=========================== APRS PROTOCOL SPECIFICATION =========================== TAPR announces release of the second public draft of the APRS Protocol Specification. ----------------------------------------------- It's finally here! The APRS Working Group has completed the second public draft of the APRS Protocol Specification. This document covers the core functionality of APRS Protocol Version 1.0 as it works today. This is the base level specification that all implementations should comply with, and it was unanimously adopted by the Working Group members, who include the authors of APRS-DOS, WinAPRS, MacAPRS, X-APRS, PocketAPRS, APRS+SA, javAPRS, and APRServe, and the developers of the Mic-E and Pic-E products. The Specification forms the basis for future Working Group projects, including APRS test suites and the APRS Certification Program. The WG also hopes to use this document as the basis for further speci- fications, including IGate and APRS digipeater operation. Over the last 8 weeks the specification has grown from 18 pages to 93. It now includes packet format diagrams, the APRS symbol tables, full details of the Mic-E encoded format, the compressed lat/long position format, plus weather report and telemetry formats. Above all, the specification contains many examples of how APRS data is formatted to make it easier to understand. The APRS Protocol Specification is now available on the APRS Working Group web page at: http://www.tapr.org/tapr/html/Faprswg.html. It is available in PDF format, both zipped and unzipped. The zip file is a little under 1.5MB. You can read it with a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat 3 or 4. This document is still a draft. There will now be a 15-day public discussion period in which anyone may feed back comments, criticisms and suggestions for improvement. Full information on how to do this is contained within the document. The final cutoff for comment is midnight U.S. Pacific time on Sunday 19 December (i.e. 0800 UTC on Monday 20 December). After this date the Working Group will consider all the comments, and will issue the final approved version of the Specification as soon as possible thereafter. John Ackermann, N8UR ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Administrative Chair APRS Working Group 4 December 1999
