Shareware Overload Trio 2/Shareware Overload Trio Volume 2 (Chestnut CD-ROM).ISO/dir24/aprs501a.zip/README/README.HLP

Text File | 1994-05-10 | 26KB | 464 lines

README.HLP                   APRS HELP DOCUMENT

     In version 5.00 the more than 60 APRS commands have been simplified
by eliminating most Ctrl and ALT keys and by placing these functions in
a few sub-menus.  This is a major functional change.  Old users BEWARE!

     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
  HEARD LOG - Shows station activity in number of packets per hour per station
  READ MAIL - Shows the last 23 message lines heard between any stations
  DIGIs USED- Shows digipeater paths used by all stations
  ALL BCNS  - Chronological log of all beacons and messages
  VIEW      - Scrolling screen of all packets on frequency


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)

  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.  You may
      select (HOOK) any station or object in this list for manipulation.  See
      the section on OBJects.  Also the JUST ONE command works on this display
      to show JUST one type of stations at a time.  On the PList, you can HOOK
      any object or station with the cursor and then you may execute a number
      of different commands on that object:

          U or Q - Uplink or Quit uplinking that object
          Move   - Move it anywhere else on the map
          Show   - Center the map on the object
          Delete - Deletes the object from your list
          Just   - Lists only stations or objects of JUST one type
          Kill   - Stops display of your object on EVERYONE's screens!  The
                   object remains in everyone's list but just does not clutter
                   the map.

  H - 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.

  R - READ MAIL - This screen monitors all messages on the frequency and keeps
      the last 23 lines heard.  This screen is useful for "READING the MAIL"

  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.


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.  By marking important or special objects
            with a # on the P-list, you can display the map with all other
            stations or objects suppressed by simply hitting the # key.  If
            you press *, all symbols will be displayed, but only the calls
            of the marked stations will be shown (useful for tracking a mobile
            through a maze of fixed stations..)

  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.apr file.  Usually the whole USA.

  J       - JUST ONE - Used to display just one symbol type at a time.
            to selectively display stations like all WX stations.

  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, a second RETURN key UNHOOKS.

  INSERT  - Relocates a HOOKED object on the screen.

  DELETE  - Deletes a HOOKED objecct on the screen

  DEAD RECKONING:  Since APRS dead-reckons the position of moving objects as
            time progresses, the symbol on the map is presented where it
            SHOULD be, but NOT where it was when first reported.  If you use
            the cursor to try to hook one of these objects on the map, you
            must hook the little gray circle which marks the position of the
            actual report, and not the symbol itself.


MAP MENU:  Many of the MAP features and other commands affecting maps have
been moved to the MAP MENU.  The following commands apply:

  A - ALTmap   Displays the map UNDER the current map.  Since APRS always uses
      the latest map in the MAPLIST.APR file that meets the current
      screen conditions, areas where maps overlap may sometime be
      obscured.  This command displays the next higher map in the list.

  B - Borders  Shows borders of all MAPS in the MAPLIST.apr 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.apr file.

  F - Features Toggles a number of map features on/off.  Features are Boundaries,
      Headings, Roads, Calls, Waterways, etc.  ALL features can also be
      turned on/off at once.  This is useful for slow 8088 PCs where
      turning off the map still shows the relative positions of stations
      but without taking the 10 seconds required to draw the maps.

  R - RANGE RINGS - Displays one ring at the current range scale and another
      at half the range.



MESSAGE TRAFFIC:  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
traffic capability between operators.  Each line is ACKed when received by the
other station.  Multiple lines can be buffered up for eventual delivery.

TRAFFIC COMMANDS:

  B - Displays your latest Beacon message.

  T - Displays traffic on the current screen.  If messages are already on the
      current screen, then T 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.

  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.


FILES MENU:  All commands dealing with files have been placed in the FILES
Menu.  These commands are as follows:

  D - DOS Shell - allows you to shell to DOS for whatever purpose...

  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.  To load the BACKUP file, just
      enter the letter B for the filename.

  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!  This capability
      is now obsolete in version 3.10, which includes the NWS crunching within
      APRS!  See alt-N command.

  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.

  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.


OPERATIONS MENU:

  C - COMMS - This commmand allows you to disable APRS and talk straight
      through to your TNC or GPS/WX/DF COMM port.  Use it 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.

  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 lot of packet
      activity each time a new APRS station fires up on frequency.  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.

  U - UNPROTO  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!
      APRS will warn you if another station does not appear to be getting
      your message ACKs.


INPUT POSITIONS MENU:  Any station may place an object on the map for display
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 QUIT
transmitting each object by hooking it on the P-list and hitting Q.  Users with
an un-validated copy of APRS are limited to uplinking only one object.  Even
if you delete the object from your screen, or have quit sending it, it still
remains on all screens in the network until each individual operator
deletes it.  In version 4.06, you can now kill an OBJECT which will
remove it from all screens (though still keep it on everyone's PList).  If an
object has not been updated in over two hours, it fades to a gray color.

  A - ADD a new object to the screen at the current cursor location.  You
      are prompted for all pertinent information.  There are 36 symbols
      that can be used to display the object.  Some are specific and some
      are generic so that they can be defined for each special APRS net.

  F - FIX your own POSIT.  ALlows you to enter your LAT/LONG directly

  I - INPUT L/L   This command allows you to add an object 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.


CONTROLS:  There is a status display called 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 | FLTR | BCNS | cw | VHF | DIGI-1,DIGI-2     |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  C - CW - 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.

  D - DEAD RECKONING ON/off

  F - 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.  In version 3.08, when the 80 yard filter is disabled, this
      also turns on a WX saver routine which will save all Weather reports in
      the Track History file for later trend analysis.

  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.


  O - OTHER 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.

  U - UPLINK ENABLE - Toggles on/off.  If on, then your objects marked
      for uplinking, will be uplinked to all stations in the net.

  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 X key will force
      a one time transmission of your BCN, POS, OBJ, and MSG packets.


SETUP MENU:  This command allows the selection of all SETUP functions.  These
functions can be saved in a configuration file by registered users


  B - BEEPS Toggles nuisance BEEPS on and off.

  G - GPS FUNCTIONS:  Used to set up SPM - Single Port Mode, HSP - Hardware
      Single Port mode, GPS time (sync's PC clock to the next GPS report
      received)

  I - INITIALIZE TNC - sends out TNC commands to setup the TNC for APRS.
      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.

  S - SAVE CONFIG 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.
      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
      APRSXXX command.  IE:  C:> APRS406/MOB would load the CFIG406.MOB file
      which you saved when you operated MOBile.  etc

  W - WIDE  Permits an APRS station to override the normal APRS default ALIAS of
      RELAY and set it to the generic WIDE area address so he can serve as
      a temporary WIDE digi.  Do this only with the concurrence of others
      on Frequency.



WEATHER COMMANDS:  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.  Under the CONTROLs menu, the FILTER command allows you to disable
the POSITION FILTER so that WX reports will be saved to track history files
for trend analysis.  Other WX commands under the WEATHER MENU:

  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.

  G - GET NWS SITES - Loads all National Weather Service sites on the present
      map display into the P-list.  This is so that an hourly WX data file
      can be loaded for all all NWS sites listed.

  J - Use the J command to select Just Weather stations for display.

  L - LOAD WX DATA - This key will search a designated file for NWS hourly
      weather advisories.   For each NWS station listed in both the data file
      and already in your P-list, the current conditions will be loaded.  Use
      the G command to pre-load your P-list with the NWS stations near you.

  N - NEXT WX STATION - Highlights the next weather station in turn and
      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.


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 values.  If the
POSITION filter is ON (default) then a new position will not be saved to
track history unless movement is more than about 80 yards.  This is to reduce
the number of track points for non-moving stations saved in the file.  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.

   S - SAVE FILES - On the FILES MENU, this command forces a save of a BACKUP
       a BLxxxxxx,LOG and a TKxxxxxx.HST file.  If you are in the field, and
       may possibly loose power, do a SAVE 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.

   REPLAY - Found in both the FILES and OPERATIONS MENUS.  One REPLAYS from
       on-line memory, and the other from a previously saved TRACK file.
       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 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.

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 ADD 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 if given.
Note that APRS uses 360 degrees as North and assumes 000 means no direction
information available.  A quality of 8 indicates an excellent fix.

   B - BEAM HEADING - In the OPERATIONS MENU is used 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.  The more dotted the line is, the less
       its quality.

   ON/OFF - The HEADING function on the MAP FEATURES MENU can be used to
       turn beam headings and DF bearings on and off.