[aprssig] APRS Bulletin/Announcement Format?

Thu May 25 19:02:32 EDT 2006

>>> "Curt, WE7U" <archer at eskimo.com> 05/25/06 10:53 AM >>>
>Out of 35 bulletins, 12 of them had correct formatting.
> *) Even PCSAT has non-space characters in the required 5 blank

There are 5 required bytes, THey can be anything.
PCSAT2 uses "BLN1PCSAT"

>is it ok to use more than 1 digit for the bulletin/announcement 
>ID?  I'll likely run into a problem if not, due to the number of 
>bulletins or announcements that could be generated.

Bulletins are supposed to be replaceable and over-writeable.
THat means that BLN1 should be REPLACED and OVERWRITTEN
by an updates or subsequent BLN1's from the same station.
This was VERY IMPORTANT to the concept of APRS, so that
if there was a multi-line bulletin, but some part of it had to
be updated, then only the CORRECTED line had to be sent,
not the entire bulletin.

But, again, this is another place where APRS clone software 
took shortcuts and simplistic approach and undermined
the original concept.  Many just scroll new bulletins continuoulsy
without end.

THe original concept was that any given station would only
have a certain number of ACTIVE bulletin lines.  And they
were line-by line replaceable.  Hence the limit to a single 
digit was fine.

I would hope that if you are goint to be hitting the network
with lots and lots of bulletins, that you also should re-use
old BLN#'s so that olderones are replaced as new ones
update old info...

Would that work in your application?

Bob, Wb4APR

To stave off a few of the remarks that this SIG is famous for:  Yes,
these are _very_ important bulletins that most of you _will_ want to
see coming across your screen.  'Nuf said until I get further along
on the project and have something to show for it.

I appended the bulletins I found to the end of this message.  The
packet headers were chopped to make it easier to see the formatting
errors.

--
Curt, WE7U.   APRS Client Comparisons: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer 
"Lotto:    A tax on people who are bad at math." -- unknown
"Windows:  Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates." -- WE7U
"The world DOES revolve around me:  I picked the coordinate system!"

GROUP 1, no leading ':' on announcement
---------------------------------------
BLNA     :For info on VK8 send ?list to VK8NSB-1
BLNB     :Info and help on APRS in Darwin at http://vk8.aprs.net.au 

GROUP 2, no bulletin or announcement character
----------------------------------------------
:BLN      :Nominativo IF9FI - Attivi in SSB/RTTY/PSK31
:BLN      :Echolink Conf.Lusofona 434.600 T67.0 Alentejo Portalegre
:BLN      :LINKS EM CALDAS 144.550 E 434.550 CONF LUSOFONA lart.com.sapo.pt

GROUP 3, correct formatting
---------------------------
:BLNA     :Info/Help on APRS in Adelaide at http://vk5.aprs.net.au 
:BLNC     :See http://vk3.aprs.net.au for information on APRS in Victoria.
:BLN2     :BBS F6CDD-2 et CLUSTER F6CDD-3 Toulousain sur 144.975 et Telnet
:BLNA     :path=WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1 for mobiles --tnx
:BLN2     :((( CX2SA-6 DX CLUSTER ))) HF & telnet://cx2sa.net:9000
:BLN1     :((( CX2SA BBS ))) 7040/14107 KHz & telnet://cx2sa.net:23
:BLN3     :((( CX2SA WEB ))) http://www.cx2sa.net - http://www.cx2sa.org 
:BLNA     :NUEVO REPETIDOR EN  EA8  439.000 TU RX  Y 431.400 TU TX TONO 250.3
:BLNB     :PRUEVA EN  EA8  EL (( I R L P ))  FRECUENCIA 439.000RX Y 431.400 TX
:BLNC     :NODO 8628 IRLP Y  ECHO-LINK 1017 Y CONFERENCIA CANARIAS NODO 166409
:BLND     :compro o cambio TNC2 y KAMTRONI tlf 666835364 ea8adh at hotmail.com 
:BLN1     :como puedo embiar mensajes de aprs con el PACLEN mas largo ????????

GROUP 4, characters in the 5-char blank area, one is also >67 chars
-------------------------------------------------------------------
:BLN3PCSAT:PSK uplink  on 29.401 takes high power
:BLN54    :Expose modes numeriques 19 mai 2006 20h local RAV Villars le T.
:BLN3-3   :En EA8 repetidor de INTERNET en 145700-600 tono 88.5
:BLNQSL1/3:P43L,P43ARC,
:BLN1-8   :EA8URL desde Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
:BLN2-8   :Visite. www.ea8url.com 
:BLN3-8   :Mail EA8URL: ea8url at ea8url.com 
:BLN4-8   :A.P.R.S. en Gran Canaria
:BLN2PCSAT:PSK31 Xpondr is enabled. Cnct to PCSAT2 to activate
:BLNPRMail:for TA2MTK TA2MUG TA2NGC TA2NZ TA2UK TA2VB TA5COW TB2MFM TB2MOR
:BLN1-2   :NO MAS ICONOS FARSOS= QUE BIENE EL LOVO QUE BIENE QUE BIENE
:BLNHSAS  :091842z:*** ELEVATED *** USA Homeland Threat Advisory is currently: ELEVATED

GROUP 5, characters in 5-char blank area plus extra blank
---------------------------------------------------------
:BLN1WAX   :JA EXISTEM 170 E-MAILS CADASTRADOS NA DIGI
:BLN2WAX   :PU1WAX-14, CADASTRE O SEU TAMBEM, ENVIANDO
:BLN3WAX   :MENSAGEM PARA *** cavalheiro52 at ig.com.br *
:BLN4WAX   :PARA TESTE EM  PU1WAX-14  DIGITE   ?E-MAIL
:BLN5WAX   :* PU1WAX-14 ** DIGI_NED GIC ** ILHA/RIO **

GROUP 6, too few characters between colons
------------------------------------------
:BLNP :*-> RELAY,WIDE is the Mobile Path used in VK3 <-* (2)

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