ISS Amateur Radio Status: November 18, 2002 Packet Mail "Message 33 bug" By Miles Mann WF1F, MAREX-NA (Manned Amateur Radio Experiment, North American Division) Packet Mail "Message 33 Bug": There is a minor yet reoccurring problem with the Amateur Radio Personal Message System (PMS) on board ISS. Intermittently the PMS will fail to display the list of messages stored in the memory of the PMS and the PMS will not save any new messages. The OLD messages have not been lost, they are still in RAM memory. This problem seems to be happening once or twice a week. We have been seeing this problem frequently over the past few months. The problem is called the "Message 33 bug" and it seems to clear up bye its self. The longest we have seen this bug on consecutive orbits is 8 hours, however, most times it clears up within a few minutes. When the problem does clear, all of the old mail still appears to be saved in memory with out any lose of old mail. All new mail received while in the Message 33 Bug mode is lost. If you attempt to send a packet message into the PMS, while it is stuck in the "Message 33 Bug" mode, your new message will NOT be saved. Here is what seems to be happening. You log in, not knowing the PMS is stuck in Msg 33 mode, and then you send a message to the ISS PMS. The TNC will respond and tell you the message has been saved "Message saved as Msg # 1926" Then if you try to do a listing (L or M) you will not see the message number which was saved. Several stations in a row will all get the same exact number "Message saved as Msg # 1926". How to tell if the TNC is in Message 33 bug mode: We do not want to use up too much bandwidth, by having everyone using the LIST command before sending a packet mail message. That would be just too wasteful. Instead, I will suggest that you use the M (read Mine) command. After you have successfully uploaded a NEW message into the PMS and closed the NEW message with the /EX command. Then use the M command to list all of the message TO/FROM your call sign. The M command will only list message with you call sign in the To or From fields. The M command will save time and if your new message number is listed, then your message has been SAVED. Help list definition: M(ine) M [CR] lists the 10 latest messages to/from your callsign. Example CMD(B/H/J/K/KM/L/M/R/S/SB/SP/ST/SR/V/?)> M Msg # Stat Date Time To From @ BBS Subject 1743 P 02/09/01 00:18 RS0ISS WF1F FREQUENCIES 1741 P 02/09/01 00:04 WF1F RS0ISS HELLO Here is what the Message 33 Bug looks like: When the normal List command is issued, the TNC will display only 1 message, and that message will always have the number 33. If you know the TNC is having this problem, then please do not try to upload any new mail. Just log off and try again on a different day. Msg # Stat Date Time To From @ BBS Subject 33 P 30/20/79 61:4D 7, 200 1m99i> m99MR í9?>@í9>> 15368 Bytes free Only message number 33 was listed. This message appears to be an old corrupted messages. You should also note, that over 70% of the memory has been used up. The Date is also the 30th month of the year 1979. What Causes the Message 33 Bug: We do not know for sure. There are a few theories which are being looked into. Here are some suggests that may help reduce the frequency of the problem. 1. Do not log into the unused keyboard port. The RS0ISS port is not used. Just use the Mail box call sign RS0ISS-1 port. 2. Always end your email messages with the /EX command. Never use the Control-Z command. Old mail manually cleared: Last week I noticed the 64k mail box on ISS was getting full. Since we have been seeing the Message 33 bug frequently, I informed commander Valery Korzun of the problems and asked him to clear out some of the old junk mail. Memory November 10, 2002 = 29737 Bytes free On November 18, the mail box had been cleared of all except 11 new messages and the free memory had increased 60990 Bytes free Next message Number 601 Mailbox selected: 0 If you are not sure of the correct procedures for using the ISS PMS, please review the information on the MAREX web page. The information has been posted in three languages. http://www.marex-na.org/fileshtml/unprotopage.html www.marex-na.org Copyright 2002 Miles Mann, All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely distributed via the following means - Email (including listservers), Usenet, and World-Wide-Web. It may not be reproduced for profit including, but not limited to, CD ROMs, books, and/or other commercial outlets without prior written consent from the author. Until we meet again DOSVIDANIYA Miles WF1F