Variable length records and network files

     
     
     G'Day all,
     
     Every 2 weeks we are sent a file from another government agency. The 
     file is text only and the record length ranges from 8 bytes (most 
     records) to 251 bytes (very few, but very important records). An 
     average number of records is around 6 million. The file is sent from a 
     S370 via SNA (FTP is not an option at present) and arrives here as a 
     network file. Currently we receive the file into a single field 251 
     byte text file and then do our processing. Over the next couple of 
     fortnights, the file is likely to grow to around 65 million records.
     
     I've defined a new file as follows:
     
      R PAYDET                          
        PAYDET       251A         VARLEN
     
     and tried to receive the network file into this in order to save DASD 
     space. The receive falls over with a data mapping error (CPF5035) and 
     an error code of 14 which reads:
     
       14 -- The length of a variable length field is not valid or the data 
     in a substring variable is not valid.
     
     Also using a CPYF to the filed defined above fails with the same 
     message. We are on V3R2. Any ideas?
     
     Tony Minehan