[aprssig] New Open Source APRS Client Project

[Jason Rausch]

Locally (Tidewater Area of Virginia), we have started
up an effort to write a new Windows based APRS client,
that is open source and 100% free.  The entire program
is written in Visual Basic 6.  So far, I have written
all of the code to date.  I am a horrible programmer,
so I am hoping for some more help from people who know
what the hell they are doing :o)

The TNC interface is strictly KISS.  Since all
commercial TNC's I know of are KISS capable and just
about every low cost TNC is based on KISS, I see no
reason to support anything else.  I really do not want
to get into supporting and maintaining TNC config
files.

Here is what it does so far:
- Supports COM 1-5 and 1200-19200 standard baud rates
- Supports up to four digipeaters in a path
- Transmit a "=" position beacon (Non MIC-E format)
- Receive reports and log them in a station list

Items to add:
- Basic mapping (I need help with this!)
- Two-way messaging
- Object editor and managment (Added, but not
complete)
- Igate capability

I plan to add support for additional COM ports with a
text box that will accept the com port number.  The
transmit function is manual only.  You have to use the
"Transmit Now" item under the Action menu.  This will
soon be controlled with a global timing setup screen
(already added, but not functional).  If you run the
program with live data, you will notice that an odd
window pops up with the received packet information. 
This is more of a debug tool I created for testing my
KISS TX/RX engine.  It will be eventually disabled or
set to not open by default.

So far all of the on-air testing has been with a TNC-X
and OpenTracker 1+ flashed with the KISS firmware. 
The KISS TX/RX engine is pretty good for my first real
shot, but it could be better I'm sure.

I have been hesitant to show this off so soon, but I
would really like to get some feedback on what is done
so far.

Here is the project download page:

http://www.ke4nyv.com/aprs-os-dl.php

The latest version is available for an alpha download.
 There are a few .dat files included in the .zip. 
These must stay with the main executable to function. 
The .zip does not contain any VB runtime files since
the deployment wizard with VB6 sucks and I am not
using it.  Most XP systems should have these runtimes
already installed.  If not, I will see if I can .zip
up the dependency files and add them to the website.

Lastly, if you would like to help, we could use it! 
As soon as I can clean up the code that I have started
on, I will post it to the website for others to look
at.  We really need help from good programmers to turn
this into a decent, usable client.  Please let me know
if you would like to help.

Thanks!

Jason KE4NYV
RPC Electronics
www.rpc-electronics.com