Navigation coordinate systems for the Amateur Radio operator

OMs, pelase read the following if you are interested in navigation:

http://www.arrl.org/ares-el?issue=2013-03-20#toc06

So, which i-apps are there for coordinates? The ones I found are:

Theodolite (great for USNG co-ordinates, has a total of 13 different coordinate systems to choose from; great for making photos with coordinates superimposed on the photos)

Maidenhead (8 digit Maidenhead locator)

GPS Status V1.2 (Long and Lat)

Ushahidi (Long and Lat; tool to immediately post your message on the internet with coordinates and photos or vids)

HamLog (8 digit Maidenhead, Long and Lat)

iAPRS (Long and Lat)

Compass (I think this one came with the iOS?; Long and Lat and Compass (or course...))

Locate! (USNG and Long & Lat)

Emergency (Long and Lat; emails result to whomever you choose)

I bet there are other apps out there as well, but I stopped looking since I found the ones I thought answered my question.

You OMs in Florida might like to look here too: https://twitter.com/USNGFlorida

Use this awesome FREE software:http://www.epcupdates.org/2013/01/mission-manager-free-software-for-sar.htmlIt is the one which generated the image attached to this post.

For multiple USNG articles, see this: http://www.epcupdates.org/search/label/USNG

Personally, I love the Maidenhead locator system, but - think it's very hard to relay that to a paper map which you may hold in your hand while hiking (and trying to save battery power). Seems like USNG is really the way to go in that scenario. What I did not know before reading up on USNG and Long & Lat: the Long & Lat system apparently has different "flavours", i.e. there are various systems around in determining the Longitude and Latitude, which make it ambiguous. Not good when you really want to be found fast!

One more thing about "Missionmanager", it allows you to plan your hiking route very nicely with topographic map contour lines, which might not be too much of a deal in FL (the state is nearly flat!), but here in AR it can make a huge lot of difference as you can see from the attached map!

73 de Marcus KD0JKM

Mission Manager - Situational Awareness Tool

Written by people who have years of experience running real missions and managing emergency personnel.

Currently used by Sheriff, Fire and Police Departments, Hospitals, SAR/USAR Teams, Animal Rescue, Schools, Emergency Operation Centers, Civil Air Patrol and more.

Also features - amongst many other things - direct entry of USNG coordinates for multi-layer map (thus now the second map app that I have found to be able to do so). Truly enjoy using it since it's intuitive and thus easy to use.

http://www.radishworks.com/MissionManager.php

US NATIONAL GRID - A Geo-Spatial Tool for Public Service Communications

See http://www.arrl.org/ares-el?issue=2013-03-20 for details.

To search for iPhone or Android apps, use keyword "MGRS".

I guess that US Amateur Radio operators may be well advised to migrate away from Maidenhead LOC and switch to USNG.

Kudos to Al, KF4KIR for pointing to this information and for immediately getting back to me with additional information!

Due to this new information, RaDAR-America Contest rules will be amended momentarily to the effect that USNG coordinates will be preferred for the logs of US HAMs.

73 de Marcus KD0JKM