[aprssig] IRLP APRS Ident/status messages

[Keith VE7GDH]

Dave G0WBX wrote...

> I remember there being a discussion here not that long ago, as to the
> best way of formatting the advertisement/status messages such a system
> would put out on APRS if so configured.

There is an IRLP APRS status script available at
http://irlp.kc6hur.net/irlp_scripts.php. Look for aprs_status-4.0.tgz
part way down the page in the table with the grey background. A newer
version should be available soon.

Some fine tuning can be done to the script to make it display better on
the D7 / D700 / D710 radios and to fix the frequency so it's in the
right format for the D710s. If you go with the above script, after you
have it configured and working, edit aprs_status.

Look for a OBJ_NAME and make sure it is "IRLP-${NODE_NUM}" with a hyphen
after IRLP and no space before the last quotation mark.

OBJ_NAME="IRLP-${NODE_NUM}" # MUST be 9 character long

Look for the "COMMENT=" line and change it from FREQ_TXT to just FREQ
(so it will be in MHz and not KHz) and add MHz after it and add T for
tone ahead of ${PL_LBL} and then remove ${OFFSET_LBL} right after it.
Add e.g. R15K or R20M for range of 15 km or 20 miles using of course the
actual normal range.

COMMENT="${FREQ}MHz T${PL_LBL} R20K ${NODE_STATUS}"

Look for the "# Assemble the APRS OBJECT" section. Don't include PHG as
is suggested in the line above it as it apparently confuses the
D700/710s. Instead a "range" is added in the $COMMENT variable as noted
above.

OBJECT=";${OBJ_NAME}*${TIMESTAMP}${LAT}${NODE_STATUS_CHAR}${LONG}${SYMBOL}${COMMENT}"

Look about a dozen or so lines before the end of the script and change
APVR30 to APVR40 to reflect the version number of the script.

BTEXT=">APVR40:${OBJECT}"

There was some discussion about some nodes connecting to an and never
disconnecting. Because the default server was rotate.aprs2.net, they
could have ended up staying connected to as many as 22 APRS servers. I
understand that "rotate" is down to a list of 8 servers now. However, In
the configuration file aprs_status.conf there are variables for the APRS
server and port. Change the default rotate.aprs2.net to a specific
server close to you or for your area, to euro.aprs2.net. The port should
remain as 14580. See www.aprs2.net for a list of servers.

Then go back to the bottom of aprs_status and make sure the script is
using the server as set by the variable in aprs_status.conf. (I've been
looking at a number of versions over the last few days and have been
doing some editing to some!) If aprs_status has a server "hard wired"
instead of using the variable, change it to the variable... or you could
just change it from rotate.aprs2.net to the server you selected or
euro.aprs2.net right at the end of aprs_status.

Right after "# Assemble the APRS-IS Login strong" you should see...

LOGIN="User $APRS_CALL pass $APRS_PASS vers IRLP-interface 1"

The "IRLP-interface 1" is supposed to show up in the software version
when you look at the APRS server status page. Fooling around some months
ago, I changed mine to IRLP xxxx (using the actual node number) and
ended up leaving it that way. The advantage of this is that anyone
viewing the APRS server status page will see both the callsign of the
owner of the object and the actual node number. This was probably more
important when there were many nodes staying connected to many servers.
However, you could change "vers IRLP-interface 1" to "IRLP xxxx" using
the actual node number. If this gets criticized, it's easy to change it
back.

It appears that http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs.html is moving to
www.aprs.org. That should do away with problems of people not being able
to get to usna.edu (or to http://eng.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/aprs.html).
It was based on the info shown on http://www.aprs.org/localinfo.html
that I added spaces before the T for tone etc. When I'm done fiddling
around with the new version, I'll run it by Bob and get him to confirm
that the format is set up best for the D710s etc.

Looking for other pages at www.aprs.org?
www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=site:www.aprs.org&start=0&sa=N

I hope I got all of the above right. There should be a new version
available within days... but of course, I said that before the weekend
too!

73 es cul - Keith VE7GDH
--
"I may be lost, but I know exactly where I am!"