IDEAS.txt 7.2b OTHER SUGGESTED IDEAS FOR SOFTWARE WRITERS! Don't let me have all the fun. There are lots of additional utilities and other neat applications for APRS waiting to be written! Please consider taking one of these on... WIDE-N UNIVERSAL DIGIPEAT MODE! This may be the simplest mechanism for making an order of magnitude improvement in APRS status and position reporting networks. In a WIDE-N network, each WIDE digi simply repeats ANY packet with the VIA address of WIDE-N; but ONLY ONCE. It subtracts 1 from the SSID and then keeps a copy of the last 30 seconds of packets (or just a checksum of each one), and compares each new packet that it hears with the LAST ones that it digipeated. This way it avoids TRANSMITting it again! This simple algorithm could develop into the ULTIMATE GENERIC MOBILE GPS NETWORK! Mobiles traveling within a 100 mile radius of home could simply set a path of UNPROTO APRS VIA WIDE-3 without fear of clogging the network! This WIDE-N ROM would not have to do anything else! For more details see DIGIS.TXT. LEVEL FOUR UI FRAME ROUTING! For anyone with the ability to write code for TAPR-2 clones, there is a real nead for LEVEL-4 distribution of APRS UI frames through a network. A UI frame addressed VIA XXXXX should be routed by any NODE that hears it to the final NODE named XXXX. (It should already know the path!) There, at that final node, the UI frame is transmitted ONCE (or maybe twice some time later) as if it had been originated locally. Since APRS UI position reports are redundant, and rapidly become obsolete as they are refreshed by a moving station, the level-4 NETWORK only has to make a feeble attempt to route the packets to the desired destination HOME node. They need not clutter the Nodes buffers, and can be time-ed out rather quickly. For more thoughts on this subject, read the DIGI.txt file. PRE-EMPTIVE DIGIPEATING (this idea may be OBE if the "ALL"net idea works) Until we get level-four routing of UI frames, it shuld be possible to modify TNC code for pre-emptive digipeating. This means that a digipeater will look for its callsign ANYWHERE in the digi-calls list in a packet header and if it finds itself, it will go ahead and digipeat the packet and cancel all of the earlier digipeat bits. This way a mobile only has to provide a list of DIGI calls in the fartherest sequence that he may travel, and his packets will all arrive at the last one in the list, no matter where along the string he is located! See more in the DIGIPTR.txt file. AUTODF NETWORK Now, if you make an "ALL"net ROM for TNC digipeaters, then there should be plenty of room for adding the A/D routine to take the LIMITER current from a DF receiver at the same site, and converting that to a signal strength value. Then transmitting that report in an APRS OMNI-SIGNAL-STRENGTH DF report. This way, each APRS ALL digipeater site, could also be used as an OMNI-DF site for reporting DF signal strengths. See the README\DF.txt file for details! CALLSIGN and POSITION DATABASE NETWORK SERVER Since APRS includes the single station QUERY format for requesting a station to respond with his position report, there is no reason why any PC interfaced with the HAMCALL CD ROM could not listen for such QUERYS, and respond with a properly formatted APRS POSITION report for that station! The APRS station sending the single UI frame QUERY gets rewarded by seeing the location of the requested station SHOW UP ON HIS MAP! The database PC would of-course wait about 30 seconds to be sure the requested call is not LOCAL and then respond with an APRS OBJECT position report, which would include the station's name and address! ALL FUTURE TNC BEACON CODE: For future designs, the LOCATION TEXT and BEACON TEXT timing periods should be 1 minute for manual entries, but the LText UI frame should be sent out ONCE everytime a new manual entry is made. The ultimate objective for all UI beacons should be to have the optional APRS DECAYING time period algorithm built into all TNC's. With the DECAY option, each new manual entry of BText or LText will force a UI frame immediately, 15 sec later, 30 after that, 60 after that, 2 mins, then 4 mins, then 8 mins and so on to N minutes, and stay at N minutes forever. This way, new UI information is transmitted immediately to all stations on the net, but old beacons soon fade away. APRS QUERIES: One other addition to complete the APRS philosophy, is to have the TNC respond with both its LText and BText randomly within one minute of seeing an APRS query; a UI frame to the address of APRS with the text field set equal to ?APRS?. This way, stations could drop back to a decayed beacon rate of once every 4 hours or so, but still would pop up on an APRS map if requested.