UNPROTO Support

Packet Commander Roadmap
1

Overview

This feature proposes adding support for UNPROTO (UI frame) transmission and decoding in Packet Commander. UNPROTO is a core part of many packet radio workflows and enables users to transmit and receive unconnected UI frames, a lightweight alternative to connected AX.25 sessions.

Packet Commander currently supports connected sessions only.

Use Case: Sunday Night UNPROTO Net & EmComm

In the Sunday net example, participants use a set digipeater path to send short broadcast-style messages (e.g., “Checking in from Folsom - KN6GLG”). These messages are not acknowledged and are picked up by any station monitoring the appropriate frequency and path.

Feature Design Goals

UX would be a hybrid UI between Terminal (for composing and sending) and Monitor (for receiving and viewing).

  1. UI Frame Transmission
  • Allow user to compose a short message in a terminal-like interface.
  • Let user specify a destination callsign (can be real or symbolic, e.g., NCS, QST, APRS) and a via path list (e.g., NSDIGI).
  • Provide a default destination (e.g., CQ) if none is specified.
  1. UI Frame Reception (Monitor Mode Hybrid)
  • Decode incoming UI frames and display them in a session-like view.
  • Group or color-code frames by source callsign.
  • Optionally allow filtering on callsign, destination, or path.
  • Could display like a chat room transcript:
    [20:32] KN6GLG via WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1: Checking in from Folsom

References

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Hi Georges, not sure if you remember but I brought this up with you early on in the discussion around BBLink (wanting a packet app) and then when you released Packet Commander the same question and pointed you towards the 145050 packet network. Currently, I use linpac or a Kantronics KPC-3+ set to UNPROTO to check into the Sunday net. The process is to create a digipeater line “Mark via NODE1 NODE2 NODE3 NODE4”… and then when the net control asks for checkins, we simply reply with a message to the net control (free form). It works very well!
Right now, this is limited to using a linux/windows PC or the physical TNC to do this, but having an ipad / iphone app that connects to BBlink and then allows me to check into the net would be very convienent and allow me to be more mobile for this activity.

Hopefully this makes sense and thank you for your wonderful work in this area!

73 de K6EF

3 Likes
3

… it is not clear from your overview above whether the decoding of UI packets would be added to the already existing monitor. I would hate to see it be a separate tab. I am fearful that the design of packet Commander might become a state machine where every feature is a separate tab or button, the user must select