diff --git a/core/ftn_util.js b/core/ftn_util.js
index e4637554..9d53c9a3 100644
--- a/core/ftn_util.js
+++ b/core/ftn_util.js
@@ -375,26 +375,28 @@ function getCharacterSetIdentifierByEncoding(encodingName) {
     return value ? `${value[0]} ${value[1]}` : encodingName.toUpperCase();
 }
 
+//  http://ftsc.org/docs/fts-5003.001
+//  http://www.unicode.org/L2/L1999/99325-N.htm
 function getEncodingFromCharacterSetIdentifier(chrs) {
     const ident = chrs.split(' ')[0].toUpperCase();
 
     //  :TODO: fill in the rest!!!
     return {
         //  level 1
-        'ASCII'     : 'iso-646-1',
-        'DUTCH'     : 'iso-646',
-        'FINNISH'   : 'iso-646-10',
-        'FRENCH'    : 'iso-646',
-        'CANADIAN'  : 'iso-646',
-        'GERMAN'    : 'iso-646',
-        'ITALIAN'   : 'iso-646',
-        'NORWEIG'   : 'iso-646',
-        'PORTU'     : 'iso-646',
+        'ASCII'     : 'ascii',      // ISO-646-1
+        'DUTCH'     : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
+        'FINNISH'   : 'ascii',      // ISO-646-10
+        'FRENCH'    : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
+        'CANADIAN'  : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
+        'GERMAN'    : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
+        'ITALIAN'   : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
+        'NORWEIG'   : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
+        'PORTU'     : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
         'SPANISH'   : 'iso-656',
-        'SWEDISH'   : 'iso-646-10',
-        'SWISS'     : 'iso-646',
-        'UK'        : 'iso-646',
-        'ISO-10'    : 'iso-646-10',
+        'SWEDISH'   : 'ascii',      // ISO-646-10
+        'SWISS'     : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
+        'UK'        : 'ascii',      // ISO-646
+        'ISO-10'    : 'ascii',      // ISO-646-10
 
         //  level 2
         'CP437'     : 'cp437',
diff --git a/core/qwk_mail_packet.js b/core/qwk_mail_packet.js
index be524422..c1e58bc0 100644
--- a/core/qwk_mail_packet.js
+++ b/core/qwk_mail_packet.js
@@ -963,6 +963,15 @@ class QWKPacketWriter extends EventEmitter {
         return `<${message.messageId}.${message.messageUuid}@${this.options.systemDomain}>`;
     }
 
+    _encodeWithFallback(s, encoding) {
+        try {
+            return iconv.encode(s, encoding);
+        } catch (e) {
+            this.emit('warning', Errors.General(`Failed to encode buffer using ${encoding}; Falling back to 'ascii'`));
+            return iconv.encode(s, 'ascii');
+        }
+    }
+
     appendMessage(message) {
         //
         //  Each message has to:
@@ -1014,7 +1023,7 @@ class QWKPacketWriter extends EventEmitter {
 
         const encoding = this._getEncoding(message);
 
-        const encodedMessage = iconv.encode(fullMessageBody, encoding);
+        const encodedMessage = this._encodeWithFallback(fullMessageBody, encoding);
 
         //
         //  QWK spec wants line feeds as 0xe3 for some reason, so we'll have
@@ -1504,11 +1513,11 @@ class QWKPacketWriter extends EventEmitter {
             messageData.Editor          = `ENiGMA 1/2 BBS FSE v${enigmaVersion}`;
         }
 
-        this.headersDatStream.write(iconv.encode(`[${this.currentMessageOffset.toString(16)}]\r\n`, encoding));
+        this.headersDatStream.write(this._encodeWithFallback(`[${this.currentMessageOffset.toString(16)}]\r\n`, encoding));
 
         for (let [name, value] of Object.entries(messageData)) {
             if (value) {
-                this.headersDatStream.write(iconv.encode(`${name}: ${value}\r\n`, encoding));
+                this.headersDatStream.write(this._encodeWithFallback(`${name}: ${value}\r\n`, encoding));
             }
         }