[aprssig] Please Fix Your UI-Traffic

[hasan schiers]

Hi Earl,

First, don't have ui-traffic issue the probe info...do it in your aprs 
client beacon. If ui-view32, put the string in the Beacon comment field. The 
string to put in will appear in ui-traffic when you set it up...just don't 
use it. I know this sounds silly, but doing it the way I suggest prevents 
double icons from appearing.

If you set things up correctly, you will have one "?" object and it will be 
your traffic object. It will NOT be a callsign, it will be an object with a 
callsign "owner". If you have multiple "?" objects (right click on the icon 
and you should not see a "choice", it should simply be details (if using 
ui-view32), you are not set up correctly.

So...we have TWO issues:

1. A bug, which I explained how to kill.
2. Setup problems that cause multiple objects that server no purpose.

Use ui-traffic for traffic counts and reporting only. Don't use it to SEND 
probe info. Use it it to anlayze traffic and probe info.

Use your aprs client (ui-view32 for example) to SEND the probe data by 
putting it in your beacon. Make sure your beacon interval is constent with 
what you set your probe SEND data to be. (Don't beacon every 15 mins and 
send out probe data that says you are sending the info every 30 mins <g>).

Hope this helps ya!

We have about 4 or 5 stations in our ALOHA circle that transmit ui-traffic 
info. Not every station should be doing it...as it will clutter the channel 
with its 10 minute count report cycle. It is a network monitoring/analysis 
too that should not be abused. It is very valuable and instructive. As you 
make network changes (as in the new paradigm from Bob, WB4APR), the counts 
respond quite markedly if the changes are effective (and they are, if 
implemented properly).

You can also observe peak cycles (morning and evening drives) readily by 
observing the 24 hour graph of counts (1 minute resolution, no less!). Andy 
has done a terrific job with this tool and I hope to be chatting with him 
about some improvements that would reduce channel clutter, in the near 
future.

In addition, W0DP has written a very clever program to go to the findu site, 
download and massage the data there (automatically on a timed cycle), and 
graph the traffic count, local station station count (IGATE), message count 
(Igate), and Best DX report (generated by UI-View32) for up to 4 stations at 
a time over a time period from 1 to 240 hours. Quite amazing. It's not ready 
for release yet, but I've been testing it for a couple months and it really 
does a nice job.

With this handy tool, (combined with ui-traffic) you can observe traffic 
density, number of stations being served by an Igate, and propagation 
characteristics.

These kinds of tools, taken along with assiduous monitoring (read as 
watching the terminal screen for extended periods of time), can result in a 
very fine performing network. It takes effort, but it sure has paid off 
here. There is no substitute for monitoring the network extensively and then 
communicating with the user base.

73,

...hasan, N0AN
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Earl Needham" <needhame1 at plateautel.net>
To: "TAPR APRS Mailing List" <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: [aprssig] Please Fix Your UI-Traffic


> At 06:46 AM 2/27/2005, hasan schiers wrote:
>>Anyone running UI-Traffic, it has a well-established bug that many people 
>>don't know about, so please, if you are running ui-traffic, follow the 
>>instructions below and fix it. If you have ever made ANY kind of change to 
>>your ui-traffic setup, including object name, you WILL have this bug of 
>>sending multiple objects, incorrect object counts, ill-timed positions, 
>>etc.
>
>         I looked at your message and thought how handy that would be when 
> making comparisons between different parts of the country.  But I'm sure 
> confused by the program!
>
>         It looks like UI-Traffic is putting out both the object 
> (TFC_KD5XB) and MY OWN STATION (kd5xb-2), and then UI-View also outputs my 
> position, so I have conflicting reports going out.  I get the "?" icon on 
> TFC_KD5XB and then KD5XB-2, and next I get the house icon from UI-View. 
> Something I'm doing wrong?
>
>         Thanks,
>         Earl
>
>
> Earl Needham, KD5XB, Clovis, New Mexico DM84jk
> http://kd5xb-2.no-ip.info
>
>
>
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