Digipeater Setup Remove the Background Image

The UI-View32 digipeater has a wide range of features, and is probably more powerful than any other software based digipeater built into a packet application.

The basis principle of digipeating AX25 frames is to retransmit them if the next address in the digipeater list in the frame header matches your callsign or alias. Digipeaters used on an "unconnected" network often have special features, such as support for multiple aliases, and alias substitution. The UI-View32 digipeater supports many of these special features.

IMPORTANT!! To avoid digipeating frames twice, if you enable the digipeater in UI-View32, please take note of the following:- If you use BPQ, please make sure you disable digipeating in the port definitions in BPQCFG.TXT you do that by removing any DIGIPLAG entries. If you use AGWPE, do not run AGWDigipeater.

A digipeater has to be able to send and receive raw AX25 frames, so the UI-View32 internal digipeater can only be used in KISS, AGWPE and BPQ32 modes, because those are the only modes in which raw AX25 frames are available.

Enable digi - this enables/disables the UI-View32 digipeater.

Alias(es) - the aliases that UI-View32 will digipeat on. NOTE - if you want it to digipeat on the station callsign, then you must put it in the list. It is recommended that you always do this.

Sub alias - substitution alias. This is used if "Alias substitution" is checked and also if TRACEn-n is enabled (see below).

UI Only - if this is checked, then only UI frames will be digipeated, which is the recommended setting.

Alias substitution - if this is checked, then "Sub alias" will be used to replace whatever alias is being digipeated on. Example:-
WIDE is in Alias(es)
Sub alias is set to G4IDE
UI-View32 hears a frame - G8MZX>CQ,RELAY*,WIDE
UI-View32 digipeats the frame, replacing WIDE with G4IDE -
G8MZX>CQ,RELAY*,G4IDE*

WIDEn-n - best explained with an example:-
WIDEn-n is enabled
UI-View32 hears a frame - G8MZX>CQ,WIDE7-7

UI-View32 digipeats the frame as - G8MZX>CQ,WIDE7-6
Another WIDEn-n digipeater hears the frame and digipeats it as -
G8MZX>CQ,WIDE7-5

Etc... When the SSID reaches 0, the digipeating stops. The first 'n' is the initial value of the SSID. The actual SSID counts down as each WIDEn-n digipeater digis the frame. The highest valid initial SSID is 7. WIDEn-n provides a way of passing a frame through up to seven digipeaters with only one digi address.

To prevent a frame bouncing backwards and forwards between two WIDEn-n digis, dupe suppression must be enabled if WIDEn-n is enabled, see "Dupe secs" below.

The alias name that performs the WIDEn-n function can be changed by editing the UIFLOOD entry in the [DIGI_OPTIONS] section of UIVIEW32.INI. This would only ever be needed if you were operating on a network that used a different generic alias to perform the function of WIDEn-n. There is absolutely no point in changing it unless everyone else on the network is also using a different alias name! (Note that if you change the alias name, you don't need to put the "n-n" on the end.)

TRACEn-n - similar to WIDEn-n, but Sub alias is inserted into the digi addresses when the frame is digipeated. Example:-
TRACEn-n is enabled
Sub alias is set to G4IDE
UI-View32 hears a frame - G8MZX>CQ,TRACE7-7
UI-View32 digipeats the frame as - G8MZX>CQ,G4IDE*,TRACE7-6
Another TRACEn-n digipeater with a Sub alias of G4GZL hears the frame and digipeats it as - G8MZX>CQ,G4IDE*,G4GZL*,TRACE7-5
Note that Sub alias will not be inserted if there are already eight or more digipeater addresses in the frame.

TRACEn-n provides an excellent method of seeing the route a frame has taken.

The alias name that performs the TRACEn-n function can be changed by editing the UITRACE entry in the [DIGI_OPTIONS] section of UIVIEW32.INI. This would only ever be needed if you were operating on a network that used a different generic alias to perform the function of TRACEn-n. There is absolutely no point in changing it unless everyone else on the network is also using a different alias name! (Note that if you change the alias name, you don't need to put the "n-n" on the end.)

Dupe secs - if this is set to a value other than zero, then, every time UI-View32 is going to digipeat a frame, it checks to see if it has digipeated the same frame within the previous "Dupe secs" seconds. If it has, then it won't digipeat it again. The idea is, for example, to avoid digipeating a frame heard via one digipeater and then heard via another digipeater.

Deciding if a frame is a duplicate is not an exact science! For instance, message frames that fail to get an ACK will be resent; if "Dupe secs" is set too high, then the resend of the frame by the originating station will be regarded as a duplicate when in fact it isn't. A value of 15 seconds for "Dupe secs" is a reasonable starting point.

Digi routes (not enabled in single port KISS mode) - This shows the routes that will be used for digipeating frames. It provides a facility for cross-band digipeating. The format is -
<port on which frame is heard>=<port(s) on which it will be output>
Example - "1=1,2" means frames heard on port 1 that are digipeated by UI-View32 will be output on ports 1 and 2.

To edit a digi route, either highlight a line and press <return> or double click on a line. When you have input the required information in the text box, press <return> to put it in the list. The number of usable ports is two for a dual port KISS TNC, eight for AGW and 16 for BPQ. Please note - it is your responsibility not to specify output ports that don't exist on your system!

Excluding Callsigns From Your Digi
If you want to stop your digi digipeating certain callsigns, then you can put them in the EXCLUDED key in the [DIGI_OPTIONS] section of UIVIEW32.INI. Put them all on one line, separated by commas. E.g.
EXCLUDED=G4IDE,G8MZX,MB7UAA
Don't put an SSID, the callsigns are excluded irrespective of what SSID is used.

PLEASE NOTE - Use this feature with caution! With my knowledge of packet in the UK, and the various "packet wars" that have occurred in the past, I think it's a feature that could be badly abused. I put it in because users kept asking for it, not because I personally think it is a good idea.