[Xastir] A problem decoding PHG...

[Tom Russo]

On Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 09:53:13PM -0600, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <kb0kqa at gmail.com> flavor, containing:
> On 11/15/06, Tom Russo <russo at bogodyn.org> wrote:
> 
> >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.
> 
> The spec doesn't allow for extensions in a weather packet, only in a
> position packet:
> 
> "A fixed-length 7-byte field may follow APRS position data. This field is an
> APRS Data Extension. The extension may be one of the following:"
> 

Yep.  Found that spot in the spec.

So in fact, UI-View is doing The Wrong Thing by attaching PHG data to the 
end of a weather report, and Xastir is doing the Right Thing by ignoring it.

Still, it would be nice if there were a way to kick out an extra packet now
and then with the station comment and PHG out of xastir.  When I remember,
I'll put it in as a feature request...

-- 
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