Ground Station

[JCurtis]

Which log Interface messages have you got enabled to see PAW packets?

I spotted a number of RX packets on TXRX section of the home page, so went to ListTracks and downloaded the track for the day (all 57Mb of it).

Then I cheated a little and just hoovered the lines with '#' in them to make things easier, on the assumption that the passing aircraft was still using the default groupID of PAWGRP.  If they are using a different group it's not easily possible currently to pick out PAW aircraft.

cat /Users/JCurtis/Downloads/2016-07-03_07-03.trk | grep "#" > /Users/JCurtis/Downloads/2016-07-03_07-03_strip.trk

In these log files are the $PFLAA messages, these provide relative data for displaying on a device.  I have masked the callsign I picked up...

$PFLAA,0,-5251,11794,854,1,406E85!#     #,82,,40,,8*7F

There is another thread on here about decode the track log messages.

[EricC]

Hi.   124 Rx packets today.

[Ian Melville]

Thanks Jeremy, I now understand why you are having to take extra steps to extract the data. if you enable trx logging, you can clearly see the PAW traffic in the diagnostic log file complete with Lon, Lat of the other aircraft.

[GarethHorne]

Found my first 15 Rx packets today with the PilotAware running as a ground station, no sign of any PAWGRP groupID in the 33mb file though unfortunately. Anyone noticed a ground station 7NM NW of Netherthorpe?

[JCurtis]

Thanks Jeremy, I now understand why you are having to take extra steps to extract the data. if you enable trx logging, you can clearly see the PAW traffic in the diagnostic log file complete with Lon, Lat of the other aircraft.

I could do that, but I leave it unattended 99% of the time and I just check it from time to time.  I have seen one of the aircraft seen earlier do a reverse journey a little while ago and took a screen shot or two from SkyDemon, to compare a computed track against a real one.

If you turn that logging on does it get written to a file too?

I need to create some extra networks on the LAN here for a project I'm working on, so I will make the effort and put PAW on it's own VLAN so I can leave the ethernet connected and still use SkyDemon with it on the normal network too.

[Ian Melville]

If you turn that logging on does it get written to a file too?

I thought it did, but having taken the SD card out of mine, I cannot see any log files. I think Lee is the best one to advise on that.

[EricC]

Log files.   I have tried to open them, computer states I
require a trk app.    No luck with microsoft download centre.

Can anyone help?     Thanks

[JCurtis]

Log files.   I have tried to open them, computer states I
require a trk app.    No luck with microsoft download centre.

Can anyone help?     Thanks

They are plain text files, so you can just rename them to a .txt extension and open them in a text editor or .csv for Excel. Note they can be large!

[Vince]

Anyone noticed a ground station 7NM NW of Netherthorpe?

Funny that as I had a ground station running 7NM NW of Netheravon today.

[Paul_Sengupta]

And nether the twain shall meet.

Anyone live 7NM NW of Nether Wallop?

[JCurtis]

Another visitor passed by today, call sign was a little odd but after a quick search it seems this it was the Flight ID of a twin that passed by Cambridge on it's way out and back on a trip to the SE.  Held onto that one until it was 16.4km away.

[brinzlee]

What is your secret ? Are you using the same antenna that was supplied with the ARF or have you some elevated high gain setup.....I'm only picking up contacts for about 2-3km using my ground based kit

[JCurtis]

What is your secret ? Are you using the same antenna that was supplied with the ARF or have you some elevated high gain setup.....I'm only picking up contacts for about 2-3km using my ground based kit

Using the antenna that came with the PilotAware for P3i but on a 5m extension cable, it's sitting on the roof of my office along with a higher gain ADS-B antenna (no pre-amp).  The ADS-B will pickup up to around 230Km.  The height of those I have seen has been around 2000'-3000' but I haven't taken the slope angle into the distance calculations.  The office roof is metal clad that could well be helping, but they are sat on the edge for easy recovery.

Overall site elevation is around 50 feet, essentially the same as Cambridge AirPort.

I have only seen three 'targets' I could identify from the logs and no idea if they saw me, no-one has been in touch with my base station name to claim the discount code on a charger as yet.

It's a pretty crude install, and not weather proof as yet (i.e. I bring it in when it rains), still working out how best to get the various antenna mounted and weather sealed.  I have a few in addition to the PAW ones to mount at some point.  I'd post a pic but it people may laugh!

All run from a Charge4 that I use to charge things in the office rather than have a bunch of PSU's knocking around.

[brinzlee]

Thanks for that.....the P3i antenna I presume is the same kind of build as the old ARF one in so much as that its a staged dipole constructed in a single ABS sleeve....Lee mentioned that he did tests with a sportcruiser using a monopole and utilising the ground of the airframe.....I wonder if that is a better way to go beefing up the groundplane

[JCurtis]

Thanks for that.....the P3i antenna I presume is the same kind of build as the old ARF one in so much as that its a staged dipole constructed in a single ABS sleeve....Lee mentioned that he did tests with a sportcruiser using a monopole and utilising the ground of the airframe.....I wonder if that is a better way to go beefing up the groundplane

Yes I suspect internally that is what is it, I haven't popped it open to take a look.  I could try an ARF one, I have a few knocking around, but without knowing who or what may be passing I have no way to judge what is what.

The antenna are not connected to the ground plane, just sat on top of the roof on a bit of 4x2, but having a ~11m/sq of metal underneath will be doing something...

I really must get something better sorted out