[aprssig] Group filtering bug in Kenwood TM-D710 (firmware version 2.10)

[Guido Trentalancia]

Hi Bob !

On Tue, 2011-07-19 at 17:36 -0400, Bob Bruninga wrote:
> Glad to hear that someone is using Bulletin Groups.
> 
> Just remember that Bulletin Groups are EXCLUSIVE.  This means that if you set a BULLETIN GROUP name, that you will then automatically IGNORE ALL other bulletins and groups.  

Yes, I do remember that.

So that if somebody does not want to receive any bulletin at all, all
he/she needs to do is to just set the BLN field in Group Settings (under
menu APRS) to a random 5 (at the moment unfortunately 4 on the TM-D710)
characters and say a little prayer (eventually iterate until good luck
comes).

> Can you share with us how you are using Bulletin Groups?

Yes, of course ! I do not even understand why you took the list off...

It's all explained here:

http://iz6rdb.ampr.org/en/aprs.html

with the exception of a few undocumented ones (such as group D710 to
notify the availability of new firmware updates).

But please let me take the opportunity to point out once again the
availability of a very small and simple free utility named
ax_emergency_listen for Unix-like platforms to monitor and react upon
reception of APRS Emergency packets:

http://iz6rdb.ampr.org/en/aprs_igate.html

It can be run in the background (similarly to a daemon/service) and it
virtually takes no resources.

As you can see, I do use Group Bulletins amongst many other things to
broadcast any emergency situation that might arise (it's also published
on the web and forwarded by email to a few volunteers).

> Thanks
> Bob, WB4APR

You're welcome ! Please let me know if you need any further information.

73,

Guido IZ6RDB

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Guido Trentalancia [mailto:iz6rdb at trentalancia.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 3:36 PM
> To: aprssig at tapr.org
> Cc: Bob Bruninga
> Subject: Group filtering bug in Kenwood TM-D710 (firmware version 2.10)
> 
> Hello !
> 
> It appears to me that the Kenwood TM-D710 with Operation Panel firmware
> version 2.10 (and possibly any other previously released version) has a
> bug/limitation within the "Group Filtering" menu settings (APRS) and in
> particular it does not appear to be fully compliant with the APRS
> protocol specification.
> 
> Basically it is not possible to set the above mentioned filter for group
> bulletins with group names longer than 4 characters. The APRS protocol
> specifies that the Group Name for bulletins can be up to 5 characters
> long.
> 
> Given the above, at present time, the Kenwood TM-D710 is not able to
> filter group bulletins having a group name of 5 characters and this
> constitutes a rather severe limitation.
> 
> Can somebody please forward this message directly to Kenwod Engineering
> or Kenwood Support as appropriate ? Thanks.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Guido IZ6RDB
> 
>