PyHam PE
Overview
This package provides a client implementation of the AGWPE protocol, enabling and simplifying the creation of applications using that protocol in order to communicate with servers such as Direwolf or ldsped.
A lower level API provides access to the protocol at a level close to that of individual AGWPE frames (not to be confused with AX.25 frames), enabling the ultimate level of control over communication with the server.
A higher level API provides abstractions helpful in building more complex applications, transparently taking care of some of the details, such as connection management and monitoring.
The AGWPE protocol, and thus this package, has the advantage, over other commonly used protocols such as KISS, that it can be easily used to create connected-mode sessions. As such, it can be used to create many types of ham radio software, from simple beaconing to full-fledged packet radio terminal applications akin to Linpac. (See PyHam’s Paracon software for an example of the latter.)
It is expected that developers working with this package will have some level of understanding of the AGWPE protocol, though detailed knowledge is not required due to the abstractions provided. Those interested in the details may wish to refer to the AGWPE protocol reference in conjunction with the documentation for this package.
- Author:
Martin F N Cooper, KD6YAM
- License:
A note on naming
The protocol on which this package is based is commonly referred to as AGWPE, and more properly as the AGWPE TCP/IP API. The ‘AGWPE’ stands for AGW Packet Engine, where the ‘AGW’ comes from the callsign of the original creator of the protocol, George Rossopoulos, SV2AGW. In order to avoid confusion with software written by SV2AGW and using the name AGWPE, this PyHam package uses the name PE when referring to the package, and AGWPE when referring to the protocol.
Installation
Important
This package requires Python 3.7 or later.
The PyHam PE package is distributed on PyPI, and should be installed with pip as follows:
$ pip install pyham_pe
Then the modules you require may be imported with the appropriate subset of the following:
import pe
import pe.app
import pe.connect
import pe.handler
import pe.monitor
The source code is available from the GitHub repository:
$ git clone https://github.com/mfncooper/pyham_pe
Documentation
- User Guide
The User Guide introduces some conceptual material and then explains the lower level API and gradually progresses to the simpler, higher level.
- Compatibility
Some information on the level of support for the protocol that can be expected from the most popular AGWPE servers.
- API Reference
If you are looking for information on a specific function, class, or method, this part of the documentation is for you.
Discussion
If you have questions about how to use this package, the documentation should be your first point of reference. If the User Guide, API Reference, or Compatibility guide don’t answer your questions, or you’d simply like to share your experiences or generally discuss this package, please join the community on the PyHam PE Discussions forum.
Note that the GitHub Issues tracker should be used only for reporting bugs or filing feature requests, and should not be used for questions or general discussion.
References
- AGWPE protocol reference:
About PyHam
PyHam is a collection of Python packages targeted at ham radio enthusiasts who are also software developers. The name was born out of a need to find unique names for these packages when the most obvious names were already taken.
PyHam packages aim to provide the kind of functionality that makes it much simpler to build sophisticated ham radio applications without having to start from scratch. In addition to the packages, PyHam aims to provide useful real-world ham radio applications for all hams.
See the PyHam home page for more information, and a list of currently available libraries and applications.