[aprssig] APRS SPAM messages (auto replY)

[Curt, WE7U]

On Tue, 20 Feb 2007, Robert Bruninga wrote:

> Instead we see people using these things 24/7 on unattended
> stations, adding nothing but QRM and SPAM to an already busy
> frequency.  Unfortunately, these days, since many APRS programs
> do not transmit the OPERATOR-PRESENT BIT, we have no way of
> identifying which stations (other than APRSdos and a few
> others)are actively manned and which ones are not.  In most
> cases it appears that it is safe to assume that NONE of them are
> manned at any given instant.

FYI:  Xastir doesn't save the "Send Auto Reply" flag to the config
file.  When it boots up the flag is cleared.  If you get an
auto-reply message from an Xastir station the operator has
specifically gone to that dialog and set the flag since he/she
brought it up.  Doesn't mean it wasn't three months ago, but at
least it has to be manually set.


> If you have something else to say to everyone ALL
> THE TIME, then put it in your STATUS packet, not an
> auto-REPLY-QRM message.  Also AUTO-REPLY message settings should
> time out.

Another thing we _could_ implement, but we'd have to warn our users
about this change well ahead-of-time.  What sort of timeframe are
you suggesting?  A day?  An hour?

--
Curt, WE7U.   APRS Client Comparisons: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
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