You are going to use the BLT settings to handle this instead. Turn this one off.
BEACON EVERY 0 (disabled)
The BLT settings assign the times the LT beacons will be transmitted. You can use all four of these to control the different beacons.
BLT 1 EVERY 00:00:00
BLT 2 EVERY 01:00:00
BLT 3 EVERY 00:00:00
BLT 4 EVERY 00:00:00
LT 1 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5538
LT 2 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5530 North East Wise County WX/Digipeater ver 8.2
LT 3 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5538
LT 4 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5538
Lets talk about the string for the LT entries. In the example below you see the longest of my LT entries. We know that the LT 2 is the designator for the entry. Next is the ! symbol. The ! indicates that the digi is a standalone with no pc attached. The = symbol tells you that it has a pc on it. Next is the latitude and this includes if you are North or South, that is what the N is for. The / is the primary symbol. Look at the symbol.txt file in the aprsDOS distrobution for the correct icon symbol to use. Next is the longitude followed by a W or E for east or west then the secondary/overlay symbol. The PHG is what tells the client software your power, height and gain at the antenna. The rest is your personal description text. My suggestion is to keep it short and to the point.
LT 2 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5530 North East Wise County WX/Digipeater ver 8.2 These control the digipeat path that the LT beacons go out.
LTP 1 APRS VIA WIDE,WIDE
LTP 2 APRS VIA W5NGU-3,WIDE2-2
LTP 3 APRS VIA W5NGU-3,WIDE2-2
LTP 4 APRS VIA WIDE3-3
This is the first association you need to make to understand the following concept. Each one of the parameters has the number 1 through 4 assigned to it. If you want to control how often the text the LT parameter goes out and how it gets around then BLT 1, LTP 1 and LT 1. The same applies for BLT 2 and so forth. If I want the text in LT 2 to go out every hour, I set BLT 2 to 01:00:00. To control the path I set LTP to
LTP 1 APRS VIA WIDE,WIDE
Since you zeroed out the BEACON parameter, you can leave this one blank. There is a better way to achieve what btext can do. In reality, you can have up to 5 different Beacon texts, times and paths even though BTEXT, BEACON and UNPTORO are labled differently than BT, LTP and LT commands.
BTEXT
BUDLIST OFF NONE
You can run a Kantronics TNC with the squelch opened fully on the radio. You will want to run open squelch on the radio to reduce these issues:
1. lower power stations 2. stations that are farther out 3. hidden station issues 4. collision issues
To take advantage of this use:
CD SOFTWARE
I suggest turning CMSG turned DISC. No one is suppose to be connecting to the digipeater anyway. Therefore CMSG and CTEXT is not required. Setting this to DISC will disconnect anyone trying to get into the tnc with the exception of MYREMOTE.
CMSG disc
Got to have this one on or all is for nothing.
DIGIPEAT ON :
The Dwait time is the initial setting for channel acquisition. It controls the hold off time before the rest of the sequence starts. Consult the KPC3 manual.
DWAIT 0
I would not alter the LEDS command unless your power budget is tight. ie solar powered digi. I leave it on so I do not have to turn is on when I am at the site.
LEDS ON
Leave this on. If you turn is off, all letters will be translated to upper case.
LCOK ON
If you have stations you want to keep from being digipeated via your digipeater, here is were to start. To leave it completely open, Off and None is what you want. You can have up to 10 stations here and SSID is not required.
LLIST OFF NONE
To block a station you would enter the call and turn this on. For example;
LLIST on W5EVL
This will keep all of w5evl's stations of you digi, including w5evl-1 through w5evl-15.
Monitor is a non issue for a digi. The monitor command only controls what is sent to your screen. I turn it for for programming purposes.
MONITOR OFF
Since we are a digi and not a BBS, the Maxframe parameter is not used.
MAXFRAME 4
Another non-issue is Maxusers.
MAXUSERS 10
Mcon and Mcom are not issues for a stand alone system. If you have a computer on the digi, follow your software vendors recommendations. Mcom on can usually can screw up your client software. By default I leave them both off on a standalone digipeater.
MCON OFF MCOM OFF
You definatly want to set this one.
MYCALL KC5GOI-3
The Myalias call is the first in a series of callsign substitution parameters. What ever you put here does not need to go into the UIDIGI parameter.
MYALIAS WIDE
To get multiple aliases on a digipeater you will need to configure UIDIGI. My setup looks like this:
UIDIGI ON RELAY,WIDE,TRACE,SS
Here is what happens, any station that uses any of the aliases in the UIDIGI will be digipeated by your station. Since a digi of the magnitiude we are talking about covers a large scale area, why would I want to put RELAY in it? Simple, Since the most basic unproto path for a mobile is RELAY,WIDE,WIDE or RELAY,WIDEN-N, you could still run into an area that does not have many RELAYs in it and more WIDEs. Why would you deliberatly reduce your coverage and service by keeping that alias out. The digi will also do callsign substitution for the alias RELAY as well.
UIDwait has been the source of some discussion on the email lists. This command is simular to the DWAIT parameter but applies to UI packets. I recommend that you leave it off. This will reduce the time you wait before the digi retransmits your packets.
UIDWAIT OFF
UIFLOOD has also caused discussion. If you use the NOID option in the parameter, your station will not send its call on the end of all transmissions. This could put you past the 10 minute ID rule. There is a discussion at Jeff Brentons site http://www.dididahdahdidit.com/ that talks about this. You will need to give this alot of though. For the digi I used as an example I do not have this problem. My digi is connected to the TAPR T238 weather kit and it sends out a weather report every 5 minutes that includes the callsign. Notice that the UITRACE does not have the NOID statement. You want it to send back the call or the TRACE function is lost if you use a path with TRACEN-N instead of WIDEN-N.
UIFLOOD and UITRACE enable the usage of WIDEN-N and UITRACEN-N. The N-N is a numberic value. It is suggested that this number combination be equal to or less than 3-3. Reason being is that if you have a 4-4 or greater, it is possible to have the circular loops we are trying to prevent. In most cases 3 hops (which can be achived by relay,wide2-2) will get you to the internet. If you have to go more than 3 hops your chances drop rather significantly. The way to look at is is this, each hop reduces your chance of getting to the end destination by 3db or half.
UIFLOOD WIDE,30,NOID UITRACE TRACE,30
My Remote is for remote admin of your digi. This call will not respond as a digipeat call.
MYREMOTE KC5GOI-4
Make sure NEWMODE is off. That will let you have all the commands at your fingertips.
NEWMODE OFF
PACLEN is what regulates the size of you packets. If it is to short, weather data will not make it completely through. I leave it at 0 so I do not limit the size of what the other stations send. Most packets will be smaller than 128 bits but there are times you may see data that exceeds it.
PACLEN 0
PASSALL should remain off. If you turn it on, packets that are garbaged out will get sent out. There is the chance that a packet that get mangled could be decoded with total disregard for error correction. Having the digipeater filter it out helps on overall throughput by keeping down the junk.
PASSALL OFF
RTEXT is the equivalent to your password for remote access. Read your manual for a full description of what to expect.
RTEXT blahblahblah
SUPLIST just supresses (will not display) the calls in this parameter. There is a 10 station limit and if set to off, no stations, even those in the list will not be suppressed.
SUPLIST OFF NONE
Leave TRACE off unless you are there trouble shooting. More of a tool for power useres anyway.
TRACE OFF
Keep the TXDELAY number as small as possible. TXDELAY controls how much "dead air" time goes by when the radio is keyed up before the tnc sends tones. If it is too long, you are just hogging bandwidth. Too short receiving stations will have a problem with decoding you.
TXDELAY 18
UNPROTO is used for any non-aliased digipeating and any BTEXT entries you may have used. The parameter strucuture is very different from the LT entries. To set the icon, consult symbol.txt file in the aprsDOS distrobution.
UNPROTO SYMBD VIA WIDE3-3
Here is a raw dump of what is on the KC5DPC-3 weather station/digi. The RTEXT was removed for obvious reasons. You can copy the list and use a terminal program to send this to your tnc. You will need to edit the callsigns, unprotopath, LTP paths for your area.
8BITCONV ON
AX25L2V2 ON
ABAUD 4800
AUTOLF OFF
AXDELAY 0
AXHANG 0
BEACON EVERY 0 (disabled)
BKONDEL ON
BLT 1 EVERY 00:00:00
BLT 2 EVERY 01:00:00
BLT 3 EVERY 00:00:00
BLT 4 EVERY 00:00:00
BREAK OFF
BTEXT
BUDLIST OFF NONE
CANLINE $18
CANPAC $19
CD SOFTWARE
CHECK 0
CMDTIME 1
CMSG disc
COMMAND $03
CONLIST OFF NONE
CONMODE CONVERS
CONOK OFF
CONPERM OFF
CPACTIME OFF
CR ON
CRSUP OFF
CSTAMP OFF
CTEXT
CWID EVERY 0
CWIDTEXT
DAYTWEAK 8
DAYSTR mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss
DAMA OFF
DAMACHCK 18
DBLDISC OFF
DELETE $08
DIGIPEAT ON
DWAIT 0
ECHO ON
ESCAPE OFF
FLOW OFF
FILTER OFF
FRACK 4
FULLDUP OFF
HBAUD 1200
HEADERLN OFF
HID ON
HTEXT
INTFACE TERMINAL
KNTIMER 15 min
LEDS ON
LCOK ON
LFADD OFF
LFSUP ON
LLIST OFF NONE
lt 1 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5538
lt 2 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5530 North East Wise County WX/Digipeater ver 8.2
lt 3 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5538
lt 4 !3321.55N/09723.30W#PHG5538
LTP 1 APRS VIA WIDE,WIDE
LTP 2 APRS VIA W5NGU-3,WIDE2-2
LTP 3 APRS VIA W5NGU-3,WIDE2-2
LTP 4 APRS VIA WIDE3-3
LTRACK 0
MONITOR OFF
MALL ON
MAXFRAME 4
MAXUSERS 10
MBEACON ON
MCON OFF
MCOM OFF
MHEADER ON
MRESP OFF
MRPT ON
MSTAMP OFF
MXMIT OFF
MYCALL KC5DPC-3
MYALIAS WIDE
MYDROP 0
MYNODE RELAY
MYREMOTE KC5DPC-4
NDWILD OFF
NEWMODE OFF
NOMODE OFF
NTEXT
NUCR 0
NULF 0
NUMNODES 0
PACLEN 0
PACTIME AFTER 10
PARITY NONE
PASS $16
PASSALL OFF
PBBS 5
PBFORWRD NONE EVERY 0
PBHEADER ON
PBHOLD ON
PBKILLFW OFF
PBLIST OFF NONE
PBLO NEW VARIABLE
PBPERSON OFF
PBREVERS ON
PERSIST 63
PID OFF
PMODE CMD
PTEXT
REDISPLA $12
RELINK OFF
RETRY 10
RING ON
RNRTIME 0
RTEXT
SCREENL 0
SENDPAC $0D
SLOTTIME 10
START $11
STOP $13
STREAMSW $7C
STREAMCA OFF
STREAMEV ON
SUPLIST OFF NONE
SWP 17,17,108
TRACE OFF
TRFLOW OFF
TRIES 10
TXDELAY 18
TXFLOW OFF
UNPROTO SYMBD VIA WIDE3-3
UIDIGI ON RELAY,WIDE,TRACE,SS
UIDWAIT OFF
UIFLOOD WIDE,30,NOID
UITRACE TRACE,30
USERS 1
XFLOW ON
XKCHKSUM OFF
XKPOLLED OFF
XMITOK ON
XOFF $13
XON $11