With the introduction of javAPRSSrvr 3.15b01 (August 2009), two new port types
were added for APRS-IS connected trackers, weather stations, and other send-only
APRS clients to connect to. These ports, HTTP and UDP, provide a mechanism
for the client to send a single packet of information to the server for relay to
the rest of APRS-IS (or equivalent network). The format of this data is
shown below. The server sysops have settled on port 8080 for both HTTP and
UDP support per the IANA alternate HTTP port reservation. Before assuming
the server you use supports these ports, visit their status page (usually
http://server-address:14501) and
examine their port table. I have opened port 8080 for HTTP, WS, and UDP at
srvr.aprs-is.net for testing and uploads to APRS-IS. I have recently opened port 8888 at ametx.com for
secure (HTTPS and WSS) connections.
The HTTP port accepts a single POST request from the client. The post
request must be properly formatted and have a minimum these properties:
- Accept-Type: text/plain
- Content-Type: application/octet-stream
- Content-Length: length of data
With the release of javAPRSSrvr 4.3.2b76, the HTTP port now properly implements RFC 7235, HTTP 1.1 Authentication Framework.
To do this, a new authorization type (as permitted in RFC 7235) was created called APRS-IS and the
HTTP port now supports the addition of the following header in lieu of including the login line in the content.
Authorization: APRS-IS Base64-encoded-login-line
With this new feature added to javAPRSSrvr, it also now supports Base64 encoding of the login line in any connection stream.
The data consists solely of 2 lines: the user login line (see Connecting to APRS-IS) followed by the APRS "packet" in TNC2 format.
The UDP packet consists solely of the user login line followed by the APRS "packet" in TNC2 format.
If the packet is not from the logged in station, it will show as received from a receive-only IGate. For instance:
user TEST-1 pass -1 vers TestSoftware 1.0
TEST-1>APRS,TCPIP*:>This is a test packet
In the above case, the packet will not be accepted on APRS-IS because the login is not
verified (invalid passcode).
The APRS packet may be terminated
with a carriage return, a line feed, or both, or no terminator. There is
no confirmation of receipt on the UDP packet. javAPRSSrvr does respond
properly with an HTTP status response on the HTTP port.
A UDP port may be configured for local direct insertion of packets restricted by firewalls/local IP addresses.
A packet inserted via a local UDP port will use the U indicator in the q construct (qAU).