[amsat-bb] Findu Site and NO-44

[Sil <zl2cia@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

Findu, says of it's PCSAT website http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/pcsat.cgi, that:

"This page captures downlink packets from PCsat as received by ground 
stations around the world feeding the worldwide APRS internet system."

The site is a great idea, but it does not display all the packets it 
should. My own experiments show that packets that are retransmitted by 
PCSAT, and fed onto the Net by Sgate stations, do not always end up at the 
Findu PCSat site.

Typically, successful packets look like this:

N6CO>CM98QJ,PCSAT-1*:!3824.15N/12039.12Wy/Hello Frm Dave @ 3000ft in Ca.

NR1N-3>T2UV8P,PCSAT-1*,APRSAT,W1TYL,I:'c[Wl!7k/]"4N}nr1n@arrl.net

S57NML>CQ,PCSAT-1*,DF5FF-10,I:=4608.88N/01514.50Ey

VA2VA>TVTX2U,PCSAT-1*,PCSAT-1,RS0ISS:'c);l [/>QUEBEC CITY

Indeed, my own packets, returned from NO-44 look very similar. My 
transmitted packets use W3ADO-1 as the NO-44's call, and this is changed by 
the satellite to PCSAT-1. A useful confirmation of reception.

Tx packet:
16:21:31T ZL2CIA>APU16N,W3ADO-1,SGATE Port=1 <UI C Len=60>:
=4116.65S\17445.50E-Wishing strength to those Frozen South.

Packet back from NO-44
16:21:34R ZL2CIA>APU16N,PCSAT-1*,SGATE Port=1 <UI C Len=60>:
=4116.65S\17445.50E-Wishing strength to those Frozen South.

I know my packets reach Findu, because I can see them if I look under my 
own call. For example

ZL2CIA>APU16N,PCSAT-1,ZL3GR*,ZL1AMW-14,I:=4116.65S\17445.50E-Wishing 
strength to those Frozen South.

Some AMSAT-BB members have suggested that this display failure might occur 
because some ground stations shift the asterisk in the message path record 
from PCSAT-1 to their own call (as above). However, the "Stations Heard..." 
page does list packets where this has occurred, so this can not be the cause.

For example:

ON4CCX>CQ,F5KCS-2,G3OJZ-6,MB7UK*,TRACE7-3,WIDE7-3,MB7UIK,I:=5113.36N\00256.51ES-ROBERT-

SM5APX>APRSAT,SK0CC,SK5MK,SK5UM*,TRACE5-3:=5908.31N\01807.71EUBest 73 to 
all from Kent in Stockholm

Others have suggested that the backslash may be the problem, as the 
protocol specifies a forward slash. However, both the examples above use a 
backslash.

Strangest of all, perhaps, are those packets listed under "Stations Heard 
by PCSAT" that don't seem to have been retransmitted by the satellite at all.

Such as these:

I4KYO>APU16N,IR3FAL,IR4PC-11,I2RYE-11,HB9CH-11*,TRACE7-3,HB9CH-12,I:=4446.09N/01053.94E-I4KYO 
Giorgio Carpi JN54KS

KC4ZGQ>APS211,RELAY,WIDE:@192048z3252.09N/08346.54W-EM82cu

KC8RWD-14>APD215,N9MXQ-15*,WIDE3-3:=4206.47N/08901.39Wu179/037/Mic-E/M1/Enroute... 
]"6W}

WA4IKQ>APRX46,AE4KO-10,WIDE:=2836.50N/08118.83W-000/000/Geoffrey in Winter 
Park, FL

On writer suggested that the site has had some problems. However, this is 
not the first time I've notice this discrepancy - it is the first time I 
taken the time to investigate it.

I'm confused, and it may be that I've misunderstood how the site works, or 
what it does. Perhaps my interpretation of the packets above is incorrect. 
Or perhaps the site is not working as it claims or as intended. If you can 
help me understand this, I would be very grateful.

Sil - ZL2CIA

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