Send-only Ports and Formats


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:

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 HTTP content consists of at least 1 line: the user login line (see Connecting to APRS-IS) (optional/ignored if Authorization header is used) followed by one or more APRS "packet" in TNC2 format.
The UDP packet consists solely of the user login line followed by the APRS "packet" in TNC2 format.
All packets will use either the qAO or qAo construct as these are send-only ports. Example:

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 if it is the last packet. There is no confirmation of receipt on the UDP packet. javAPRSSrvr responds properly with an HTTP status responses on the HTTP port. HTTP content may be encoded using GZip compression (indicated in the Content-Encoding: gzip header).

HTTP Response Codes
CodeDescription
101Websocket protocol changeover
204Valid login and packet(s) sent
If Authorization header used, may include Authentication-Info header with login=verified
New(2024): x-packetsrcvd header indicates number of packets successfully passed into server
400No packets parsed/received in content.
401Login failed or passcode receive-only (invalid)
Includes WWW-Authenticate header (see above).
405GET method without Websocket request or not POST or PUT methods
409User already logged into server.
411Content-length missing or < 8
413Content-length > 8192
415Content-type not application/octet-stream
417Content-length not equal to length of data received

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).