[aprssig] spaces in object names

[Pierre Thibaudeau]

Today, 16:40 -0400, Steve Dimse wrote:

>    Those sending DStar objects, the easiest change to make would be to simply
>    replace the embedded space with a dash, so K4HG A becomes K4HG-A.

Steve,

Not exactly,

The D-Star process creates two distinct entities: "K5TIT  B " and K5TIT-B 
serving different purposes.

APRS101 specifies:

   "An Object Report has a fixed 9-character Object name, which may 
    consist of any printable ASCII characters."

(I do not insist on the printable status of the space caracter, but on the 
fact that it's fixed length.)

For readability, you can drop the trailing spaces, but there can only be 
one object named K4HG because it is necessarily created with 5 trailing 
spaces, so no confusion. Also note that K5TIT B is in fact "K5TIT  B ", 
i.e. with two spaces preceding the "B" so it's in 8th position. This may 
look strange, but it's very convenient that it can be done because that's 
how repeater callsigns are entered in the Rpt fields of D-Star radios. The 
module letter in 8th position and space caracters are used for filler.

If you decide (like aprs.fi) to reduce multiple spaces to a single space, 
then "K5TIT B " and "K5TIT  B ", who should be two distinct entities would 
become one.

'73 - Pierre
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Pierre Thibaudeau
VA2RKA/VA2RKB/VE2RIO/VE2RVR/VE2RQF/VE2RTO/VE2LKL/VE2TXD sysadmin