[aprssig] APRS Destination Address for satellites

[Stephen H. Smith]

On 8/23/2013 12:24 PM, Robert Bruninga wrote:
> APRS has standardized an ID series for amateur Oscar spacecraft.  APOxxx.
>
> This shares the code space with APRSpoint (I do not have any info on what
> xxx they claim),



1)    APRSpoint is effectively an abandoned/orphaned project.  There has been 
no development for over two and a half years.  Ver 4.57 released Feb 2011 is 
the most recent (final ???) version.

Note that the <http://APRSpoint.com> web site claims ver 4.57 is as of 2 Aug 
2011.  However the APRSpoint executable (APRSpoint.exe) disgorged by the ver 
4.57 installer is dated 9 Feb 2011.



2)    Queries posted to the APRSpoint list on Yahoo! go unanswered. 
Moderation of the APRSpoint Yahoo! group has apparently been abandoned -- the 
group now completely overrun with porn spammers.



3)    A default install of APRSpoint yield a completely useless default 
destination consisting of only the three-digit version number such as  "456" or 
"457" ,   with no AP-anything in front of it.

(I have been entering 'APNT" in front of the version to yield a destination 
like APNT45 -- I had no idea any "official" prefix had ever been assigned.)

(I have also been replacing the default out-of-the-box path value "APRS" on my 
TigerTrack trackers with the made-up value "APTIGR" .)



4)    The legal status of the program is ambiguous at best.  The program 
installer/install script is taken (stolen ???) from some totally unrelated 
application called "PhotoWebs" that places keys for "Photowebs" in the Windows 
registry.

Windows Registry clean-up tools remove these keys for a non-existent program 
(as they are supposed to do).    The result is a chain-reaction failure that A) 
breaks the APRSpoint program, and B) triggers endless re-install prompts for 
APRSpoint,  when other completely unrelated program originally installed from 
Windows .MSI packages are launched.  I.e. MS Word, Acrobat, CorelDraw, etc.

Further, the author was busted by Microsoft for posting modified versions of 
the Microsoft MapPoint install/setup utility to the APRSpoint website as free 
"converters" to allow the use of the much-less expensive MS Streets & Trips 
(North America) or AutoRoute (Europe).

[APRSpoint is essentially a plug-in for MS MapPoint -- You MUST have MapPoint 
already present and working on your system before APRSpoint will install. 
The so-called "converters" were actually the full installers for MapPoint 2004 
North America and Europe minus the road databases, which you then copied from a 
CD of Streets & Trips or AutoRoute. ]


______________________________________________


--

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


  Long-Range APRS on 30 Meters HF
     http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/HF_APRS_Notes.htm

High Performance Sound Systems for Soundcard Apps
    http://wa8lmf.net/ham/imic.htm
    http://wa8lmf.net/ham/uca202.htm

"APRS 101"  Explanation of APRS Path Selection & Digipeating
   http://wa8lmf.net/DigiPaths