00:00Alright hams, if you run APRS at all, you know a good Wi-Fi i-gate is the difference between
00:04hearing where the guys are and just guessing. I spent way too long digging through listings
00:08so you don't have to these are the best deals I found for the top 5 51c6 APRS Wi-Fi
00:13gateways for
00:14hams right now, and I'm going to walk you through each one. Starting at number 1, this is the new
00:19APRS X1C5 Plus gateway and tracker, and it's the one that scored a near-perfect 4.9 stars with
00:25almost 5,000 units sold. The standoff feature is that gorgeous IPS displayed bright, readable in
00:31daylight, and it shows your position and decoded packets right on the unit without you needing to
00:36open a laptop. Add built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and full 136 to 174 MHz wideband receive, and yeah,
00:45it's priced like a serious piece of radio gear at $406.43, but this is the flagship.
00:51Buy it once, forget about it. Number 2 is the APRS 51c6 Wi-Fi i-gate gateway trunk,
00:58and this is the one most hams will actually want. For $102.14 you've got the 51c6 ability to act
01:05as
01:06a real gateway trunk, pushing mobiles onto the internet track so you can watch the whole net
01:10move, plus a built-in Wi-Fi module and Bluetooth so it drops onto your home network without any USB
01:15serial adapter fighting you. Over 4,800 sold and a solid 4.6 rating tells you people run these every
01:22single day. Cheap, dependable, proven. Number 3 is the 2026 edition of that same APRS X1C5+,
01:31and honestly this is my sweet spot pick. You get the exact same chassis, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,
01:36GPS, wideband 136-174 MHz, but the shiny IPS screen and modern internals, all for $295.70 instead of
01:46over $400. That's roughly $100 back in your pocket for what, in my opinion, is essentially the same
01:53radio, and it's still pulling close to $4,700 sold. If you want the flagship without the flagship
01:59invoice, grab this one. Number 4 is the AVR-T9, and at $125.13 with a 4.8 rating it's
02:08the sleeper
02:08hit of this whole list. This thing is genuinely portable, it's a DG, a tracker, and an iGate in
02:14one little box with GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth on board. The feature I like most is the UI, KISS,
02:21and WPL output, because that means it can feed APRS clients like Dire Wolf or Appercise just as
02:26happily as it runs standalone. Take it to the mountain, put it in the truck, stick it in a hat.
02:33Brilliant little unit. Number 5, and this is the budget shout-out, the APRS 51C6 Wi-Fi iGate
02:40Gateway Trunk at just $23.50. Yeah, $23.50. Same built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Trunk Gateway Core,
02:49and while it holds a slightly lower 4.5 rating, over 3,000 have already been bought and flashed.
02:55Perfect as a first iGate for a new operator, as a backup for the club station, or as a spare
03:00that
03:00lives in the go-bag. You cannot argue with that price. So that's the rundown on the top 5 51C6
03:07APRS Wi-Fi gateways for hams, from the flagship X1C5 Plus all the way down to a $23 starter.
03:14Every link is in the description below, prices shift, so grab the ones you want while they're
03:19at these numbers. If this helped you set something up, smash that like button, and subscribe so I can
03:25keep hunting down the best ham deals for you. Happy DGING, N73!
