ALogger. APRS Logging ALogger is a read only APRS client designed to log selected packets to disk files. The primary design goal was to facilitate the logging of satellite telemetry packets or packets digipeated from specific satellites. A secondary goal was ease of use for APRS newbies, and non-ham users. ALogger can also log APRS, GPS and TNC data captured via a serial port. Special support has been added for PCSAT2. TNC configuration file setup support is provided as well. ALogger can accept ASCII (TNC2 display format) or KISS packets from an attached serial port. KISS commands can be sent to the TNC when in KISS mode. ALogger now supports external IP connections. Connected clients will receive all serial port data and logged packets. In addition, logged on clients can access and control attached TNC or D7/D700. See the end of this document for details. ALogger requires Win9x or later, an Internet connection, and optional serial port. NOTICE : ALogger will minimize to the system tray, not to the task bar. Some earlier versions minimized to the task bar. NOTICE : When more the one session of ALogger is started, a dialog will ask if you want to run an additional ALogger session or quit the new session. If multiple sessions are desired, it is recommended that you install additional copies of ALogger in seperate directories. This will allow you to maintain seperate settings and logging files. NOTE: Range filter should be used when connecting to satgate.aprsca.net:10150 or satgate.aprsca.net:20150 for example r/41/-88/500 (use Lat,Lon of your desired location rather than the example provided). NOTE: PCSAT2 logging using the above servers should also use the following filters (Must be on single line). filter p/PCSAT2/PC2PSK/PC2TLM/PC2XXA/ISSTLM/PC2ISS/PC2RPT/PC2XXB d/PCSAT2/PC2PSK/PC2TLM/PC2XXA/ISSTLM/PC2ISS/PC2RPT/PC2XXB r/41/-88/500 Quick Start. UnZip ALogger.zip into a dedicated directory (C:\ALogger etc). 1. Start ALogger.Exe via the run menu or Windows Explorer. 2. ALogger ships with a file (Lserverlist.txt) that contains a list of APRS Internet servers and port assignments. This file is automatically loaded at run time. 3. Press the "Connect" button at the bottom of the Server Tab window to connect to the "Selected Server" via the Internet. You can enter a new "Selected server" (URL or IP address), "Port", and "Name" whenever ALogger is not attempting to connect to a server. Press the "Save" button to save the entered text into the "Server List" (Lserverlist.txt). 4. You can select another server via the "Server list" only when ALogger is not connected. You can delete the server displayed in the "Server List" box by pressing the delete key. 5. You can allow remote users to connect using a TELNET like client. On the Server Tab, enter a port number between 23 and 65000. Serial port packets can be relayed to the APRS-IS by checking Relay APRS-IS. Checking "AutoStart" or clicking on the "Start" button will force ALogger to listen for client connects. 6. You can activate serial port monitoring by pressing "File, Serial" in the main menu, or by pressing the "Setup port" button on the Serial Tab. The serial port can be opened, and closed on the serial tab, text you type or a file can be sent to the serial port. See the special sat file help by pressing the "Sat Help" button. 7. TNC configuration files can be sent to a TNC connected to a serial port. A configuration file editor can be accessed by pressing "TNC" on the main menu or by pressing "Setup TNC" on the serial port tab. 8. The Distance Tab allows the logging of APRS data within N miles of 3 user supplied locations. The locations can be entered as DDMM.MM (GPS\NMEA format), DD.DDDD (decimal), or DD MM' SS" (Degrees, minutes, seconds). 9. The Finger WxSvr tab allows the capture of user specified NWS Watch, Warning, and Advisories finger headers used to obtain the full text of the NWS message from WxSvr.net. Options. 1. Server Tab. A. Check "Automatically connect to server" on the Server Tab. This will cause ALogger to automatically attempt to connect to a server when the server connection is lost, or data is not seen for "Delay" seconds. B. "Delay" is a value between 10 and 60 seconds. The delay timer is reset when connecting to or disconnecting from a server and each time a packet is received. C. "Rotate Server connections". This option will cause ALogger to select another server in the server list whenever a server connection is lost, or data is not seen for "Delay" seconds. D. "Display data" controls the display of all received data. E. "Display logged data" will limit the data display to only those packets that have been logeed. F. "Connect" initiates an Internet connection to the currently Selected Server. G. "Disconnect" terminates an existing connection to a server. H. "Stations Heard" lists all of the stations (and displays the associated ICON) that have been displayed. If "Display logged data" is checked, this list will only contain the stations that have been logged. This list should be cleared occasionaly. I. "Clear" clears the heard list. The heard list is also used to pass packets from logged stations that may use multiple icons etc. J. Client TCP/IP connections can be accepted by entering a port number between 23 and 65000 into the "Client Port" edit box. K. Check "AutoStart" to enable the Virtual Access Server to allow client connections. Once a client connects, he will receive all packets received over the serial port and all logged packets. A logged on client will have the ability to send packets to a connected TNC or D7/D700. 2. Serial Tab. A. "Send text to serial port". Text typed in this edit box will be dsent to the serial port when you hit the enter key or hit the send button. The TNC will be forced to the Mode setting of Command or Converse. B. "Send". This button will send entered text to the serial port and will append a carriage return and line feed to the transmitted text. The TNC will be forced to the Mode setting of Command or Converse. C. "Setup Port". This button will display the serial port setup dialog. Also accessed via "Setup" in the main menu. D. "Open Port". This button opens a serial port according to the settings in the serial port setup dialog. E. "Close Port". This button closes the currently open serial port, if any is open. F. "Send File". This button will activate a file dialog that will allow you to send a text file to the serial port. Each line will be sent with a carriage return and line feed appended. The TNC will be forced to the Mode setting of Command or Converse. G. Special support for PCSAT2 has been included in this ALogger version. Press the "Sat Help" button for details on Logging packets captured via a serial port. H. The TNC configuration file editor can be accessed by pressing the "TNC Setup" button. 3. Log Text Tab. A. "Log all packets containing". This check box will cause ALogger to log any packet that contains text into the "Log Text" combo box to disk. The file name will be similar to the entered text, with the exception of certain characters that will be removed. B. "Log Text". Any packet that contains text entered into this combo box will be saved to disk if "Log all packets containing" is checked. After entering new text and hitting the enter key or exiting the combo box, a dialog will appear and ask you to confirm that you want to add the text to the log text list. The characters * < > : $ ' ` } { / \ . , ! @ ? % leading and trailing spaces are honored, but these char are removed from the file name created by the "Log Text" feature. Some characters are not legal in Windows file names and may cause a file name created with these characters to fail. If all characters are removed by ALogger the file will be named LYYYYMMDD.txt. PCSAT* will log all packets that contain PCSAT* to a file named LYYYYMMDDPCSAT.txt. If PCSAT is also placed in the "Log Text" list then it will also log packets with PCSAT* to LYYYYMMDDPCSAT.txt. This will cause duplicate file entries if both PCSAT* and PCSAT are in the "Log Text" list. "Log Text" entries are saved to a file named Lloglist.txt. You can specify the logging directory by pressing the ... button to the right of the Log Directory Edit box. C. "Logon Call", "Unverified Logon" and "Logon Text" can be used to send a filter string to servers who support the filter construct. If "Unverified Logon" is checked, when ALogger connects to a server, it will use the call sign to log on to the server using a password of -1, and it will append the text in "Logon Text" to the end of the logon string. If "UnVerified Logon" is not checked, and "Logon Call" is empty, or "Validation #" is "-1" then data will not be sent to the server. If "Unverified Logon" is not checked, "Logon Call" contains a Callsign and "Validation #" contains a valid Validation # for that callsign, ALogger can send data to APRS Internet servers, including valid APRS data captured from the serial port. "Validation #" is common to all APRS programs and is based on the entered callsign (ignoring any SSID). All APRS programs require a validation number. If you have UiView, WinAprs, etc, and are a licensed amateur the validation number from these programs is valid for ALogger, provided you use the same callsign, with a different SSID. If you are a licensed amateur and do not have a validation # you can obtain one by submitting your name, address, and callsign to one of the following email addresses: william.diaz@comcast.net bruninga@usna.edu D. "Log Directory" allows the user to specify the logging directory. Press the button to the right of the "Log Directory" text box to display the find directory dialog. 4. Log Weather Tab. A. "Log all weather warnings and watches". This check box will cause ALogger to log all packets that contain NWS- to disk. B. "Log all SkyWarn messgages". This check box will cause Alogger to log all packets that contain SKYW to disk. 5. Log Primary Icons Tab. (Primary Icons use the / char) A. "Primary Icons" is a combo box that contains all APRS icons and a short description of the icon. You can enter a letter into this box and the corresponding icon will be displayed along with its description. B. "Add". This button will cause an Icon character selected in "Primary Icons" to be added the the "Selected Primary Icons" text box. If the letter is already present, ALogger will not add the selected icon character. C. "Delete". The delete button will delete an Icon character selected in "Primary Icons" from the "Selected Primary Icons" Text box. D. "Log packets using these Icons". This checkbox will cause ALogger to log packets containing these icons to disk. E. "Selected Primary Icons". This edit box contains the characters corresponding the previously selected Icons. You can add and remove characters by hand, but you are encouraged to use the "Add" and "Delete" buttons for this purpose. 6. Log Alternate Icons Tab. (Alternate icons use the \ char) A. "Alternate Icons" is a combo box that contains all APRS icons and a short description of the icon. You can enter a letter into this box and the corresponding icon will be displayed along with its description. B. "Add". This button will cause an Icon character selected in "Alternate Icons" to be added the the "Selected Alternate Icons" text box. If the letter is already present, ALogger will not add the selected icon character. C. "Delete". The delete button will delete an Icon character selected in "Alternate Icons" from the "Selected Alternate" Icons" Text box. D. "Log packets using these Icons". This checkbox will cause ALogger to log packets containing these icons to disk. E. "Selected Alternate Icons". This edit box contains the characters corresponding the previously selected Icons. You can add and remove characters by hand, but you are encouraged to use the "Add" and "Delete" buttons for this purpose. 7. Distance Tab. Log data from stations in specific Geographic locations or areas specified by Latitude and Longitude. A. Enter a distance in miles. B. Enter Latitude. Leading zeros REQUIRED. DD.DDDD (Decimal degrees). DDMM.MM (GPS\NMEA format, Degrees,Minutes,decimal minutes). DD MM' SS" (Degrees, minutes seconds). Spaces required. C. Enter N or locations North of equator, S for locations South of the equator. D. Enter Longitude. Leading zeros REQUIRED. DDD.DDDD (Decimal degrees). DDDMM.MM (GPS\NMEA format, Degrees,Minutes,decimal minutes). DDD MM' SS" (Degrees, minutes seconds). Spaces required. E. Enter E if East of 0 degrees (Greenwich), or W if West of 0 degrees (Grennwich). F. Check "Log all stations within" to start logging. G. Data from stations within the area of interest will be logged to files LYYYYMMDDdist1.txt, LYYYYMMDDdist2.txt, or LYYYYMMDDdist3.txt, depending on which filter is enabled. 8. Finger WxSvr Tab. Capture Specific WxSvr finger message headers. WxSvr sends NWS Watches, Warnings, Advisories and related info in APRS format. Information in these packets can be used to finger, or obtain the full NWS text that was used to generate the APRS messages. A. Select or enter a valid 3 character NWS identifier in the NWS offices combo box. You can also enter valid NWS ID's not present in the combo box. B. Select or enter a valid 3 character NWS message type or an asterisk in the NWS message types combo box. The asterisk indicates all NWS message types. C. Press the "Add" button to add the header information to the NWS FingerList combo box. Whenever a WxSvr message that matches this list is received, the finger identifier will be added to the Active WxSvr Msg combo box. D. The finger button to the right of the Active WWA combo box can be used to obtain the full text of the original NWS message that was used to generate the APRS packet. E. The Warning Audio Alarm, Watch Audio Alarm, and Advisory Audio Alarm check boxes can be used to sound an alarm when any NWS Finger Watch, Warning or Advisor message is received. If Warning.Wav, watch.wav and advisory.wav are found in the ALogger application directory they will be played thru the sound system. If the files are not found, default sounds will play. Menu Selections: File, "Log all incoming data" will cause ALogger to log all packets to a disk file named LYYYYMMDDAll.txt. This file can become quite large, but will only include packets received on YYYYMMDD. File, "View logged data" will display a window that will permit you to view, filter, and print logged data. See "View logged data" help for more information. File, "Log Errors" will log all APRS packets that contain errors to disk. File, "Set Font" will permit you to select a different font for the data display window, and the view file window. File, "Get Time" will call GetTime.Exe if it is installed in the ALogger directory. GetTime can be configured to obtain UTC time from NTP servers and update your system clock to UTC time. When the "GetTime" menu selection is enabled, GetTime.Exe will be called once every 15 minutes. File, "Disconnect" will cause your current server connection to be terminated. File, "Exit" will close ALogger. "Serial" will display the Serial port setup dialog. "TNC" will display the configuration file editor. "About" will display the ALogger About box. "Help" will display this help text. Additional info. "View logged data" window (View file): The "Text file" list will display files in your ALogger directory that have .txt or .log filename extensions. You can view a file by selecting it from the list. See the help screen in the "View logged data" Window for details. The serial port setup and status dialog will display all currently installed serial ports in 2 seperate list boxes. The left hand box contains serial ports that are currently in use or not available. The right hand box contains serial ports available for use. The Refresh button will query the registry to refresh the "In use" and available list boxes". When an open serial port is closed, the port will move from the "In use" list to the "Available" list. The "Current" edit box shows the currently selected comport. An available comport can be selected by double clicking on an "Available" comport in the list box. You can also enter COM1 etc manually. You can select how to terminate lines sent to or received from the serial port. The choices are to terminate with a carriage return only, a carriage return and line feed or KISS formatted packets. The KISS feature allows the decoding of data frames only. Virtual Server / Client Connection info. ALogger can be configured to accept TCP or Telnet like connections from clients. For example, you can use HyperTerminal to connect to ALogger and see all packets from the serial port as well as any logged packets. Your ALogger session will display your computer's IP address in the bottom right corner of the display when you are connected to an APRS-IS server or have client connections. Other applications on the ALogger computer can connect using either the IP address, or "localhost" without the quotes. Generally, the IP address shown will be a "private" or "non-routable" IP address. Other computers on an attached LAN can connect using the displayed IP address as long as they are on the same subnet or have a similar IP address. Very often, your IP address may be assigned dynamically by an Internet Router. This may cause problems since the ALogger computer may receive a different IP address each time it connects to the router. It is better to assign an IP address manually, to ensure other users can access the ALogger session on the LAN. This "Static" IP address must be on the same IP block as the router's local IP address. Very often Routers assign the first dynamic IP address of: 192.168.1.100 . The router or gateway is usually assigned as: 192.168.1.1 . In this case you could use the Windows Network connections dialog to change your local area connection settings manually to use a static IP address of 192.168.1.99, with a gateway of 192.168.1.1 , a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and DNS 192.168.1.1 Hardware Firewalls can present problems for users from outside your LAN who wish to connect to your ALogger session since they are designed to block access unless specifically configured to allow access to a particular IP address and port number. The usual way to allow outside users to access is to use "Port Forwarding". Your ALogger session should be running on a computer with a static IP address. Set "Port Forwarding" to the ALogger computers static IP address and the port number you selected on the ALogger Server tab. ALogger uses TCP protocol only, which you may have to select on the "Port Forwarding" screen of your router/firewall. Users very often must contact a "System Administrator" to make changes to Firewall settings. Very often the administrator will NOT agree to open a port for your use, or allow connection requests to a particular port/IP address to be honored. Windows Firewall, if active, will prompt you to allow access or "unblock" the first time ALogger is run. Serial Port/TNC access and control: ALogger can allow connected users to access and control an attached TNC or D7/D700 using a simple telnet application such as HyperTerminal. Only users who have successfully logged on are provided write access to the Serial port. The default password is "LOGON:" (without the quotes) followed by a callsign. Any user who sends LOGON:MYCALL will have write access to the serial port. You can change the password only by editing the ALogger.INI file found in your ALogger application directory. The password is case sensitive, and should consist of at least 6 letters and / or numbers. Open ALogger.INI with Notepad and look for the following near the end of the [USER] section: WORD=LOGON: Just change everything after WORD= to a password of your choice. You MUST terminate the password with ":" without the quotes or ALogger will add it for you. For example, to change the password to MyuSerS: Change the line to look like this: WORD=MyuSerS: and save to result to disk. If the password is less than 6 characters then ALogger will set it back to the default of LOGON: If the password is not terminated with a colon, ALogger will add the colon! Virtual Serial Port: There are several products which allow a user to connect to a remote serial port as if it were a local serial device. These products provide a virtual serial port on the local machine. Applications can select the VSP as a local com port (ComN etc). The VSP is configured to communicate with a URL or IP address and port number. http://www.hw-group.com/products/hw_vsp/index_en.html has a free VSP which works quite well with ALogger. Very easy to setup and use. Whenever I find useful freely downloadable products from a business entity I always try to consider purchasing other products from them if the need arises. We need to support the businesses who provide us with freeware products! It is possible for DOS applications to connect to ALogger using the hw-group VSP. I used CrossTalk (ancient DOS application) set to COM4 to connect to an ALogger session on another computer on my LAN. See HWGroupVSP.Txt included with the ALogger distribution set for setup details. TNC control: The Serial tab contains radio buttons which control the TNC mode. The modes are CMD, CONV, and KISS. Sending "^C^C^C" without the quotes or Chr(3) (control C) will force the TNC into command mode when not operating in KISS mode. Similarly, sending "CONV" or "CONVERSE" without the quotes will force the TNC into Converse mode. When in KISS mode, packets are still sent in TNC2 display mode by the client, but they will be converted by ALogger to KISS format. Similarly, any packets received from the TNC will be converted to TNC2 display format for logging and relay to the connected users. ALogger will send advisory packets to connected users whenever the MODE changes. NOTICES: ALogger is a limited use freeware applicaton and is licensed for non-commercial use only. Contact the author at william.diaz@comcast.net or 815-838-1194 for commercial uses or redistribution as a commercial product. This application is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. Use of ALogger freeware may not be suitable in all cases. William Diaz is not responsible for losses or damages caused caused by use or redistribution of this freeware products. APRS is a trademark of Bob Bruninga WB4APR ALogger Copyright (c) 2001-2007, William Diaz KC9XG Contact info: Bill Diaz, 815-838-1194 william.diaz@comcast.net