What frequency is APRS on in Canada?

144.390 MHz FM on the 2 m band at 1200 baud, the same channel used in the United States and most of the Americas. A radio configured for APRS in the US needs no change when crossing the border.

Is the APRS frequency different in Quebec or the territories?

No. 144.390 MHz is used nationally, including Quebec, the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. What changes across the country is digipeater density, not the frequency.

What path should I use for APRS in Canada?

WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 for a mobile is the standard. In sparsely covered areas of the north and the prairies the fill-in hop is often the only thing that gets a beacon to a wide-area digipeater at all.

Does APRS work in northern Canada?

VHF APRS coverage thins out quickly north of the populated corridor, because it depends on digipeaters and iGates that need power and internet. For genuinely remote travel, HF APRS on 30 m or a satellite tracker is the more realistic option.

APRS Frequency Canada — 144.390 MHz

The APRS frequency in Canada is 144.390 MHz, FM, 2 m band, 1200 baud — the same channel as the United States. Drive across the border in either direction and nothing in your radio needs to change.

That shared channel is deliberate. Canada sits in IARU Region 2 alongside the US and Mexico, and a common APRS frequency across the continent is what makes cross-border mobile operation work at all.

For the worldwide picture see APRS Frequencies by Country. For the US-specific path and congestion notes, which mostly apply here too, see APRS Frequency USA.

The Source

144.390 MHz falls in the digital segment of the Radio Amateurs of Canada 2 m band plan, following IARU Region 2 practice. RAC publishes the current band plan on its site; provincial and regional clubs sometimes republish extracts, which are convenient but occasionally out of date.

What Actually Differs From the US

The frequency is identical. Three things are not.

Digipeater density. The populated corridor along the border — the Windsor-Quebec City corridor, the Lower Mainland, Calgary and Edmonton — has coverage comparable to the northern US. Outside it, coverage falls away fast. Large stretches of the prairies, the boreal north and the territories have no APRS infrastructure within line of sight at all.

Channel loading. Because of that same distribution, 144.390 in most of Canada is far quieter than it is in a US metro. The congestion warnings that matter in New Jersey do not apply in Saskatchewan.

Path expectations. In a coverage-poor area, WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 is not excessive — it is often the minimum that reaches anything. Local practice near the border tends to match the US convention because the same digipeaters serve both sides.

Path Conventions

Mobile: WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1.
Fixed station with height: WIDE2-1.
Anything airborne, including balloon flights: WIDE2-1 or no path.

Near the border, remember that your packets are being digipeated by US infrastructure as well. A long path from Windsor puts traffic across Michigan and Ohio.

Coverage Beyond the Corridor

If your operating takes you genuinely off the grid — northern travel, canoe routes, remote work sites — VHF APRS will not follow you, because it depends on somebody else's powered, internet-connected receiver being within line of sight.

The realistic options:

HF APRS on 30 m. Dial 10.1476 MHz USB (legacy 10.151 MHz LSB), 300 baud, or Robust Packet at 10.1473 MHz USB. Slow, but it reaches iGates hundreds or thousands of kilometres away, which is exactly the problem you have in the North.
Run your own iGate at a base camp. A Raspberry Pi iGate with a modest antenna and a satellite or cellular backhaul puts an entire region on the map.
Accept the gap. For search-and-rescue-critical work, APRS is not a substitute for a dedicated satellite beacon.

LoRa APRS

LoRa APRS in Canada generally uses 433.775 MHz, the worldwide default, with BW 125 kHz, SF12, CR 4:5. Deployment is patchier than in Europe; check with the local club before assuming an iGate is listening.

Confirming Local Coverage

Open the Canada station list and look at what is currently active near you.
Click a nearby digipeater or iGate to see its last-heard time and path.
Listen on 144.390 FM. Outside the corridor, several minutes of silence is normal and does not mean you are on the wrong channel.
Beacon once and check the live map.

APRS Frequency USA — the same channel, different congestion picture.
APRS Frequencies by Country — the full worldwide table.
APRS iGate Setup — the most useful thing to build in a coverage gap.
APRS SSID List — what to call the station once it is on the air.
APRS Packet Decoder — read a raw frame field by field.