I'm seeing odd behavior on a couple of IGates.? Occasionally in the last couple days they are being sent thousands of packets to be "transmitted" as if they are suddenly receiving a full APRS feed.? For example, this one IGate WA6ODP-4, usually receives maybe 10 packets an hour from the servers, but it has sometimes (often now) been receiving HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of packets each hour.? For example, from the two IGate messages below,, it is getting 119,755 packets an hour!? I consider that to be excessive...

?

2021-04-29 10:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=18,DIR_CNT=7,LOC_CNT=7,RF_CNT=84,UPL_CNT=2714,DNL_CNT=1052899

2021-04-29 11:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=20,DIR_CNT=12,LOC_CNT=12,RF_CNT=100,UPL_CNT=3113,DNL_CNT=1172654

?

Here are the two lines from the config file that "control" this:

IGTXVIA 0

IGFILTER r/37.81/-121.80/2 -u/APBM*/APDG*/APWL*/APJI* -b/K7FED-1

?

I've seen this occasionally, recently, on a couple other IGates.? Something suddenly broke.? Anyone know what happened?

?

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/29/2021 8:26 PM David Ranch <direwolf-groupsio@...> wrote:

?

?

Hey Arnold,

Looking at this T2ONATARIO server by going to then doing a search for "T2ONTARIO", clicking on that to take you to .? At the top of this page is the contact information for this server who you might contact to see what he/she sees.? From here, you can also search for WA6ODP-4 where I see your station with no IG filter configured which seems to be unexpected.

--David
KI6ZHD

On 04/29/2021 06:46 PM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

I'm seeing odd behavior on a couple of IGates.? Occasionally in the last couple days they are being sent thousands of packets to be "transmitted" as if they are suddenly receiving a full APRS feed.? For example, this one IGate WA6ODP-4, usually receives maybe 10 packets an hour from the servers, but it has sometimes (often now) been receiving HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of packets each hour.? For example, from the two IGate messages below,, it is getting 119,755 packets an hour!? I consider that to be excessive...

?

2021-04-29 10:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=18,DIR_CNT=7,LOC_CNT=7,RF_CNT=84,UPL_CNT=2714,DNL_CNT=1052899

2021-04-29 11:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=20,DIR_CNT=12,LOC_CNT=12,RF_CNT=100,UPL_CNT=3113,DNL_CNT=1172654

?

Here are the two lines from the config file that "control" this:

IGTXVIA 0

IGFILTER r/37.81/-121.80/2 -u/APBM*/APDG*/APWL*/APJI* -b/K7FED-1

?

I've seen this occasionally, recently, on a couple other IGates.? Something suddenly broke.? Anyone know what happened?

?

Arnold, KQ6DI

By the time you looked, I had removed the filtering and the IGTXVIA 0 has been commented out.

When I looked at the Screen for direwolf, it was constantly scrolling with stuff for the IGate to transmit.? Supposedly the actual amount of data is small, but one of the sites that did this is on Satellite internet, and data costs, so a million packets doesn't cost zero.

I saw no choice except to stop IGate TX functions.? Why it re-connected back to T2ONTARIO is probably because the restart was relatively quick.

If I'm the only one seeing this, then I don't have a reason to troubleshoot.? I didn't change anything to have it start happening, so something odd did happen as you can see from the statistics.

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/29/2021 8:26 PM David Ranch <direwolf-groupsio@...> wrote:

?

?

Hey Arnold,

Looking at this T2ONATARIO server by going to then doing a search for "T2ONTARIO", clicking on that to take you to .? At the top of this page is the contact information for this server who you might contact to see what he/she sees.? From here, you can also search for WA6ODP-4 where I see your station with no IG filter configured which seems to be unexpected.

--David
KI6ZHD

On 04/29/2021 06:46 PM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

I'm seeing odd behavior on a couple of IGates.? Occasionally in the last couple days they are being sent thousands of packets to be "transmitted" as if they are suddenly receiving a full APRS feed.? For example, this one IGate WA6ODP-4, usually receives maybe 10 packets an hour from the servers, but it has sometimes (often now) been receiving HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of packets each hour.? For example, from the two IGate messages below,, it is getting 119,755 packets an hour!? I consider that to be excessive...

?

2021-04-29 10:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=18,DIR_CNT=7,LOC_CNT=7,RF_CNT=84,UPL_CNT=2714,DNL_CNT=1052899

2021-04-29 11:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=20,DIR_CNT=12,LOC_CNT=12,RF_CNT=100,UPL_CNT=3113,DNL_CNT=1172654

?

Here are the two lines from the config file that "control" this:

IGTXVIA 0

IGFILTER r/37.81/-121.80/2 -u/APBM*/APDG*/APWL*/APJI* -b/K7FED-1

?

I've seen this occasionally, recently, on a couple other IGates.? Something suddenly broke.? Anyone know what happened?

?

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/30/2021 4:20 AM Lynn Deffenbaugh <kj4erj@...> wrote:

?

?

Remember the IGate design is such that the upstream APRS-IS server forwards packets that the IGate MIGHT be interested in transmitting on RF.? Unfortunately, some IGate implementations (I cannot speak for DireWolf because I don't run it) missed the "might" and attempt to transmit "EVERY" received packet on the local RF.

?

Did you perchance capture a sample of the actual packets in that burst?? They would be the source of identifying if a problem exists or not.

?

Is it possible that the IGate was running any additional filter terms on the APRS-IS connection that may have inadvertently starting matching unintended packets?? Most IGates should be run with no additional filters, but only receive the packets that the APRS-IS server considers possible transmit candidates.

?

Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32

?

On 4/30/2021 12:50 AM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

By the time you looked, I had removed the filtering and the IGTXVIA 0 has been commented out.

When I looked at the Screen for direwolf, it was constantly scrolling with stuff for the IGate to transmit.? Supposedly the actual amount of data is small, but one of the sites that did this is on Satellite internet, and data costs, so a million packets doesn't cost zero.

I saw no choice except to stop IGate TX functions.? Why it re-connected back to T2ONTARIO is probably because the restart was relatively quick.

If I'm the only one seeing this, then I don't have a reason to troubleshoot.? I didn't change anything to have it start happening, so something odd did happen as you can see from the statistics.

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/29/2021 8:26 PM David Ranch <direwolf-groupsio@...> wrote:

?

?

Hey Arnold,

Looking at this T2ONATARIO server by going to then doing a search for "T2ONTARIO", clicking on that to take you to .? At the top of this page is the contact information for this server who you might contact to see what he/she sees.? From here, you can also search for WA6ODP-4 where I see your station with no IG filter configured which seems to be unexpected.

--David
KI6ZHD

On 04/29/2021 06:46 PM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

I'm seeing odd behavior on a couple of IGates.? Occasionally in the last couple days they are being sent thousands of packets to be "transmitted" as if they are suddenly receiving a full APRS feed.? For example, this one IGate WA6ODP-4, usually receives maybe 10 packets an hour from the servers, but it has sometimes (often now) been receiving HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of packets each hour.? For example, from the two IGate messages below,, it is getting 119,755 packets an hour!? I consider that to be excessive...

?

2021-04-29 10:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=18,DIR_CNT=7,LOC_CNT=7,RF_CNT=84,UPL_CNT=2714,DNL_CNT=1052899

2021-04-29 11:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=20,DIR_CNT=12,LOC_CNT=12,RF_CNT=100,UPL_CNT=3113,DNL_CNT=1172654

?

Here are the two lines from the config file that "control" this:

IGTXVIA 0

IGFILTER r/37.81/-121.80/2 -u/APBM*/APDG*/APWL*/APJI* -b/K7FED-1

?

I've seen this occasionally, recently, on a couple other IGates.? Something suddenly broke.? Anyone know what happened?

?

Arnold, KQ6DI

?

On 04/30/2021 8:49 AM David Ranch <direwolf-groupsio@...> wrote:

?

?

Hey Arnold,

Unfortunately I didn't capture what was being sent.? I should have done a screen shot, but didn't.? The three cases I've seen were on slower, MORE EXPENSIVE, internet connections, and my first reaction is to stop it.? When I'm getting more than 100,000 packets an hour through a satellite internet connection, all I can say is something is very bad.

I can appreciate your situation here and while I can recommend some ideas, the real issue seems to be coming from the remote APRS-IS server.?

?

I just wonder if the filter didn't make it to the servers properly, although that doesn't seem possible either.

If you know the traffic was coming from a specific APRS-IS server, I recommend to contact that admin as they will be the only one who will known of any recent changes, have access to the relevant logs, etc.

--David
KI6ZHD

I'll watch and see what server(s) if/when it happens again.

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/30/2021 8:49 AM David Ranch <direwolf-groupsio@...> wrote:

?

?

Hey Arnold,

Unfortunately I didn't capture what was being sent.? I should have done a screen shot, but didn't.? The three cases I've seen were on slower, MORE EXPENSIVE, internet connections, and my first reaction is to stop it.? When I'm getting more than 100,000 packets an hour through a satellite internet connection, all I can say is something is very bad.

I can appreciate your situation here and while I can recommend some ideas, the real issue seems to be coming from the remote APRS-IS server.?

?

I just wonder if the filter didn't make it to the servers properly, although that doesn't seem possible either.

If you know the traffic was coming from a specific APRS-IS server, I recommend to contact that admin as they will be the only one who will known of any recent changes, have access to the relevant logs, etc.

--David
KI6ZHD

On Apr 30, 2021, at 10:03 AM, Greg D <ko6th.greg@...> wrote:

? Hi Arnold,

Check to see if it's coming from "GAPGTE".? As I understand it, that station is basically forwarding some not-insignificant portion of the APRS-IS through RF to a cabin up in the Sierras somewhere, where they don't have Internet service.? Nobody's been able to convince him that it's a bad idea.

Greg? KO6TH

Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

I'll watch and see what server(s) if/when it happens again.

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/30/2021 8:49 AM David Ranch <direwolf-groupsio@...> wrote:

?

?

Hey Arnold,

Unfortunately I didn't capture what was being sent.? I should have done a screen shot, but didn't.? The three cases I've seen were on slower, MORE EXPENSIVE, internet connections, and my first reaction is to stop it.? When I'm getting more than 100,000 packets an hour through a satellite internet connection, all I can say is something is very bad.

I can appreciate your situation here and while I can recommend some ideas, the real issue seems to be coming from the remote APRS-IS server.?

?

I just wonder if the filter didn't make it to the servers properly, although that doesn't seem possible either.

If you know the traffic was coming from a specific APRS-IS server, I recommend to contact that admin as they will be the only one who will known of any recent changes, have access to the relevant logs, etc.

--David
KI6ZHD

Unfortunately I didn't capture what was being sent.? I should have done a screen shot, but didn't.? The three cases I've seen were on slower, MORE EXPENSIVE, internet connections, and my first reaction is to stop it.? When I'm getting more than 100,000 packets an hour through a satellite internet connection, all I can say is something is very bad.

?

Again, since I seem to be the only one noticing this, I can assume it's only something I did, that only affects things sometimes.? The reason I have the filtering in the first place is to cut down the total number of packets through the internet.? This is also a new issue since I haven't changed the IGate configuration at one site in over a year, and it suddenly started happening.? These aren't Gigabit connections, and I'm lucky enough to be allowed a parasite connection to the internet through a multiple-hop wireless internet system, or satellite internet.

?

I just wonder if the filter didn't make it to the servers properly, although that doesn't seem possible either.

?

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/30/2021 4:20 AM Lynn Deffenbaugh <kj4erj@...> wrote:

?

?

Remember the IGate design is such that the upstream APRS-IS server forwards packets that the IGate MIGHT be interested in transmitting on RF.? Unfortunately, some IGate implementations (I cannot speak for DireWolf because I don't run it) missed the "might" and attempt to transmit "EVERY" received packet on the local RF.

?

Did you perchance capture a sample of the actual packets in that burst?? They would be the source of identifying if a problem exists or not.

?

Is it possible that the IGate was running any additional filter terms on the APRS-IS connection that may have inadvertently starting matching unintended packets?? Most IGates should be run with no additional filters, but only receive the packets that the APRS-IS server considers possible transmit candidates.

?

Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32

?

On 4/30/2021 12:50 AM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

By the time you looked, I had removed the filtering and the IGTXVIA 0 has been commented out.

When I looked at the Screen for direwolf, it was constantly scrolling with stuff for the IGate to transmit.? Supposedly the actual amount of data is small, but one of the sites that did this is on Satellite internet, and data costs, so a million packets doesn't cost zero.

I saw no choice except to stop IGate TX functions.? Why it re-connected back to T2ONTARIO is probably because the restart was relatively quick.

If I'm the only one seeing this, then I don't have a reason to troubleshoot.? I didn't change anything to have it start happening, so something odd did happen as you can see from the statistics.

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/29/2021 8:26 PM David Ranch <direwolf-groupsio@...> wrote:

?

?

Hey Arnold,

Looking at this T2ONATARIO server by going to then doing a search for "T2ONTARIO", clicking on that to take you to .? At the top of this page is the contact information for this server who you might contact to see what he/she sees.? From here, you can also search for WA6ODP-4 where I see your station with no IG filter configured which seems to be unexpected.

--David
KI6ZHD

On 04/29/2021 06:46 PM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

I'm seeing odd behavior on a couple of IGates.? Occasionally in the last couple days they are being sent thousands of packets to be "transmitted" as if they are suddenly receiving a full APRS feed.? For example, this one IGate WA6ODP-4, usually receives maybe 10 packets an hour from the servers, but it has sometimes (often now) been receiving HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of packets each hour.? For example, from the two IGate messages below,, it is getting 119,755 packets an hour!? I consider that to be excessive...

?

2021-04-29 10:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=18,DIR_CNT=7,LOC_CNT=7,RF_CNT=84,UPL_CNT=2714,DNL_CNT=1052899

2021-04-29 11:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=20,DIR_CNT=12,LOC_CNT=12,RF_CNT=100,UPL_CNT=3113,DNL_CNT=1172654

?

Here are the two lines from the config file that "control" this:

IGTXVIA 0

IGFILTER r/37.81/-121.80/2 -u/APBM*/APDG*/APWL*/APJI* -b/K7FED-1

?

I've seen this occasionally, recently, on a couple other IGates.? Something suddenly broke.? Anyone know what happened?

?

Arnold, KQ6DI

?

On 04/30/2021 12:08 PM Jim Bacher - WB8VSU <wb8vsu@...> wrote:

?

?

Arnold, pure guess.. I suspect that the APRS system forwards packets to be transmitted based on one of two items.

The first (least likely) would be what it calculates your coverage area to be. I have two Igates at the moment, one it says has 31 miles of? coverage and the other it says is 56 miles of coverage.

So the question is what does it think your coverage area is? (check both maps on the status page to see what areas are being reported).

The second and most likely possibility is based on what your Igate has reported to the APRS system. That of course includes what your Igate has heard from Digi's, not just your Igate. If your Igate is reporting those units, maybe the APRS servers figure your Igate is a good route back to those units. If that's the case, I believe you can reduce the area that your Igate will forward packets for to the APRS servers. That way they will not think your Igate is a good route to those units as you are not forwarding the stations position.

Incoming data filters from the Internet? run on the local system, not on the APRS servers. So they will only stop transmissions, and not impact your data usage. If the filters prevent the reporting of the position packets, then it likely will work.

Jim Bacher, WB8VSU

wb8vsu@...

On Apr 30, 2021, at 10:48 AM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI < kq6di@...> wrote:

Unfortunately I didn't capture what was being sent.? I should have done a screen shot, but didn't.? The three cases I've seen were on slower, MORE EXPENSIVE, internet connections, and my first reaction is to stop it.? When I'm getting more than 100,000 packets an hour through a satellite internet connection, all I can say is something is very bad.

?

Again, since I seem to be the only one noticing this, I can assume it's only something I did, that only affects things sometimes.? The reason I have the filtering in the first place is to cut down the total number of packets through the internet.? This is also a new issue since I haven't changed the IGate configuration at one site in over a year, and it suddenly started happening.? These aren't Gigabit connections, and I'm lucky enough to be allowed a parasite connection to the internet through a multiple-hop wireless internet system, or satellite internet.

?

I just wonder if the filter didn't make it to the servers properly, although that doesn't seem possible either.

?

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/30/2021 4:20 AM Lynn Deffenbaugh <kj4erj@...> wrote:

?

?

Remember the IGate design is such that the upstream APRS-IS server forwards packets that the IGate MIGHT be interested in transmitting on RF.? Unfortunately, some IGate implementations (I cannot speak for DireWolf because I don't run it) missed the "might" and attempt to transmit "EVERY" received packet on the local RF.

?

Did you perchance capture a sample of the actual packets in that burst?? They would be the source of identifying if a problem exists or not.

?

Is it possible that the IGate was running any additional filter terms on the APRS-IS connection that may have inadvertently starting matching unintended packets?? Most IGates should be run with no additional filters, but only receive the packets that the APRS-IS server considers possible transmit candidates.

?

Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32

?

On 4/30/2021 12:50 AM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

By the time you looked, I had removed the filtering and the IGTXVIA 0 has been commented out.

When I looked at the Screen for direwolf, it was constantly scrolling with stuff for the IGate to transmit.? Supposedly the actual amount of data is small, but one of the sites that did this is on Satellite internet, and data costs, so a million packets doesn't cost zero.

I saw no choice except to stop IGate TX functions.? Why it re-connected back to T2ONTARIO is probably because the restart was relatively quick.

If I'm the only one seeing this, then I don't have a reason to troubleshoot.? I didn't change anything to have it start happening, so something odd did happen as you can see from the statistics.

Arnold, KQ6DI

On 04/29/2021 8:26 PM David Ranch <direwolf-groupsio@...> wrote:

?

?

Hey Arnold,

Looking at this T2ONATARIO server by going to then doing a search for "T2ONTARIO", clicking on that to take you to .? At the top of this page is the contact information for this server who you might contact to see what he/she sees.? From here, you can also search for WA6ODP-4 where I see your station with no IG filter configured which seems to be unexpected.

--David
KI6ZHD

On 04/29/2021 06:46 PM, Arnold Harding - KQ6DI wrote:

I'm seeing odd behavior on a couple of IGates.? Occasionally in the last couple days they are being sent thousands of packets to be "transmitted" as if they are suddenly receiving a full APRS feed.? For example, this one IGate WA6ODP-4, usually receives maybe 10 packets an hour from the servers, but it has sometimes (often now) been receiving HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of packets each hour.? For example, from the two IGate messages below,, it is getting 119,755 packets an hour!? I consider that to be excessive...

?

2021-04-29 10:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=18,DIR_CNT=7,LOC_CNT=7,RF_CNT=84,UPL_CNT=2714,DNL_CNT=1052899

2021-04-29 11:44:57 PDT: >APDW16,TCPIP*,qAC,T2ONTARIO:<IGATE,MSG_CNT=0,PKT_CNT=20,DIR_CNT=12,LOC_CNT=12,RF_CNT=100,UPL_CNT=3113,DNL_CNT=1172654

?

Here are the two lines from the config file that "control" this:

IGTXVIA 0

IGFILTER r/37.81/-121.80/2 -u/APBM*/APDG*/APWL*/APJI* -b/K7FED-1

?

I've seen this occasionally, recently, on a couple other IGates.? Something suddenly broke.? Anyone know what happened?

?

Arnold, KQ6DI

?