[aprssig] !x! (was: IS-to-RF proposal (rev b))

[Heikki Hannikainen]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2011, Steve Dimse wrote:
> On Dec 30, 2011, at 10:50 AM, Lynn W. Deffenbaugh (Mr) wrote:
>> And is it honored by other APRS-IS viewing implementations?
>
> A quick check of LB9KE-7 shows aprs.fi ignores it and APRSWorld respects 
> it (the latter has a posit from Dec 6 that did not include !x!). That 
> aprs.fi never got called on it shows just how few people care.

Someone has requested it from me a few years back, and I have implemented 
it in aprs.fi, but it seems like my code requires it to be in the 
beginning of the comment string for position packets. For positions I 
probably thought it could be a bad idea to allowed it to appear anywhere - 
it might be valid encoded thing in some APRS data extension, or could 
appear in someone's comment text accidentally. Or maybe I read the 
specification that way for some reason. Maybe it wasn't documented 
anywhere at that point, I don't remember. :)

My database shows a whopping 3 callsigns transmitting positions with !x! 
in there. Not a hugely popular option. I do understand the requirement but 
if someone really, really does not want to be archived, they shouldn't 
transmit in the first place as there is no hard requirement for anyone to 
actually implement this.

With the arrival of big hard disks and wideband SDR recording solutions, 
the fact that nothing can ever be deleted from the Internet once published 
there, will probably extend to HF, too.

   - Hessu