[aprssig] IRLP APRS Status Script: Multiconnect Bug?

[Steve Grantham]

I looked at this last night and hastily edited the "aprs_status" and 
"aprs_status.conf" files on one of my low profile IRLP nodes.  Once I got it 
working as desired, I copied the files to my IRLP node 5980, which now shows 
text like "145.230MHz T136 R40m IDLE" or "145.230MHz T136 R40m REF9200" in 
the comments area.

There's a lot of nested if/else stuff in there that supports a "verbose" and 
"non-verbose mode.  Of course, the "verbose" mode easily supports the larger 
displays of traditional computer users while the "non-verbose" mode supports 
the users of the more limited displays of mobile radios.

There's also stuff that manages the display of EchoIRLP connection status. 
Unfortunately, given the format shown above, it seems that the final digit 
of some EchoLink node numbers would be truncated on some mobile displays due 
to the EL prefix plus their six-digit numeric length.  In this case, 
"145.230MHz T136 R40m EL123456" might be displayed as "145.230MHz T136 R40m 
EL12345"...  Therefore, the "EL" might be shortened to "E" to fix this? 
This would then look like "145.230MHz T136 R40m E123456" instead.

The bottom line is...  If there is no real need for the "verbose" mode, then 
a cleaner and slimmer version of the script could be put together and 
distributed.  Until a judgment is made on this, either way, I'd prefer to 
see the principal script authors make the modifications for distribution.

Steve, AA5SG


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Keith VE7GDH" <ve7gdh at rac.ca>
To: "TAPR APRS Mailing List" <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: [aprssig] IRLP APRS Status Script: Multiconnect Bug?


> Bob WB4APR wrote...
>
>> Keith, thanks for taking this on...
>
> No problem. I want the status script to be as useful as it can be, and
> node 1148 is mine, so I have a vested interest!
>
>>> IRLP1148 147.570MHz S T100 R15Km IDLE
>>
>> I think adding the hyphen between IRLP and 1148 shows up nicer
>> on the radios and also fills the full 9 byte field.  [IRLP-1148]
>
> I agree. I think it is more readable with the hyphen, and it's going to
> be 9 characters no matter what.
>
>> The S is not needed, assuming standard band-plan offsets. Also,
>> the S then pushes the Tnnn to the right and out of place with
>> the standard format.  The reason for sticking to the new
>> standard is so that all software (including the new D710 radios)
>> can parse this tone and in the case of the radios, auto-tune to
>> this frequency and tone. So the Tone has to be in the right
>> place. And be exactly Tnnn always. (leading zero and no tenths).
>
> I have removed the offset now. There was actually some fancy scripting
> for creating it, but it's easy to remove.
>
>> Further the Range format for range has to be Rxxm or Rxxk. This
>> is so that the combination of FREQ, TONE and RANGE all fit
>> nicely on the 10x10 displays of all the APRS radios.
>
> I've changed it to R15K in my case... umm, is the upper case K OK? I
> just thought it was more readable, but I can change it.
>
> Thanks for your comments. I'll take it over to the IRLP & IRLP embedded
> lists. As Steve AA5SG commented, individuals can edit the script
> themselves, but it would be very useful if Randy KC6HUR will incorporate
> the changes and make it available for everyone.
>
> 73 es cul - Keith VE7GDH
> --
> "I may be lost, but I know exactly where I am!"
>