[aprssig] Please, standardize UTF-8 for APRS

[Matti Aarnio]

On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 12:02:22PM -0700, Stephen H. Smith wrote:
>
> Is this going to be practical AT ALL  within the existing APRS  
> framework?   
>

Real life networks outside USA are happy to be running binary transparent
datastreams in APRS Messages.

So binary transparent, that arbitrary UTF-16LE sequences go thru:
("<0x00>" present 0x00 octets)

  JA6VRP-2>APAGW,TCPIP*,qAS,JA6VRP:><0x00>A<0x00>G<0x00>W<0x00>T<0x00>R<0x00>A<0x00>C<0x00>K<0x00>E<0x00>R<0x00>

What I do NOT like to see are these 0x00 octets, which UTF-16LE puts
ON AIR when ASCII texts are encoded using it.

The software putting these out is Greek gentleman's AGWTRACKER.
He has already decided that what ever BoB says about messaging is
irrelevant, and unicode is the way to go with UTF-16LE as chosen
encoding.   There is just this "minor" issue of throwing in 0x00
octets...

APRS-IS handles them, most igates in Japan handle them (they use AGW
software?),  aprs.fi  handles them.  What doesn't ?  BoBs favourite
old clunker programmed for a specification that has no relevancy.

...
> It would appear that until the Kenwood radios fade from the APRS scene  
> that it will be really difficult to incorporate UTF-anything into the  
> present patchwork "kludge" of improvised workarounds and expedients for  
> the limitations of old packet hardware.   

Specification says that US-ASCII is to be supported.
If you want to make real messaging in wide world, that must be changed.
Kenwoods (as well as UIview et.al.) are inadequate.

> Any extension that could incorporate UTF-8, longer text strings, more  
> robust encoding and error correction, etc will be so utterly different  
> from the present APRS protocols that I don't think it should be called  
> "APRS" at all. 
>
> Perhaps we should call it "AP-3G"  or "AM-LTE" .........

Dooming APRS into irrelevancy in its entirety, a playing field for
Yankees to "talk" with each other ?

I would be a lot happier, had BoB had wisdom to start the UI frame
with a PID byte. A single capital letter 'A' to lead the data frame
would have solved this..

The packet radio is dead - because it was always too little, way too
late, and even all that little that is still around (the APRS) is so
unprofessionally bodged together ad-hoc heap of things, that any serious
protocol designer is rightfully disgusted when seeing.

Any attempts to fix things are blocked by BoB - "because that would break
installed base of thousands of radios already being used for messaging."
Now really how many people are messaging?  What are their likely devices?

Where one can see real facts ?   At APRS-IS data flows.

> -- 
> Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
> EchoLink Node:      WA8LMF  or 14400    [Think bottom of the 2M band]
> Skype:        WA8LMF
> Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.net

73 de Matti, OH2MQK