[Xastir] A problem decoding PHG...

[Tom Russo]

On Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 10:11:56PM -0500, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <kf4otn at ericsatcom.net> flavor, containing:
> So I ran into a problem tonight that I thought was interesting.  Below
> is the packet that is received at my station and below that is the
> decoding of that packet in Xastir.
> 
> You will see where we were messing around with the way his PHG was being
> sent.  At no time did the software decode his PHG properly.  It always
> displayed the "default".  KE4TZN is running UI-View32, btw.  Anyone have
> any ideas?
> 
> 
> 
> KE4TZN>APU25N,K4ROK-10*,WIDE2-1/1:@160305z3535.79N/07720.76W_072/000g000t066r000p000P000b10120h94/PHG7280
> {UIV32N}
> 
> 
> Packets received: 29     Last Heard: 11/15/2006 22:01:27
> Heard via the TNC on device 2, last via Internet on device 0
> Data path: APU25N,WIDE2-2
> Comment 11/15 22:01 : PHG7280 {UIV32N}
> Comment 11/15 22:00 : /PHG7280 {UIV32N}
> Comment 11/15 21:58 : /PHG7280/ {UIV32N}
> Current Power Gain: default (9W @ 20ft HAAT, 3dB omni, range 6.2mi)
> Distance from my station: 4.6 miles  Bearing from my station: 97.0?
> Last Position: 11/15  22:01   35 35.790N  077 20.760W

I think that the weather information is the issue.  Not sure exactly why it
should be, but I think xastir won't look past it.

I've noticed that xastir will not *transmit* PHG information along with
my weather information.  Other stations in this area that run APRS+SA and
weather transmit one packet with weather info, then a plain station packet
with PHG info, and I just guessed that for some reason PHG data extensions 
aren't supposed to be after weather data; but a quick read of the spec just
now suggests that I'm wrong to guess that.  It's something that's puzzled me, 
but never enough to get me to look into the code to see why.

It could be that xastir simply isn't looking for data extensions after the
weather data.  It certainly doesn't put them in.

-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236 AHTB#1 http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
"And, isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony anyway? I mean all you get is
 one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good and crazy, oooh, oooh,
 oooh, the sky is the limit!"  --- The Tick