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PyTNC Pro v0.1.5-beta

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@smashingwaffle smashingwaffle released this 07 Apr 05:17
· 15 commits to main since this release
0.1.5
dac99b1

PyTNC Pro v0.1.5-beta — Release Notes

Released: April 2026
TOCALL: APPR01
Python: 3.10–3.12 (3.12 recommended)
GitHub: https://github.com/smashingwaffle/pytnc-pro

Highlights

v0.1.5 is a deep protocol compliance release. Every area of the IGate implementation was audited against the authoritative APRS-IS specification and WB2OSZ's Understanding APRS Packets (February 2026 edition). The result is a substantially more correct IGate, a fixed third-party packet pipeline, and a cleaner live feed.

🌐 IGate — Full Protocol Compliance Audit

The IGate was audited line-by-line against:

Critical Fix — Third-Party Packet Unwrapping

This was a silent messaging bug. } (third-party) packets arriving on RF were classified as Other and discarded. This meant:

  • Messages relayed from APRS-IS → TX IGate → RF were never processed
  • No ACK was sent back to the sender
  • The message never appeared in the message inbox

Third-party packets are now properly unwrapped: the } wrapper is stripped, the inner packet is re-parsed, and messages are delivered normally.

TX IGate Third-Party Format Fixed

The mandatory RF format is now spec-compliant:

IGATECALL>APRS,GATEPATH:}FROMCALL>TOCALL,TCPIP,IGATECALL*:data

Previously, APRS-IS path elements (qAR, qAC etc.) were leaking into the RF packet. The spec is explicit: q constructs must never appear on RF.

New TX IGate Gating Criteria

Two missing criteria from the spec were added:

  • Criteria 2: Don't gate a message to RF if the sending station was recently heard on RF (they don't need internet delivery)
  • Criteria 4: Don't gate a message to RF if the receiving station is internet-connected (TCPIP* in path)

Other IGate Fixes

Fix Detail
TCPXX added to all path checks Was only checking TCPIP
Generic query ? packets blocked Per spec: must not gate to APRS-IS
?IGATE? query now responded Replies with <IGATE,MSG_CNT=n,LOC_CNT=n capabilities
TX heard window default 30→60 min Spec says 1 hour
TX IGate RF dedup Same packet won't re-transmit to RF within 60s
APRS-IS login version string updated Now sends PyTNC-Pro 0.1.5-beta

📦 Packet Parser Improvements

New Packet Types

Type DTI What changed
Killed object ;NAME_ Now removes station from map via removeStation()
Item report ) Now parsed — live ! and killed _ both handled

Objects and items now try compressed position format first, with uncompressed as fallback.

Comment Cleaning

Problem Fix
DAO !wpg! !wYa! showing in comments Was case-sensitive !W..!, now catches ![Ww].{2}!
!x! matched any char Spec says literal lowercase x — fixed to .replace('!x!', '')
RNG0001 70cm Voice D-Star... showing RNG prefix Strip RNG#### prefix used by D-Star/DMR/C4FM gateways
Base91 |..| telemetry showing as garbage Strip pipe-delimited base91 blocks
Kenwood TM-D710 0xFF/0x00 bytes Strip on decode before any parsing
Trailing CR/LF in RF packets Strip before processing (IGate spec requirement)

🗺️ Map & Display

Voice Frequency Tooltips

Station popups now display voice frequency, tone, and offset when present in the comment:

📻 145.450 MHz PL100 -600kHz

Parser now handles real-world variations:

  • 145.450MHz (3 decimals, spec format)
  • 445.02500MHz +0.0000MHz (5 decimals, DMR gateway format)
  • 1288.450 -12MHz (no MHz suffix on offset)

Killed Objects/Items Removed from Map

When a killed object (_) or item (_) packet is received, the station marker, label, and trail are immediately removed from the map.

window.removeStation() Added

New JavaScript function in the map for programmatic station removal.

🐛 Bug Fixes

Bug Fix
Auto-beacon runaway — fired every second Minimum 1-minute interval enforced
GPS re-centering map on every fix Only centers on first fix
Hospitals always showing LA area Cache now validates location; re-fetches if moved >35 miles
Hospital double-display on enable Early return after cache load prevents fetch also running
Digipeater cache blocking UI Converted from requests (blocking) to NetworkFetchWorker
NetworkFetchWorker undefined in hospital fallback Added _mg() lookup inside _process_hospital_data
APRS-IS not-connected warning in wrong log Now appears in APRS tab preset log
Binary garbage from APAT81 Anytone Truncate at first run of 3+ garbage chars

⚠️ IGate Beta Status

IGate (both RX and TX) is still considered beta. RX IGate has been tested live on KO6IKR-5 in Los Angeles. TX IGate has had significant correctness fixes this release but needs broader field testing.

If you run IGate and find unexpected behaviour, please open a GitHub issue with your IGate log output:
https://github.com/smashingwaffle/pytnc-pro/issues

📦 Build

Remove-Item PyTNC_Pro*.spec -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force build, dist -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

pyinstaller --onedir --windowed --icon=pytnc_pro.ico --name "PyTNC_Pro_v0.1.5-beta" `
  --add-data "aprs_symbols_48;aprs_symbols_48" `
  --add-data "leaflet.js;." `
  --add-data "leaflet.css;." `
  --add-data "aprs_map.html;." `
  --add-data "tnc;tnc" `
  --add-data "pytnc_pro.ico;." `
  main.py

References

73 de KO6IKR
always welcome to give me feedback
KO6IKR@Gmail.com

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