like any in python code) to react to some packets instead of  calling the api too many times (which we all have done at some point). This solves many issues for aprs.fi and make US more up to develop a better and more custom solution.

What is your goal with your api calls?

CA2RXU

[Heikki Hannikainen]

On Tue, 11 Nov 2025, Bob Radvanovsky wrote:

> I'm trying to reach the gent responsible for the APRS.FI website, as I'm
> encountering query rate limits.  I'd like to discuss what I'm doing and
> why I'm asking for permission.

Just post the question here, but do search for "rate limit" first and read
some of the previous threads, maybe the question is already answered:

https://groups.google.com/g/aprsfi/search?q=rate%20limit

- Hessu

[Bob Radvanovsky]

What I'm doing is performing callsign checks for a small list of ham's stations on a centralized tower.  As long as there are several callsign stations online, they can continue using a portion of the commercial tower for free.

The problem is that the users lack any programming skills, and the previous programmer is experiencing health issues.  Their application is a Perl script that was accessing another similar service (FINDU.COM).  I'm looking at upgrading the software using bash and PHP.  The check is performed every 10 minutes.  If a callsign station is down, an email alert is sent to a distribution email list.

My involvement with this effort is that I can program; however, the Perl script is buggy and was developed for a version of LINUX when it was still a 32-bit operating system (it's old...really old).

There is ZERO documentation, and what comments are embedded within the Perl code is sparse.

NONE of this is commercial.  This is a freebie thing for a group of old farts who barely know how to spell the word "computer".  Honestly, this is no joke.  None of them seem to know how to load an operating system onto their computers.  Everything APRS is nothing more than a utility or tool to them in lieu of using voice.

I'm doing this for them because of what I believe in ham radio - everything freely, publicly, and openly available.  I offer services for hams, too, such as web sites and gateways.  Sum gratis.  This is what I do, because I still believe in this dream.

Sooooo...can anyone help me here?

-rad

[Heikki Hannikainen]

Ok, but this is a technical issue. How many callsigns do you need to look up?

The usual hint applies, copying from https://aprs.fi/page/api:

Querying multiple targets using a single request:

You can request data for up to 20 targets by separating the callsigns
using a comma. The rate limiting limits the amount of API queries over
time, not the amount of targets queried. Batch queries of multiple
stations are faster for you and generate less load on the server.

If you're still getting rate limited, simply decrease the rate of queries.
The rate limit is not adjustable per user. If you need more frequent
real-time information, please connect directly to the APRS-IS stream and
decode the data from there; APRS-IS supports filtering packets coming from
specific callsigns.

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- Hessu

[Shawn Stoddard]

Let’s take this off list.

Just need to verify a call is good or what?

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/aprsfi/1d56e47b-3622-219c-1883-eab8a7fba9f%40hes.iki.fi.

[Bob Radvanovsky]

OK, good to know.  The number, for now, is just 2 dozen callsign stations.  And yes, it is batched - every 10 minutes.  Will that flag the rate limit?  I can limit the number in the batch.

-rad

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/aprsfi/1d56e47b-3622-219c-1883-eab8a7fba9f%40hes.iki.fi.

[Greg Bond]

I'm thinking the  "My stations and bookmarks/Stations I follow" feature in APRS.FI would do what is needed. Supposed to send an email when a station isn't heard for a period of time or is heard after an absence. The problem I have is that it appears to me to not functioned for a couple of years now. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, though it used to work or it's broken.

73

NØNPO