diff --git a/collects/net/scribblings/uri-codec.scrbl b/collects/net/scribblings/uri-codec.scrbl
index 6429b238f4..04a41496e2 100644
--- a/collects/net/scribblings/uri-codec.scrbl
+++ b/collects/net/scribblings/uri-codec.scrbl
@@ -86,6 +86,12 @@ Encodes a string according to the rules in @cite["RFC3986"] for the userinfo fie
 @defproc[(uri-userinfo-decode [str string?]) string?]{
 Decodes a string according to the rules in @cite["RFC3986"] for the userinfo field.
 }
+@defproc[(uri-unreserved-encode [str string?]) string?]{
+Encodes a string according to the rules in @cite["RFC3986"](section 2.3) for the unreserved characters.
+}
+@defproc[(uri-unreserved-decode [str string?]) string?]{
+Decodes a string according to the rules in @cite["RFC3986"](section 2.3) for the unreserved characters.
+}
 
 
 @defproc[(form-urlencoded-encode [str string?]) string?]{
diff --git a/collects/net/uri-codec.rkt b/collects/net/uri-codec.rkt
index 7c0c53ae64..e3571338ce 100644
--- a/collects/net/uri-codec.rkt
+++ b/collects/net/uri-codec.rkt
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@ See more in PR8831.
          uri-path-segment-decode
          uri-userinfo-encode
          uri-userinfo-decode
+         uri-unreserved-encode
+         uri-unreserved-decode
          form-urlencoded-encode
          form-urlencoded-decode
          alist->form-urlencoded
@@ -141,9 +143,6 @@ See more in PR8831.
   (define (hex n) (string-ref "0123456789ABCDEF" n))
   (string #\% (hex (quotient number 16)) (hex (modulo number 16))))
 
-(define (hex-string->number hex-string)
-  (string->number (substring hex-string 1 3) 16))
-
 (define ascii-size 128)
 
 ;; (listof (cons char char)) -> (values (vectorof string) (vectorof string))
@@ -159,6 +158,7 @@ See more in PR8831.
                              (char->integer enc)
                              (char->integer orig))])
               alist)
+
     (values encoding-table decoding-table)))
 
 (define-values (uri-encoding-vector uri-decoding-vector)
@@ -172,6 +172,9 @@ See more in PR8831.
                 uri-userinfo-decoding-vector)
   (make-codec-tables uri-userinfo-mapping))
 
+(define-values (uri-unreserved-encoding-vector
+                uri-unreserved-decoding-vector)
+  (make-codec-tables unreserved-mapping))
 
 (define-values (form-urlencoded-encoding-vector
                 form-urlencoded-decoding-vector)
@@ -198,6 +201,9 @@ See more in PR8831.
                    (cons (vector-ref table (char->integer char))
                          (internal-decode rest))]
                   [(cons char rest)
+                   ;; JBC : this appears to handle strings containing
+                   ;; non-ascii characters; shouldn't this just be an 
+                   ;; error?
                    (append
                     (bytes->list (string->bytes/utf-8 (string char)))
                     (internal-decode rest))]))
@@ -235,6 +241,13 @@ See more in PR8831.
 (define (uri-userinfo-decode str)
   (decode uri-userinfo-decoding-vector str))
 
+;; string -> string
+(define (uri-unreserved-encode str)
+  (encode uri-unreserved-encoding-vector str))
+
+;; string -> string
+(define (uri-unreserved-decode str)
+  (decode uri-unreserved-decoding-vector str))
 
 ;; string -> string
 (define (form-urlencoded-encode str)
diff --git a/collects/tests/net/uri-codec.rkt b/collects/tests/net/uri-codec.rkt
index 2517f6f43f..d6836e90d8 100644
--- a/collects/tests/net/uri-codec.rkt
+++ b/collects/tests/net/uri-codec.rkt
@@ -69,7 +69,17 @@
         (uri-userinfo-decode "hello")         => "hello"
         (uri-userinfo-decode "hello%20there") => "hello there"
         (uri-userinfo-decode "hello:there")   => "hello:there"
-
+        
+        ;; tried to choose characters from each subset:
+        (uri-encode "M~(@; ")              =>  "M~(%40%3B%20"
+        (uri-path-segment-encode "M~(@; ") =>  "M~(@%3B%20"
+        (uri-userinfo-encode "M~(@; ")     =>  "M~(%40;%20"
+        (uri-unreserved-encode "M~(@; ")   =>  "M~%28%40%3B%20"         
+        ;; matching decodes:
+        (uri-decode "M~(%40%3B%20")              =>  "M~(@; "
+        (uri-path-segment-decode "M~(@%3B%20")   =>  "M~(@; "
+        (uri-userinfo-decode "M~(%40;%20")       =>  "M~(@; "
+        (uri-unreserved-decode "M~%28%40%3B%20") =>  "M~(@; "
         ))
 
 ;; tests adapted from Noel Welsh's original test suite