almost ready
From 
Maurice Kinal@1:153/7001.53423 to 
Bjørn Toulouse on Mon Jan 29 02:19:40 2024
 
 
Hey Bjørn!
PKT_DATETIME=$(date +"%Y %-m %-d %-H %-M %-S" | awk 'BEGIN { OFS = "," } {print $1, $2-1, $3, $4, $5, $6}')
The above takes care of the 0-11 month output required as per the localtime() function as well as ensures they are integers rather than strings.  The resulting datetime stamp vector just needs to be converted to 16-bit little endian binary as per ftn specs for that portion of the pkt_header.
Piece of cake although complete elimination of the pkt datetime would be best.
Life is good,
Maurice
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