Packet radio communication system

A packet radio communications system having a protocol which provides for nonstandard communications. The protocol providing a standard format indicator to indicate whether a received packet is in a standard or nonstandard format. If the standard format indicator signals a standard packet format, then all transceivers understand the standard information contained in the packet. Transceivers which do not understand the nonstandard format will ignore the nonstandard packet and discard it. The nonstandard format contains a format type code which is decoded along with the standard format indicator to distinguish one manufacturer's nonstandard packet format from another manufacturer's nonstandard packet format. The nonstandard protocol is expanded to manage multiple block packetized transmissions. A Message Continuance (MC) field is incorporated into the header information of the packet to signal the beginning, middle, and end of a multi-block transmission.