[aprssig] UIDIGI UIFloodOptions parameter change to better support APRS Paradigm

[Tim Cunningham]

Greetings,

I have just updated my website at http://www.qsl.net/n8deu/uidigi_eprom_settings.htm with some important changes for UIDIGI settings affecting the APRS Paradigm.

The change affects UIFloodOptions and how it performs under certain settings.

It is now recommended that UIFloodOptions be set to 6 or simply UIFloodOptions=6. This will set bits 1 and 2. Bit 1 inserts the callsign before SSN-n and Bit 2 puts the has been digipeated flag on SSN-0 instead of the last inserted callsign. This better supports the APRS Paradigm and handles the digipeat flag more appropriately.

To provide an example of UIFloodOptions=6 with UIFloodCall=AL here are some examples using paths of SS2-2 and WIDE1-1,SS2-1:

N8DEU>APRS,AL2-2:
N8DEU>APRS,W4GPS-7*,AL2-1:
N8DEU>APRS,KE4ROC-7,AL2*:

N8DEU>APRS,WIDE1-1,AL2-1:
N8DEU>APRS,W4GPS-7*,AL2-1:
N8DEU>APRS,W4GPS-7,KE4ROC-7,AL2*:

In each of the above examples for UIFloodCall=AL and UIFloodOptions=6, the digi callsign is inserted before the SSn-n call. When the SSn-0 is encountered the digipeat flag is placed on the SSn-0 (AL2 in this example) instead of the digi callsign. This is the correct method for the APRS Paradigm or at least the best UIDIGI can do. There is a bug in UIDIGI that prevents subsequent SSn-n paths to be added to the list after the first entry. UIFloodOptions=6 is considered the desired performance under the APRS Paradigm for UIFloodOptions in UIDIGI.


If you are using UIFloodOptions=2 these are examples of how it performs using paths of SS2-2 and WIDE1-1,SS2-1:

N8DEU>APRS,AL2-2:
N8DEU>APRS,W4GPS-7*,AL2-1:
N8DEU>APRS,KE4ROC-7*,AL2:

N8DEU>APRS,WIDE1-1,AL2-1:
N8DEU>APRS,W4GPS-7*,AL2-1:
N8DEU>APRS,W4GPS-7,KE4ROC-7*,AL2:

The important distinction here is the digipeat flag is placed on the last digi callsign substitution instead of the SSn-0 entry or in this case AL2. The use of this setting is discouraged as it can severely affect the behavior in how other TNC firmware deals with this behavior.

The UIDIGI documentation does not address the bits 2 and 3 except in the "Changes.txt" file that comes with the UIDIGI distribution. Bits 1 and 2 are the preferred setting for UIDIGI to support the new APRS Paradigm. Unfortunately, there is no setting in UIDIGI that will make this function work like the setting UITraceOptions=2 for the UITraceCall. It is not easy to test these settings unless you are in a pure UIDIGI environment as other digipeater settings can adversely inpact the results as I quickly discovered.

Available settings for UIFloodOptions are:

  bit 0 WIDEN-0 will be repeated
  bit 1 insert callsign before WIDEN-n
  bit 2 put has been repeated flag on WIDEN-0
  bit 3 make call substitution on WIDEN-0





73's,
Tim - N8DEU
Huntsville, Alabama, USA
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