next beta build#144 of YAAC ("Yet Another APRS Client"), created 2020-Jan-05

downloadable from
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changes and updates include:
1. properly generate standard APRS packets in locales where a comma is used
instead of a period as the numeric decimal point. also fix where
executing KML files or CSV files of lat/lon data.
2. fix null pointer exception when using GPSD with a non-moving station or
station that doesn't currently have a valid GPS fix.
3. shorten outgoing text message panel's text field for the message body
to cut down on field loss when someone shrinks the desktop window
too small (typically under 965 pixels in width of the map window,
depending on font choice).
4. fix ClassCastException accidentally introduced by a refactoring to
resolve a findbugs issue.
5. fix hang in mini-webserver caused by using buffered input in an
invalid context.
6. fix null pointer exception and HTTP server error in mini-webserver
when viewing the stations page on a system that is still rapidly
growing its station list.
7. fix incorrect map direction rotation in repeater finder plugin, and
handle fitting on small screens by using fullscreen mode and no
window title bar.

Hmmm... vicinity plotting can also work in the opposite direction to guesstimate the position of "stealth" digipeaters (those that do not transmit position reports of their own, and only meet their legal station identification regulations by UITRACE-inserting their callsign into digipeat paths). When a regular station's position report is digipeated by a "stealth" digipeater, YAAC attempts to approximate the position of the digipeater as being in the centroid of all the stations it has been heard to digipeat.
How do you know these digipeater positions are incorrect? How are you checking this?
Please provide some callsigns of the participating stations so others can help you interpret what is going on.
Andrew, KA2DDO
author of YAAC
________________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Michael WA7SKG <wa7skg@...>
Sent: Saturday, January 4, 2020 11:51 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [yaac-users] Strange Position Reports
Still confused. The two items I see most are digipeaters. They show up
on my map near (varying in about a five mile radius) a local digi, but
one is actually 90 miles away and the other is 130 miles away with
significant terrain between them and the local digi. They are persistent
in that they move around a little bit, but are shown for days at a time
in the same area. I do have "vicinity plotting" turned off, yet they
still show up. They never show up in their actual locations.
I only have RF items on my map. Nothing from the Internet is displayed.
Just another of those APRS mysteries I guess.
Michael WA7SKG
Andrew P. wrote on 1/4/20 6:47 PM:

The question mark icon is for stations with unknown positions. A station
that sends a status message, telemetry, or positionless weather report
first (as far as your station newly listening is concerned) means that
YAAC doesn't know where to plot it or what its symbol is. So YAAC
guesses the station's location by assuming it's near its first
digipeater (assuming the digipeater's position report has been heard).
This feature is called "vicinity plotting".

Once YAAC hears an actual position report with an APRS symbol code from
the station, it will change the icon and move it to the correct location
on the map.

While the station's actual position is not known, and either it wasn't
digipeated and heard by an I-Gate whose position isn't known, or
digipeated by a digipeater whose position isn't known, the position
remains at latitude/longitude (0,0). The button on the map toolbar with
a big 0 on it will jump the map to that location.

Note that, if you don't like it, you can turn vicinity plotting off in
the expert-mode configuration dialog.

Hope this helps.

Andrew, KA2DDO
author of YAAC

-------- Original message --------
From: Michael WA7SKG <wa7skg@...>
Date: 1/4/20 15:36 (GMT-05:00)
To: [email protected]
Subject: [yaac-users] Strange Position Reports

I see periodic objects show up with the icon of a gray circle with a red
question mark. They are many miles from their actual location. Clicking
on the icon gives me a box of either seemingly garbage characters or
just a blank in the comments field. Many of these are fixed sites, so I
know the location is not correct. Some are mobile, but when I talk to
them later, they were never in the area.

What's up with that?

Michael WA7SKG

The question mark icon is for stations with unknown positions. A station that sends a status message, telemetry, or positionless weather report first (as far as your station newly listening is concerned) means that YAAC doesn't know where to plot it or what its symbol is. So YAAC guesses the station's location by assuming it's near its first digipeater (assuming the digipeater's position report has been heard). This feature is called "vicinity plotting".
Once YAAC hears an actual position report with an APRS symbol code from the station, it will change the icon and move it to the correct location on the map.
While the station's actual position is not known, and either it wasn't digipeated and heard by an I-Gate whose position isn't known, or digipeated by a digipeater whose position isn't known, the position remains at latitude/longitude (0,0). The button on the map toolbar with a big 0 on it will jump the map to that location.
Note that, if you don't like it, you can turn vicinity plotting off in the expert-mode configuration dialog.
Hope this helps.
Andrew, KA2DDO
author of YAAC

-------- Original message --------
From: Michael WA7SKG <wa7skg@...>
Date: 1/4/20 15:36 (GMT-05:00)
To: [email protected]
Subject: [yaac-users] Strange Position Reports
I see periodic objects show up with the icon of a gray circle with a red
question mark. They are many miles from their actual location. Clicking
on the icon gives me a box of either seemingly garbage characters or
just a blank in the comments field. Many of these are fixed sites, so I
know the location is not correct. Some are mobile, but when I talk to
them later, they were never in the area.
What's up with that?
Michael WA7SKG

Andrew...

I did a restart and didn't see anything in the startup messages or the
syslog related to an exception. I really don't see any errors. It's just
as if the web server isn't being enabled.

Frankly, I didn't think status would be changing that rapidly when I designed the UI. The events I was working, I would be "En Route" going to the event, "In Service" the whole time I was there, and "Returning" when going home afterwards. On the other hand, I was generally stationed at a fixed location rather than being a mobile unit for such events.
But this is certainly something changeable. I was looking at some similar easy status change control idea when I was thinking about putting a telemetry system in my RV (a side-project that, alas, still hasn't come to fruition, partly due to the same low-res UI design issue).
Michael, do you have a keyboard on your mobile setup? There's only so much room on a low-res screen (especially if it's a touch screen) for more controls. But I could take advantage of the PC function keys for easy switching. Alas, neither of the two Bluetooth keyboards I acquired for experiments for the RV telemetry system had an extra row for the Fn keys, so you would have to hold down two keys to be the equivalent of an Fn function key on an PC104 keyboard. And no better to do Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, etc., for such switching.
Andrew, KA2DDO
author of YAAC
________________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Eric H. Christensen via Groups.Io <eric@...>
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2019 4:50 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [yaac-users] Station Status
This is an interesting idea. To me, the MicE status has always been a useless piece of information *because* it was too difficult to change the status and most (all but DOS APRS?) clients don't really show the MicE status.
It would be interesting to have a mobile GUI that would have these buttons (when MicE is enabled?) across the top to make it easy to select. It could be useful during events and such. I suspect this could be a complete redesign of the GUI, though.
73,
Eric WG3K