[aprssig] BEACON - APRS or Not?

[Shawn Stoddard]

Lynn W. Deffenbaugh (Mr) wrote:
> What are the stations and/or the contents of the packet.  If you give 
> us one or the other, we'll be better able to answer your questions.
>
> Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ
>
> Shawn Stoddard wrote:
>> I have been working now and then on an APRS parser. During my testing 
>> I have had the opportunity to review in great detail some of the 
>> packets being transmitted in my vicinity. Two of the local 
>> digipeaters periodically transmit a packet to a destination address 
>> of BEACON. Per the APRS 1.01 specification this is one of the APRS 
>> destination addresses. Due to that I assumed the contents of the 
>> packet should be a valid APRS packet of some type, a status packet 
>> perhaps. Am I thinking down the correct path?
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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The two stations in question are W4LAW-5 and W4LAW-6. You can see the 
packets on the beacons at http://aprs.fi/?c=beacon&call=W4l*&limit=50.

Steve responded back with good advice: be prepared for the unexpected. 
As my understanding of APRS improves I have a much better idea of right 
and wrong. So should my parser.


The question becomes do you agree or disagree with Steve's response. If 
you disagree, why?