Does the text "EMERGENCY" mean the real thing?

[Andrew P.]

Greetings, all.

I've just been noticing an annoying glitch in my APRS client, and it's because someone is sending a beacon message with the word "EMERGENCY" (all capital letters) in it. Are APRS clients supposed to trigger emergency handling on status messages with this text (since they don't have Mic-E status codes)? I noticed that other sites sending out messages with this text deliberately mangled the text or used mixed case so beaconing for an Emergency Operations Center wouldn't make everybody's clients go berserk every time the beacon showed up.

So, is my client behaving correctly for this new beacon (and the user defining it is incorrect), or is my client program behaving incorrectly?

Here's the message:

}K7CCN>BEACON,qAR,K7ILO-1:KK7CCN: CLARK COUNTY OEM EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

I know that !EMERGENCY! is supposed to be the equivalent of a MicE status, but what about without the enclosing "!"?

Just curious.

Andrew Pavlin, KA2DDO

[Curt, WE7U]

Post by Andrew P.
I've just been noticing an annoying glitch in my APRS client, and it's because someone is sending a beacon message with the word "EMERGENCY" (all capital letters) in it. Are APRS clients supposed to trigger emergency handling on status messages with this text (since they don't have Mic-E status codes)? I noticed that other sites sending out messages with this text deliberately mangled the text or used mixed case so beaconing for an Emergency Operations Center wouldn't make everybody's clients go berserk every time the beacon showed up.
So, is my client behaving correctly for this new beacon (and the user defining it is incorrect), or is my client program behaving incorrectly?
}K7CCN>BEACON,qAR,K7ILO-1:KK7CCN: CLARK COUNTY OEM EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
I know that !EMERGENCY! is supposed to be the equivalent of a MicE status, but what about without the enclosing "!"?

Yes. All caps will get recognized in several of the APRS apps. The usual scenario is that it will alert the operator (sound and/or popup) and center the map on that station. It is treated exactly like a MIC-E Emergency packet. Send the operator of that station a note and ask him to put it in lower or mixed-case.

[Ronny Bolsega]

Hi Curt, I’m glad you mentioned the info on the beacon msg with the word Emergency! I recently purchased a Yaesu VX-8GR with the beacon. I’m using the smart beacon but my text says my call KG7A and Test. I’m still kind of new to APRS and wish there was a tutorial for this subject on the HT and Mobile radios with APRS. You mentioned the Mic-E which I remember hearing it but never really learned it. I’m still willing to read on with TAPR APRS on this subject. So if you have any input on a group or tutorial on this, I would really appreciate this with all respect. Thanks for you info Kurt and please advise…

Vy 73, Ronny KG7A

Post by Curt, WE7U

Post by Andrew P.
I've just been noticing an annoying glitch in my APRS client, and it's because someone is sending a beacon message with the word "EMERGENCY" (all capital letters) in it. Are APRS clients supposed to trigger emergency handling on status messages with this text (since they don't have Mic-E status codes)? I noticed that other sites sending out messages with this text deliberately mangled the text or used mixed case so beaconing for an Emergency Operations Center wouldn't make everybody's clients go berserk every time the beacon showed up.
So, is my client behaving correctly for this new beacon (and the user defining it is incorrect), or is my client program behaving incorrectly?
}K7CCN>BEACON,qAR,K7ILO-1:KK7CCN: CLARK COUNTY OEM EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
I know that !EMERGENCY! is supposed to be the equivalent of a MicE status, but what about without the enclosing "!"?

Yes. All caps will get recognized in several of the APRS apps. The usual scenario is that it will alert the operator (sound and/or popup) and center the map on that station. It is treated exactly like a MIC-E Emergency packet. Send the operator of that station a note and ask him to put it in lower or mixed-case.
--
Curt, WE7U. http://wetnet.net/~we7u
APRS Client Capabilities: http://wetnet.net/~we7u/aprs_capabilities.html
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[Curt, WE7U]

Hi Curt, I?m glad you mentioned the info on the beacon msg with the word Emergency! I recently purchased a Yaesu VX-8GR with the beacon. I?m using the smart beacon but my text says my call KG7A and Test. I?m still kind of new to APRS and wish there was a tutorial for this subject on the HT and Mobile radios with APRS. You mentioned the Mic-E which I remember hearing it but never really learned it. I?m still willing to read on with TAPR APRS on this subject. So if you have any input on a group or tutorial on this, I would really appreciate this with all respect. Thanks for you info Kurt and please advise?

If you're new to APRS, check out:

http://aprs.org
-and-
http://info.aprs.net

Plus monitor this list, ask questions, and do Google searches for things of interest that you want to learn about. There are some VERY knowledgeable people that monitor this list, including most of the APRS program developers.

FYI: The term Mic-E can refer to three things:

* The TAPR MIC-E hardware device (no longer manufactured).
* The MIC-E protocol.
* A method of keeping the transmitter keyed and inserting an APRS packet at the end of a transmission.

[Gary D. Schwartz]

I can't speak to APRS specifically, but on all ham voice bands used in EmComm,
during a drill, one will preface every transmission with "This is a drill".

Ask Orson Welles what happened October 30, 1938.

Gary
N1ZCE

Post by Andrew P.
Greetings, all.
I've just been noticing an annoying glitch in my APRS client, and
it's because someone is sending a beacon message with the word
"EMERGENCY" (all capital letters) in it. Are APRS clients supposed
to trigger emergency handling on status messages with this text
(since they don't have Mic-E status codes)? I noticed that other
sites sending out messages with this text deliberately mangled the
text or used mixed case so beaconing for an Emergency Operations
Center wouldn't make everybody's clients go berserk every time the
beacon showed up.
So, is my client behaving correctly for this new beacon (and the
user defining it is incorrect), or is my client program behaving incorrectly?
}K7CCN>BEACON,qAR,K7ILO-1:KK7CCN: CLARK COUNTY OEM EMERGENCY
COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
I know that !EMERGENCY! is supposed to be the equivalent of a MicE
status, but what about without the enclosing "!"?
Just curious.
Andrew Pavlin, KA2DDO
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http://www.tapr.org/mailman/listinfo/aprssig

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Gary D. Schwartz Please reply to: gary.schwartz-e+***@public.gmane.org