[aprssig] APRS+SA v2.50beta with UTF-8 Unicode messaging

[Brent Hildebrand]

Spurred on by the discussion of using UTF-8 for messaging on APRS, I dusted
off the source code for APRS+SA and have added the ability to send and
receive UTF-8 for messaging.  Only messages in APRS+SA support unicode at
the present time.  Unicode will be displayed on the Traffic tab, and the
message Inbox and Outbox.  To take advantage of this efficiently, I'm sure a
regional keyboard should be installed.  Alternatively (and painfully),
unicode characters can be entered using the Hex value of the codepoint for
that character.  Example, Greek "pi" can be entered by typing 3C0 and then
Alt+X.  UTF-8 in Posits and other packets are not supported in this release,
just messaging.

More testing (I think) needs to be done to be sure UTF-8 will work OK on the
APRS network.  The APRS/IS works fine.  FindU displays the characters OK.
Messages gated from the APRS/IS to RF get ACK'ed OK.  Will UTF-8 cause more
problems to other hardware and software?  We can find out with APRS+SA
v2.50beta.  This available at http://www.tapr.org/~kh2z/aprsplus

Somethings have been deprecated in APRS+SA to make this work, such as
precanned messages.  This should not be too great of a deficiency.  Some
features have not yet been updated, such as copying messages to the
clipboard.  I just have not yet taken the time to do this.  APRS+SA is still
the old, CPU hog it has been, and it still only supports Street Atlas USA
versions 4 to 9, nothing newer such as SA2003 or newer. IT is still and old
program.  I consider this update just a release to test the ability and
utility of the APRS network to untilize UTF-8.

Brent KH2Z
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