After discarding the idea of encoding eight humorous messages, and without
studying the rest of the protocol to see if these are already implemented,
here are my suggestions for the three extra bits with a transmit frame:
Bit 0: Must this message be acknowledged? Some people get worked up about
what constitutes a QSO or a valid contest exchange. This bit would allow
them to define the rules on their terms.
Bit 0, value 0: This message has a requirement to be acknowledged, unless
it is the final 73 in an exchange.
Bit 0, value 1: This message has no requirement to be acknowledged.
Bit 1: Was the last message received as expected? This would eliminate
messages such as "MY REPORT PLS", by telling the receiving station
automatically if what was expected in the last expected frame was received
or not. I haven't proven to myself the utility of this bit but thought it
deserved consideration.
Bit 1, value 0: Your last message was received as expected / I acknowledge
your last message
Bit 1, value 1: Your last expected message was not received / I cannot
acknowledge your last message
Bit 2: Is this message part of the defined sequence or an additional or
alternate message? This would allow required contest exchange messages to
be inserted into the order without tripping anyone up. Call signs would not
be required since it would typically be inserted in the middle of an
established QSO, and bit 0 would define if it must be acknowledged or may
be skipped.
Bit 2, value 0: This message is part of the defined sequence for this
protocol.
Bit 2, value 1: This message is outside the defined sequence for this
protocol.
In all cases, value 0 in these bits does what we would expect, so software
that doesn't implement these three bits will continue to work normally for
a time. In the case of contests, additional messages with free-form data
that must be acknowledged can be defined and even substituted for the R-01
message if the contest does not require a signal report exchange. And,
assuming rules allow or CW-ID is implemented, an additional message such as
"FT817 5W DPOL" could be added and tagged as not needing to be
acknowledged.
Just ideas; feel free to poke holes.
James K5DRU
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
_______________________________________________
wsjt-devel mailing list
wsjt-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wsjt-devel
