[aprssig] Please,standardize UTF-8 for APRS

[Robert Bruninga]

> Will this change the preferred way of sending some characters
like = ?

To clarify things, I have now created a UTF-8 discussion
document that summarizes any issues with UTF-8 and suggests
bounds on where it can be used.  I welcome any suggestions or
additions to this document to make sure we are all working from
the same sheet.  It is the first link listed on:
http://aprs.org/aprs12.html

Thanks
Bob, WB4APR

> On Dec 16, 2009, at 5:30 PM, "Robert Bruninga"
<bruninga at usna.edu>  
> wrote:
> 
> >> Currently APRS-1.0.1 protocol says:
> >> US-ASCII, 7-BIT CHARACTERS.
> >> For us that is completely inadequate.
> >
> > In cleaning up old email, there were hundreds of emails back
in
> > September on the topic of expanding the APRS spec to UTF-8
to
> > include all other languages in text messaging.  In the
hundreds
> > of emails it is hard for me to remember the conclusion.
> >
> > But I have asked all authors to investigate and to date, no
one
> > that I can remember said that transmitting a non USA ASCII
> > message in UTF-8 resulted in a failed packet.  Of course the
> > text displayed gyberish on non-compatible systems, but at
least
> > they displayed that a "message" was received.  I expect
gyberish
> > in old systems, but we must identify broken packets that do
not
> > get parsed at all.
> >
> > So I have added to the APRS1.2 addendum that future systems
may
> > use UTF-8 in text message fields and STATUS fields or at
least
> > make sure that receipt of same does not break the packet for
> > display in some form.  www.aprs.org/aprs12.html
> >
> > We need to find and document all existing clients and
systems
> > that fail a packet that contains UTF-8 text.  An example of
a
> > "failed" packet would be a POSITION packet that has a UTF-8
> > text, and that text causes the client to ignore the
POSITION.
> > These such incompatibilities must be documented as we move
on...
> >
> > Bob, WB4APR
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>