APRS,TCPXX*,qAX versus APRS,TCPIP*,qAC

[n5pa]

My setup in Cumulus is sending out packets with "APRS,TCPXX*,qAX" versus "APRS,TCPIP*,qAC". What do I change to get the packets to send "APRS,TCPIP*,qAC". One of the local guys is trying to send my packets out through his APRS gateway and because my software is sending "APRS,TCPXX*,qAX", he cannot parse and transmit them via packet on APRS. I am fairly new to Cumulus and I am looking for some input on what I need to change in the configuration.

[steve]

The packets that Cumulus sends to CWOP look like this:

DW0688>APRS,TCPXX*:@021612z5914.55N/00235.27W_248/007g011t038r000p000P000h86b10336L011eCumulusDsVP

This corresponds to the spec at http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/aprswxnet.html (except that for some reason I'm preceding the timestamp by an '@' instead of a '/', but other software seems to do the same). As you can see, there's no qAX or qAC.

I can see the qAX that you refer to in my raw data at findu.com,

DW0688>APRS,TCPXX*,qAX,CWOP-2:@021612z5914.55N/00235.27W_248/007g011t038r000p000P000h86b10336L011eCumulusDsVP

but I'm afraid I have no idea what qAX and qAC are, or how you change it. Something other than Cumulus is inserting that into the data. Do you need to use a different server, perhaps? I think radio amateurs are supposed to use rotate.aprs.net and supply a password: http://www.wxqa.com/servers2use.html

[n5pa]

Steve: Thanks for the quick reply! I will look at the Gladstone site and see what the deal is there. I am head of the IT Department for a large poultry company in the U.S. and my staff and I do a lot of web development. Just got the weather station last year and have enjoyed your software. Thanks again for the quick answer.

73,
Alan, N5PA
Ellisville, MS

[n5pa]

Steve:

I found the issue that was causing this. I was sending my CWOP data directly to cwop.aprs.net and then it was forwarding the information with APRS,TCPXX*,qAX in the packet. I talked to several other hams around the area and none of them are sending their data directly through CWOP, they are going through various ham APRS servers to get their data posted to CWOP and to the APRS Gateway Server that is posting the data on RF via Packet Radio/APRS. I set up an account last night with rotate.aprs.net and changed my CWOP settings to them and now it sends the packets correctly with APRS,TCPIP*,qAC and the APRS Gateway Server that is grabbing the packets from the internet and broadcasting them via Packet Radio/APRS. I just thought that you might want to know about this in case it comes up again. It appears that CWOP is broadcasting the packets with the bad segments when they receive them directly.

73,
Alan Clark, N5PA
Ellisville, MS

[fadiaz]

Hi Alan,

Glad that you solved your "routing" problem.

Just that you know the qAC and qAX are part of the APRS-IS q Construct. The q Costructs are put by the APRS Server (or Client sometimes) when the packet enters the APRS-IS stream. In this link you can find what each q Construct means: http://www.aprs-is.net/q.aspx.

A qAX construct means that the packet did not had a valid callsign and passcode. So that packet should not be allowed to leave the APRS-IS and be transmited by RF (Radio Frequency).

Since the CWOP APRS-IS are for specifically cwop stations that are not ham stations (the ones that use CWxxxx id), I believe that they mark all the packets as qAX (even if they come from a valid ham radio operator). Ham radio operators using their call sign to send cwop data should use the normal ham radio APRS-IS if they want their data to be able to be gated to RF.

Only thing I would suggest to you is to use noam.aprs2.net instead of rotate.aprs.net (since I see by your call sign that you are in North America). Both are round robin APRS-IS server lists, so they will always give you a working (at least on the moment of the connection) server. But rotate.aprs.net is for the core servers. They are the main connection of the APRS-IS stream. Setting too many connections to those servers might stress and impede other new connections. So that is why it was created the tier 2 in aprs-is. Those server cover regional areas and in turn they connect to the core servers. the server noam.aprs2.net is the round robin for the Tier 2 servers in North America.

There is a general round robin for the Tier 2 servers (rotate.aprs2.net), but also I would recommend you noam.aprs2.net over that one. That because rotate.aprs2.net would give you a server from anywhere in the world. That means that today you might get a US server and tomorrow a France server (and so on).

Hope this helps a little...

CUL es 73


Francisco
NP3OD

[n5pa]

Francisco:

Thanks so much for your reply. I will talk to the guy that runs the local gateway and see if that will work on how he has the filtering set up to grab my packets at the gateway and broadcast them to APRS over the internet. I have not had a lot of time lately, we are doing an Oracle E-Business Suite implementation at work and I have been real busy creating web pages and reports. Hopefully things will slow down in the fall so I can get back on the air and do some contesting and DXing. Thanks again for you tips!

73,
Alan Clark, N5PA

[fadiaz]

Welcome

CUL es 73,


Francisco
NP3OD

[yv1hx]

Another ham to the forum, Welcome!

73's de YV1HX