APRS Raw Packet Data

[Steve Miller]

Is there a way to export the APRS raw packet data into an Excel spreadsheet?  I would like to do some reports based upon the data.

Also, what are the categories in the data.  I don't recognize all of them.  For example, here is one of the raw data strings from my I-Gate/Digi, W6SDM--2.

2015-08-25 10:36:50 MST: W6SDM-2>APU25N,TCPIP*,qAC,T2MEXICO:>251737zDX: W7MOT-3 33.34.67N 112.34.43W 54.6 miles 333<0xf8> 09:57

I would like to know what all of the fields are to the right of my SSID.  Also, I notice that it looks like I am connected to an APRS server in Mexico.  The one that I connect to is in Tuscon, AZ with a back up in Southern California.  Here is another line of data:

2015-08-25 14:34:58 MST: W6SDM-2>APU25N,TCPIP*,qAC,T2SOCAL:=3252.46NI11208.28W&Hidden Valley/Maricopa I-Gate/Digi {UIV32N}


This one looks like the server is in California.  Very confusing.  I would like to monitor and understand my packets so that I know I have everything set up right.

Thanks,

Steve

st...@w6sdm.net

[Heikki Hannikainen]

On Tue, 25 Aug 2015, Steve Miller wrote:

> Is there a way to export the APRS raw packet data into an Excel spreadsheet?  I would like to do some reports based upon the data.

With some cut-and-paste work, maybe. The export function
(http://aprs.fi/export/) only exports the resulting positions after
duplicate packets and other oddities have been removed, not the raw
packets.

The rest of the questions are not really about aprs.fi, but aprs2.net and
the APRS-IS protocol, I will answer them here, but if you have any
additional questions, please post them on the APRSSIG list. Thank you!

> Also, what are the categories in the data.  I don't recognize all of
> them.  For example, here is one of the raw data strings from my
> I-Gate/Digi, W6SDM--2.
>
> 2015-08-25 10:36:50 MST: W6SDM-2>APU25N,TCPIP*,qAC,T2MEXICO:>251737zDX: W7MOT-3 33.34.67N 112.34.43W 54.6 miles 333<0xf8> 09:57
>
> I would like to know what all of the fields are to the right of my
> SSID. 

APU25N is the AX.25 packet destination callsign (although since your
packet was sent directly to the APRS-IS, there was no AX.25 packet present
in the first place). On APRS, it often is a software/hardware identifier,
APU25N stands for UIview (http://aprs.org/aprs11/tocalls.txt).

The TCPIP*,qAC,callsign are usually inserted by an APRS-IS server
according to its algorithm, you may refer to the documentation:

http://www.aprs-is.net/q.aspx
http://www.aprs-is.net/qalgorithm.aspx

> Also, I notice that it looks like I am connected to an APRS
> server in Mexico.  The one that I connect to is in Tuscon, AZ with a
> back up in Southern California.

It may be that the server(s) you are connecting might have been available
at the time (or could not take any additional clients), and you have been
automatically been pointed to another server which was working at the time
of connection. For current server status, see:

http://status.aprs2.net/

It does not really matter much which server you connect - if you get
connected to a working server and your packets get through, everything is
fine. I recommend that you use one of the regional rotates
(http://www.aprs2.net/), they will point you to a server which has been
lately working reliably, and which has less client load than the others:

noam.aprs2.net for North America
soam.aprs2.net for South America
euro.aprs2.net for Europe & Africa
asia.aprs2.net for Asia
aunz.aprs2.net for Oceania

> This one looks like the server is in California.  Very confusing.  I
> would like to monitor and understand my packets so that I know I have
> everything set up right.

The packets are going through, so everything seems right. You're running
ui-view32, though, which has a bug, it removes some bytes from the end of
some packets. I'd recommend some other software for an igate, such as
APRSIS32 or YAAC.

- Hessu