[aprssig] Mic-E STATUS and FREQS

[Robert Bruninga]

This weekend I noticed that some software clients and even the
kenwoods themselves may not be properly capturing the "status
text" associated with Mic-E formatted packets (all Kenwoods,
TInyTrack3's) etc...

The reason is the STATUS RATE setting.  The intent of this
setting was to keep packets short by not transmitting the STATUS
in every packet, but only occasionally.  On receipt, the STATUS
would be captured and retained.  If a subsequent packet came in
that contained NO-STATUS, then the previous STATUS would still
apply.  It appears that most software is overwriting the
previous full STATUS with the null status.  Hence most of the
time, one may not see the intended status.

To work around this, I always send my STATUS in every packet
(RATE = 1/1).

Other mobile operators that have something important in their
status should consider using this rate 1/1 as well.  These days,
with the length of traceable paths in APRS, the added length of
the status is not that much of an issue.  ALSO, the new D710 can
include its voice operating frequency in its position reports,
and this should be included on every posit in case it changes...
Not just occasionally...

> Xastir:  Saves each unique status or comment text 
> and displays them on separate lines in the Station 
> Info dialog, with a date/timestamp for each showing 
> the most recent time that text was seen.

Great!

Bob, WB4APR