Configuring an SSL-Authenticated APRS-IS Port

YAAC can communicate with the APRS-IS network on the Internet. To create an APRS-IS connection that is authenticated by SSL certificate (currently an experimental feature only supported by a few APRS-IS Tier 2 servers) rather than by the insecure passcode scheme, first import your ARRL Logbook of the World private key and public certificate, then click the Add button on the Ports tab of the Configure dialog, then change the Port Type to SSL-APRS-IS. The dialog will then appear like this:

The options to be set for an SSL-authenticated APRS-IS connection are:

• The Internet domain name of the APRS-IS gateway to be connected to. An alias for all world-wide Tier 2 gateway known to support SSL is pre-provided for selection, but any other APRS-IS gateway's domain name may be typed in as well (assuming that gateway supports SSL).
• How long YAAC should attempt to connect to the APRS-IS network before giving up. If the Retry Indefinitely checkbox is not checked, failure to reach the APRS-IS network at startup will cause an error to be reported immediately; if a failure occurs after the connection is up, YAAC will try for up to 50 minutes to reestablish the link and will report each failure. If the checkbox is checked, YAAC will retry forever to reach the APRS-IS network (both initially and upon later failure), and will not display error dialogs when the connection cannot be made. In both cases, the "Internet Lost" and "Internet Restored" evens will still be reported if a plugin (such as the Sounds plugin) is available to handle the conditions.
• The TCP port number at the gateway to connect to. The most common port numbers are provided, and 24580 should be selected unless a non-standard port is needed for some reason on a custom gateway.
• Whether the actual APRS packet traffic over the connection should be permitted to be encrypted. For compliance with amateur radio regulations prohibiting encryption of traffic, by default YAAC forces the SSL/TLS connection to use only the NULL (non-encrypting) "cipher" so that connections traversing HamWAN or other high-speed amateur radio TCP/IP networks will remain in compliance with the law. If you are sending your traffic solely over commercial TCP/IP networks and the SSL-capable APRS-IS server you are trying to use will not permit the NULL cipher (probably due to security updates in the SSL libraries that weren't accounted for in the APRS-IS server code), you can check this option to allow encrypting ciphers to be used. If you specify no encryption but your local Java runtime no longer supports the NULL cipher, this checkbox must be checked (and will be checked automatically if you edit the configuration for the SSL port); an error will be reported if you have an old configuration with the box not checked.
• The filter expression for receiving traffic from APRS-IS. If a filter expression is not specified and this APRS-IS port is either not enabled for transmission or YAAC does not have a local RF port (such as a Serial_TNC or AGWPE ports) declared and a filter expression is not specified and the standard filtered port (24580) is specified, a default radius filter of 80 kilometers around the fixed latitude and longitude defined for the beacon will be used, or 100 kilometers around your GPS fix if using GPS data for your station location. If the beacon latitude and longitude are not specified and GPS is not being used, a default radius filter of 50 kilometers around 39°15'N, 76°36'W (the location of the 2011 ARRL/TAPR DCC) will be used. If you do not want any filtering, you must specify a blank filter (one or more spaces but nothing else) for your filter expression; leaving the field empty (not even spaces) implies that you want the default filter.

  The hyperlink below the filter expression text field will launch your default web browser pointing at the official documentation for APRS-IS server filter expressions. The hyperlink below that will bring up the status page for the APRS-IS server you are currently using.

• Whether or not this port can transmit messages into APRS-IS; if a valid private key and public certificate is not available for the specified callsign, the APRS-IS network will reject the connection attempt even for receive-only.
• Which of potentially several beacon definitions will be transmitted through this port. If none is checked when the port configuration is saved, the default beacon will be used (and will show up as checked when this configuration panel is next opened). To specify that a beacon should not be sent out this port, a beacon should be selected that is not enabled on the Beacon tab of the expert-mode configuration dialog.

The "Test Port" button provides a means of verifying that you have connected to the correct place; it opens a terminal window connected to the configured APRS-IS server so that you can manually test the server for the desired operation. To complete testing, close the terminal window.

If both an APRS-IS port and an RF port are opened, YAAC expects to be used as an I-gate (Internet gateway) station. This tutorial explains more about I-gating.