EMC164 Attachment Botches 2/2
To:   Emergency Communications Units - Information Bulletin
To:   Emergency Management Agencies via Internet and Radio
By:   Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) of the
      California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

EMC164 Attachment Botches to Email 2/2   Release  12/28/98

Please refer to EMC 162 and EMC163 for it leads into this topic.

There are many combinations of attachment methods, encoding and
compression systems, as well as a wide variety of Email software.

Attachments make it easier to get binary data (files with other
than pure text (ASCII characters 0-127) from you to someone else
over the Internet. (To accomplish the same on radio typically
requires conversion to pure text at this point, although
experiments are being conducted on alternatives.)

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is a process adopted
to create a standard means of encapsulating attached files into
the data stream. Unfortunately each Email client (software)
handles it differently so it doesn't always work.

When both the sender and receiver have the same encoder/decoder
AND their respective software is set to allow no changes from
that process, the attachments WILL work correctly. In contrast,
some Email software auto-converts MIME attachments into a format
then makes it unreadable. This means you must understand the
Email software, or use one that provides the necessary options.

Some of the newer formats, such as JPEG and PDF, can successfully
provide complete files between users if the recipient has the
necessary conversion software, which is usually free in some
form. The benefit to using JPEG and PDF files is that they are
usually compatible for each platform, assuming the appropriate
software.

Getting familiar with cross-platform problems, Email attachments
and such is a specific area the communications volunteer can be
so valuable to the agency they serve. In the hurry and pressure
of the day-to-day events agency staff seldom has the time to ever
get to know these aspects. The EMCOMM (Emergency Communications)
unit participant (usually a volunteer) that knows this and is
good at it becomes a very valuable asset to the agency. Agencies
may not admit to this, but it IS a fact of life. The astute unit
leader will make certain the unit has one or more persons with
this capability - and the personality to adroitly utilize it for
the benefit of the agency and the EMCOMM unit. 
                                  ---
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   - For training assistance contact the ACS Training Officer
     at the web site or send an email to Dave_Larton@oes.ca.gov
   - Submissions for future ACS bulletins: please send to: 
     State ACS Officer Cary Mangum: Cary_Mangum@oes.ca.gov
     or Deputy ACS Officer Ken Bourne: Ken_Bourne@oes.ca.gov

Bulletins are on the ACS Web page: http://acs.oes.ca.gov  -and a
Landline BBS: 916-262-0856 (graphical & standard interface); and
a FTP Archive: ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/packet/tcpip/incoming for 
some bulletins. For earlier ones: ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/races
EOM