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Text File | 1994-01-03 | 23.1 KB | 413 lines

README.HLP APRS HELP DOCUMENT Since my on line HELP screens seem to only make sense to expert users, its time to further elaborate on the key commands for APRS. ALSO NOTE THAT MANY COMMAND CHARACTERS HAVE CHANGED BEGINNING WITH VERSION 2.08! In most cases, all APRS commands are active from all pages and APRS processing of packets continues in the background. (An exception is while a BLUE-BOXED prompt is on the screen). The first Help page defines all command characters. To begin with, APRS has eight major display screens: MAP - For showing the positions of all stations and objects LATEST - Shows the latest Beacon or broadcast message for all stations POSITIONS - Shows position packets and comments from all stations and Objs WHEN HEARD- Shows station activity in number of packets per hour per station DIGIs USED- Shows digipeater paths used by all stations ALL BCNS - Chronological log of all beacons and messages HELP - Toggles through 4 screens (or use F1 for on-screen help) INFO - Information (further help and suggestions) MAP DISPLAY: The map display is the most important display in APRS. It shows a map of the packet network area and the positions of all reporting stations. Stations reporting packet positions over the air are shown in white, objects that you are reporting to the network (uplinking) are shown in yellow, objects reported by other stations are shown in purple, positions that have not been updated in 2 hours are shown in gray. To help highlight the WIDE area digipeaters in an APRS net, the WIDE digipeaters are shown in green. SPACE - Displays the current map ARROWS - Move the map cursor on the sscreen. If you turn NumLok off then hold the shift key with the white arrow keys, then cursor will move 5 times faster. PgUp/Dn - Zooms the display in and out by a factor of 2. Ctrl-PgUp/Dn zooms by a factor of 8. Home - Will home the center of the screen to the current cursor location SHIFT-HOME will redraw the map below the current map (very useful for areas where maps overlap) End - Will return the map to your default position stored in CONFIG file SHIFT-END will return to the APRS default location stored in the first 3 lines of the MAPLIST.map file. Usually the whole USA. ^D - Toggles Dead Reckoning on and off so you can either see where the station was at the time of the fix, or where he should be now. J - JUST ONE - Used to display just one symbol type at a time. Used to selectively display stations like all WX stations. R - RANGE RINGS - Displays one ring at the current range scale and another at half the range. HOOK - Hook is a Navy term for selecting an object on a radar screen. Use the RETURN/ENTER key to hook an object at the cursor location. To progressively hook one object after another, use the gray +/- keys. The POSITION and BEACON packets from a hooked station are displayed on the bottom of the screen. While a station is hooked, it can be moved by moving the cursor to the new location and hitting the INSert key or it can be removed using the DELETE key. To prevent inadvertant movement of objects, the U key UNHOOKS an object. INSERT - Relocates a HOOKED object on the screen. DELETE - Deletes a HOOKED objecct on the screen alt-M - MAP BORDERS - Shows borders of all MAPS in the MAPLIST.map file If A map border appears, but does not come up, then the MAP file is missing. If the Map file exists but the borders do not show up, then the file is not listed in the MAPLIST.map file. alt-F - FEATURES: Toggles a number of map features on/off. There used to be separate alt keys for each feature, but in version 2.08, these were all consolidated into the FEATURES submenu. Features are Boundaries, Headings, Roads, Calls, Waterways, etc. DISPLAY SCREENS: The remaining six APRS display pages are called up with single key commands as shown below. If there are more than one page of packet stations in the net, then use the PgUp and PgDn keys to cycle through multiple pages. On both the P and L lists, you can move the cursor to select a single station. A prompt then allows you to (1) display the object on the screen, (2) see a chronological list of all previous beacons from that station, (3) delete the entry, (4) insert a position for a BEACON only station, etc. L - LATEST DISPLAY - Lists the latest BEACON packet from all stations. This screen is like a braodcast message display showing the latest bulletin from each station. It is an active screen updated in realtime as packets come in. F - FULL LENGTH - Same as L but displays full length of long beacons. Beacons can actually be about 1.5 lines long (total 128 bytes) O - ORDER THE LATEST LIST - Moves older beacons to the start of the list, and the most recent beacons to the end. ALT-P does the same thing, but also deletes all stations more than a day old. P - POSITIONS DISPLAY - Lists the latest POSITION packet received from each station. Since each position report can contain comments, this display is useful for seeing comments and resolving position data. W - WHEN HEARD - This display shows statistics of the number of packets heard from each station for the last 24 hours. It is useful for observing station activity and on HF for observing propogation changes. D - DIGIPEATER PATH - This display shows the raw packet header including the digipeater paths used by all stations in your LATEST list. Proper use of digipeaters is very important for minimizing QRM on APRS nets. A - ALL PACKETS - This display shows a chronological history of all packets received. It also includes your incomming and outgoing message lines. Since messages do not have a time of receipt appended to them, this display is useful for seeing approximately when a message line was received. H - HELP - Toggles through two different pages of HELP I - INFORMATION - Another screen of useful information N - NON STANDARD TNC's - Gives info on operation with non TAPR2 TNC's. TEXT MESSAGES: There are two types of messages in APRS. First are broadcast messages (beacons) to all stations. New BEACONS are shown at the bottom of all APRS screens on frequency and highlighted in green so that all stations see the new message or change in status. They are also added to the ALL and LATEST pages of all stations on frequency. These beacons are perfect for alerting the net to your current status. Secondly, APRS implements a one line message capability between operators. Each line is ACKed when received by the other station. Multiple lines can be buffered up for eventual delivery. B - Displays your latest Beacon message. Alt-B - Alters it. M - Displays messages on the current screen. If messages are already on the current screen, then M forces a one-time transmission of all messages, without changing the current timing. When ever you call up a new APRS screen, the messages are overwritten. They will reappear if there is any change, such as an incomming message line or an ACK to one of your outgoing lines. If messages are already displayed, then the M key forces an immediate repeat transmission of the last undelivered line. S - SEND MESSAGE - You are then prompted for the callsign of the station that you want the message to go to. If you already have outgoing message lines pending, then the previous station callsign is pre-loaded. If you don't want to send the message, just enter a blank line. NOTE: APRS messages are the least efficient APRS mechanisim. Intense real-time rag-chews on a busy APRS frequency should be done without digipeaters or with only the exact path specified, or should be done more effeciently using the TNC talk mode via a normal AX.25 connection. ACKS: When your MSG is acknowledged, the word *ACK* (or *REJ* if his screen is full) will be over printed on the outgoing MSG line. Note that unlike normal packet, APRS does not compute the return path for an ACK. Each station must set his outgoing VIA path so that his packets (including ACKs) get back to all stations in the net. On the 5th DUPE of an incomming message, APRS will warn you that the other station is probably not getting your ACKS! K - KILL incomming message lines. K key kills one line at a time. E - ERASE outgoing lines. E key erases one outgoing line at a time. First it erases *ACKed* messages, and then erases other lines. ^T - TALK TO TNC - This commmand allows you to disable APRS and talk straight through to your TNC to establish a direct CONNECTION. This is useful for connecting to another APRS station's internal TNC mailbox to leave a message if he is not on line with APRS or for a quick keyboard to keyboard QSO with another APRS operator, known to be at his keyboard. These brief keyboard connections are not too dissruptive to other APRS operations on frequency as long as no computer data is transferred. Also permits you to monitor your other COM port hooked up to GPS or WX. OBJECT FUNCTIONS: Any station may place an object on the map to be displayed at all stations. Once on the screen, the object is listed in the P-list with a (+) symbol. This means it will be transmitted by your station. You can STOP transmitting each object by hooking it on the P-list and hitting S. Users with an un-validated copy of APRS are limited to only one uplinked object. Even after you have removed the object from your screen, or have stopped sending it, it wil remain on all screens in the network until each individual operator deletes it. If an object has not been updated in over two hours, it fades to a gray color. alt-A - ADD AN OBJECT - WIll add a new object to the screen at the current cursor location. You are prompted for all pertinent information. There are 28 symbols that can be used to display the object. They are listed alphabetically. Some symbols are specific and some are generic so that they can be defined for each special APRS net. alt-D - DIRECT L/L INPUT - This command allows you to add an object to the screen without having to slew the cursor to the desired location first. It is useful when you are given the L/L of the object, such as for entering the position of reported hurricanes. ctl-U - Enables/disables uplinking of all of your objects. OPERATIONS FUNCTIONS and CONTROLS: There is a status display that I call the control panel which can be displayed at the bottom of the screen. It shows the status of all toggle on/off functions, your validation status and your VIA path. Items in lower case are off and upper case are ON. Example: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | NEW | GPS | XMT | UP | DR | LOG | DF | BCNS | cw | VHF | DIGI-1,DIGI-2 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C - CONTROLS - Displays a control line at the bottom of the screen showing the status of many APRS switches and modes. ^X - XMT DISABLE - Toggeles on/off ^U - UPLINK ENABLE - Toggles on/off. If on, then your objects marked for uplinking, will be uplinked to all stations in the net. ^D - DEAD RECKONING ON/off ^G - LOG on/off - After 200 position reports are logged on moving stations then the positions are saved to a track history file for later replay. This command allows you to turn off that function. X - CROSS Triangulation (DIRECTION FINDING) ON/off ^O - OTHER PACKETS - Use this command to toggle the APRS beacon processing filter between APRS Only packets or ALL OTHER packets. The state of this switch in shown on the control line. Use OTHER to monitor non APRS frequencies to collect BEACONS and see who is on the air. ^C - CW MESSAGES - Toggles CW mode on and off for new incomming messages lines to you are sounded out in CW if you are not near your CRT. ^Q - QUERY - This command sends an immediate APRS query packet to all stations on frequency. All APRS stations will respond with all of their BEACONS, POSITS, OBJECTS, and MESSAGES sometime in the next 2 minutes. This command is AUTOMATICALLY sent when a station starts up the APRS program. This is why you hear a flurry of packet activity each time a new APRS station fires up on frequency. With version 2.05, you can selectively Query any single APRS station by sending him a one-line message with the characters ?APRS in it. ^W - WEATHER QUERY - Same as QUERY, but only weather stations respond. ^P - PING - Sends out a ping packet. If the packet is digipeated by your selected VIA path, you will see it monitored on the bottom line of your display. This lets you know that your station is transmitting and that the digipeater in your selected VIA path responded. ^V - VIA PATH - Used to set up your outgoing digipeater path. (IMPORTANT!) If you have not selected a digipeater that covers your APRS net, then your packets and acks will never get to the other stations on freq even though you see them fine. YOU MUST SET YOUR VIA PATH TO COVER your intended APRS AREA by selecting an appropriate digipeater path! In V2.13, APRS will warn you if another station does not appear to be getting your message ACKs. SHIFT-F1 was added in APRS version 2.12 so that an APRS station can override the normal APRS default ALIAS of RELAY and set his ALIAS to be the generic WIDE area address so he can serve as a temporary WIDE digi. Do this only with the concurrence of all others on Frequency. SHIFT-F4 Toggles nuisance BEEPS on and off. OTHER FUNCTIONS: These commands are set up and control functions that are not done that often in normal operation: V - VALIDATE - This key is used to bring up the information on registering your copy of the program and for entering your validation number. It is also used to enter your special WX, DF or GPS option code. altC - CONFIGURATION FILE - Used to save your current configuration. Saves the current map size and location as well as the state of HF/VHF, and your digipeater path. Only registered users can save a config file. With V2.13 you can save each CFIG file with an optional 3 character file extension so that you can call them up quickly for different applications. You invoke the optional files with a /EXT switch when you give DOS the APRS213 command. IE: C:> APRS213 /MOB would load the CFIG213.MOB file which you saved when you operated MOBile. etc ^L - LOAD - This key allows you to load a backup file. The file named BACKUP is saved every time you quit APRS so that you can restart the program to the last on air situation. I save a different file for each packet frequency so that my map only shows stations on the current frequency. To facilitate this process, you only need to enter the numeric digits to LOAD a backup FREQxxxx or HFxxxx file. ^A - APPEND - This will permit you to load in a BACKUP file without losing all the stations that are already in your P and L lists. If the same calls are in the appended file as are already in memory, there will be numerous dupes that should be manually deleted. Also, APPEND does not append any LOG or WHEN-HEARD data. The main reason for adding this feature is for loading KD4UYR automatic NatlWeatherService data. His program takes a National Weather Service Bulletin and automatically converts it into an APRS BACKUP file. Just APPEND his data file, and your map instantly shows all the NWS WX stations on it! altL - Will load the most recent BACKUP.BK file with one keystroke. ^S - SAVE - Used to save the current situation in a file. The file name defaults to the name of the last file loaded. It is a good idea to save a separate file for each packet frequency on which you operate. ^I - INITIALIZE TNC - sends out TNC commands to setup the TNC for APRS. Note that this is the same as the TAB key. Your TNC is automatically initialized when you start, but can be done at any time, if your TNC looses power, or needs to be reset to APRS defaults. When you QUIT APRS, it gives a list of TNC parameters that were changed by APRS. ^X - XMT ON/OFF - disables routine transmitting from your station. This is good for stations monitoring an event, but not actively participating. It keeps their routine beacons off the frequency. The T key will force a one time transmission of your BCN, POS, OBJ, and MSG packets. TRACKING and TRACK HISTORIES - All position reports are saved to memory and eventually to file for subsequent replay. Each new position report is checked against the last position from that unit and the current screen. There are several commands related to station tracking: T - TRACK - This is a subcommand on the P-list display which allows you to designate a station for tracking. If TRACK is on, then the map will always remain centered on the selected station. The map is re-drawn whenever the station moves beyond the present map range (use R command to show the Range Rings. A - ALARM - This is also a subcommand on the P-list which allows you to set an alarm on a given station. If that station moves, APRS will beep and will re-center the map to track that station. The same filter as used on the P-list is also used here so that the randomness of Selective Availability does not unnecessarily trigger this alarm. M - MOVE - A subcommand on the P list for moving a station. Similar to just hooking it with the RETURN key, but is the only way to move an object or station with 00000/00000 for LAT/LONG. altP POSITION FILTER ON/OFF - If a position is the same (within 20 yards or .01 minute of LAT/LON), then the report is not saved in memory or to a track history file. If this POSITION filter is on, then the comparison is made out to 80 yards to include most of the randomness added to the GPS system by the Deaprtment of Defense. This prevents non-moving GPS packet stations from filling up track history files with redundant positions. ^S - SAVE - Forces a save of a BACKUP.BK, a BLxxxxxx,LOG and a TKxxxxxx.HST If you are in the field, and may possibly loose power, do a ^S every now and then, to be sure you save all track histories. After the event, you can use a DOS text editor to append all the track history files together for the one event. When you Quit APRS, ONLY a Backup file is saved, the LOG and TRACK data are LOST! If, however, you give the BACKUP file any OTHER name, then a LOG and TK.HST file ARE saved. altR - REPLAY - Used to replay track histories for moving stations or objects. Track histories are retained in memory for instant replay up to 200 points. When memory is full, a file is automatically saved and memory cleared for more points. If less than 200 points are in memory, you MUST MANUALLY force a save using ^S BEFORE exiting the program or the track history points in memory will be lost! During Replay several commands are useful to center the screen on the moving object, change the speed of replay and zoom in or out, etc. ^G LOG - Toggles on and off the automatic logging of track histories to file. Default is ON so that after 200 position reports, a file is automatically saved and memory is cleard for further accumulation. If off, the 200 reports are retained in memory until you QUIT. DIRECTION FINDING: APRS can instantly traingulate fixes from multiple reporting packet stations. Even stations reporting a beam haeding that are not APRS equipped, can be placed on the map by any APRS station using the ALT-A command and be given a beam heading. APRS assumes that any station or object using the TRIANGLE symbol is a DF station and will plot a line of bearing in the direction of his COURSE and with a quality proportional to the speed field. Note that APRS uses 360 degrees as North and assumes 000 means no direction information available. A speed of 8 indicates excellent quality. ^B - BEAM HEADING - for entering a beam heading for your station. If you are running the WX station option, it will be dissabled while the DF report is operative. You may also specify a Quality factor 1-8. X - CROSS TRIANGULATE A FIX (ON/off) - plots all beam headings on the map. The more dotted the line is, the less its quality. WEATHER STATIONS: APRS displays weather stations as large blue circles with a white line showing the wind speed and direction. Remember that APRS uses 360 degrees for North and assumes that 000 means no direction information is available. Other useful WX commands: alt W - Displays the next weather station in turn. Displays the WX conditions in the weather box at the top of the screen, and circles the station on the map for identification. The Weather box at the top of the screen will automatically be updated everytime the selected WX station sends out a WX report. alt E - Enter a weather report. Used to enter a manual WX report. The word (manual) will be added at the end of the report to indicate that it was a one time synopsis and that APRS should not update the Date-Time each time it is transmitted. J - Use the J command to select Just Weather stations for display. In version 3.07, several additional weather symbols were added. These weather symbols are selected from a Weather sub-menu activated by selecting the W key from the general symbol menu. The symbols combined with aptly chosen object names can be used to convey most severe weather needs. In version 3.08, an APPEND FILE command was added so that a backup WEATHER SERVICE file in APRS format can be loaded without losing stations already in the L and P lists. KD4UYR has written a program that converts National Weather Service Bulletins into an APRS compatible BACKUP file! When I get a copy, I will include it on the APRS distribution disk.