[aprssig] spaces in object names

[Tim Cunningham]

One litmus test would be what is printed when inverse video or inverse 
printing is utilized?

A VT-100 (the de factor standard according to Wikipedia) terminal would 
display a space character as a block. Just because you cannot see it does 
not mean it is not there. It may be the mode of print does not visibly 
display it, but most ASCII terminals will definitely display it in the 
inverse video mode. Therefore, if I can see it, it must be there and it 
is... Wikipedia has a link to the ASCII page and the space appears as one of 
the 94 printable characters. Escape sequences where always deemed as 
non-printable characters.


On a lighter note (on second thought, hold the lighter for a moment):
When I see the term ASCII my mind was severely altered from a HAM radio 
adventure. Many years ago I received an invite to a Sea-W ASCII sending 
contest aboard the 'Ocean Breeze' sailing in the Caribbean. What in the 
world is an ASCII sending contest? I had visions of VT-100 terminals in my 
mind or some character set building exercise. When I arrived at the forward 
deck all I could see was the ocean and the bright blue turf covering the 
floor with this white porcelain seat front and center with the top lid 
lifted. Yes, it was a potty! The lid was lifted to reveal the ASCII seat. 
That's right, the seat on the toilet was the ASCII. Now you might be 
thinking this is a little crazy with about 80 HAM's walking around the potty 
wondering what in the world it was! Chip Margelli gave the instructions and 
how one would sit and bounce up and down on the ASCII to send a pre-written 
message in Morse Code. Then, each participant would take their position on 
the throne and pound away... As you can imagine, there was a lot of laughter 
generated and still to this day it makes cry with laughter. The object of 
the game was to see who could send code the fastest, but you could receive 
some points for style... Gordon West concocted some coconut head phones. 
Lord only knows where he got this neatly sliced in half coconuts. Of course 
Morse Code really does not have a space character, it is only assumed by 
timing in most cases.


73's,
Tim - N8DEU



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pierre Thibaudeau" <ve2prt at sympatico.ca>
To: "TAPR APRS Mailing List" <aprssig at tapr.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 5:12 PM
Subject: Re: [aprssig] spaces in object names


> 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
> __
>
> Pierre Thibaudeau
> VA2RKA/VA2RKB/VE2RIO/VE2RVR/VE2RQF/VE2RTO/VE2LKL/VE2TXD sysadmin
>
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