[aprssig] Is the APRS Spec for APRS Data Type Identifier just randomly ignored? Should it be?

James Washer washer at trlp.com
Wed Aug 17 01:57:09 EDT 2005


I should have known better than to look at  data coming over APRS-IS.... however....  I find that MANY packets contain a data type identifier(DTI) that is reserved per the spec, or is misused, etc.

For example, DTI 'A'-'S' are marked "do not use" but I see countless packets like this:
WA6LDQ-3>BEACON,W6BXN-3*,qAo,K6TJS:APRS Digi in Bear Valley Springs 11 Miles W. of Tehachapi @ 5885 ft. 
WHTNY>BEACON,WIDE,WIDE3-3,qAo,KX5N:APRS digi on Whitney Mt. @ 2000 ft. near Lost Valley Bridge. KE5PL-1>BEACON,qAR,K5WTC-10:APRS for West Texas bjmcdaniel at att.net b0 VE5ADR-4>APRS,WIDE,WIDE,qAR,VE5DGD-4:APRS Digipeater serving Southern Saskatchewan. Email ve5dgd at rac.ca

And these, where DTI 'T' is supposed to be used for telemetry, but we see packets like this..
W6BXN-3>APTW01,WIDE,qAo,KF6HJO:TARCWX                                                                                                                                                    W6BXN-3>BEACON,WIDE,qAo,K6TJS:Turlock Amateur Radio Club WIDEN-n Wx W6PVG-3>BEACON,WA6LDQ-3*,WIDE3-3,WA6YLB-4,qAo,KF6HJO:Tehachapi Digi @ 7600 feet

So, should I just give up and accept that people mis-configure their boxes... or should I make an attempt at automating something to send polite email to these folks?

 - jim KG7HH








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