Messages

16

OGN-R PilotAware / Remote monitoring of OGN-R/ATOM station

« on: June 05, 2022, 11:34:42 pm »

Hi all,

Apologies for my ignorance, but is there a way to remotely monitor my PW station over the internet from any location?

Would it require a VPN connection, port forwarding etc., or is there another way to do it and could I share the connection with a couple of friends?

It's not something I've ever tried so have no knowledge of what would be involved.

Thanks,

Frank.

17

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 15, 2021, 04:37:47 pm »

Thanks Ian   

18

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 15, 2021, 01:47:33 pm »

Just a couple of quick questions:

1. Name to enter on the config screen; is it "PWLongSut" or just "LongSut" ? Can't remember as it's been a year since I did it last time.

2. I need to buy another couple of SD cards, but read somewhere (although can't find it now of course ) which brands are good and which aren't so good? I'll avoid the dodgy Chinese ones but stick with branded Kingston, SanDisk etc.

Thanks,

Frank.

19

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 14, 2021, 12:16:12 pm »

Hi Lee,

Thanks for the info.

Live update done and data re-entered. All working now on the bench OK so just need to get the gear back up on the mast, probably Friday with luck.

Regards,

Frank.

20

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 13, 2021, 11:09:36 pm »

Hello all,

PWLongSut has been down for a week or so and today I finally managed to get the box down off the mast for some troubleshooting. The problem has been caused by a failure of the SD card which had corrupted the software. After several attempts at reformatting the card, reinstalling the software and trying to get it to run I gave up and used a new SD card.

The system is now working again on the bench, but I'm having issues with entering the settings as it seems on running "config" I don't get the "Y/N" options as they just scroll past on the screen without stopping. I managed to put my email address in but can't set the station name, lat/long, height etc. I'll have another try asap but if anyone has any thought on the problem, please let me know.

Regards,

Frank.

21

Technical Support / Re: Twin internal dipole aerials (total 4) with SMA Y pigtails

« on: June 03, 2021, 11:08:39 pm »

Hi Peter and Ian,

Thanks for your clarifications.

Yes, maybe I missed the point a bit, but unfortunately as you say Peter, without proper test gear and time to experiment, it's going to be a rather hit and miss or is it "empirical" affair. Combining the signals even through a proper splitter/combiner will effectively lose 3db although that loss could be negated with aerials with 3db gain. Wherever the aerials are placed, unless they are optimally spaced, the polar pattern is going to be very hit and miss and not provide the solution. Just thinking about it, every such setup would be unique and dependent on the distance between the aerials which depends on the aircraft.

My suggestion was to put the aerial where it will have a clear view in the most required direction, i.e. directly in front. OK, there may be some obscuration from the airframe, but it would be even on both sides. A colinear would improve the gain in the horizontal plane, so the signal from the obscured direction would hopefully also be improved. With the warning range reduced in the software setup, maybe it would give near equal coverage all around.

In this situation and apart from mounting the aerial externally, I don't think there is a simple solution other than a true diversity setup, but that's another story.

Best regards,

Frank.

22

Technical Support / Re: Twin internal dipole aerials (total 4) with SMA Y pigtails

« on: May 31, 2021, 11:31:09 pm »

Hi

I just came across your thread and it seems like you could achieve better results with just simple colinear-type aerials, i.e. those listed as with gain; 3db, 5db etc. These effectively "stack" aerials on top of each other and increase gain in the horizontal plane whilst reducing the gain vertically. This will have the effect of increasing reception range towards the horizon but reducing it above and below the aircraft. Your comments beg the question how far do you need to see, bearing in mind 5,000 ft should be more than enough above and below? Similarly, how distant do you need to see horizontally? It's always a compromise and a trade-off. Also, be aware the P3i is limited to 0.5W ERP (As far as I can remember), so you shouldn't be adding "gainy" aerials to this part of the PAW system.

As for joining aerials together, to do it properly and achieve the desired radiation pattern, you need aerials that are mounted at specific distances apart, known good aerial VSWR's that are fairly closely matched and phasing harnesses or power dividers/combiners made for the frequencies in question. With the aerials side-by-side and vertically polarised, you will achieve gain at 90 degrees to the plane of the aerials, i.e. one either side of the cockpit gives increased range in front and behind PROVIDED they are the requires spacing of (As far as I can remember) multiples of 1/2 wavelengths apart.

As Peter says, just joining 2 or more aerials together may appear to work on receive but it is not optimal because of the incorrect impedance and phasing, whilst transmitting into such a setup can quickly destroy the transmitter output device. Minicircuits make various splitter/combiners and a typical one that would do the job is: https://www.minicircuits.com/WebStore/dashboard.html?model=ZN2PD-183W-S%2B but it's not cheap! I use a similar 4-port one for a stacked and bayed 4 element array at 1296MHz for Amateur TV, but it was bought at a radio rally as surplus for £2.

Maybe consider mounting the aerials as far forward and in the centre of the windscreen as possible with a clear view forward. After all, that's where the biggest threat would be. Targets behind are less of a threat whilst those to the sides, above and below are medium risk.

Frank.

23

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: August 12, 2020, 12:07:48 pm »

Hello Peter,

Thanks for your reply, comments and lesson.

I've now learnt from you how to view the P3i and Flarm coverages individually thanks, so I'm watching the map gradually filling in with interest. I'm surprised how far the coverage is extending; about 60km for Flarm and 80km for P3i so far. It's actually quite exciting (How sad!!). The Flarm map is building well to the NW as there's lots of RAF Tutors and Prefects out of Cranwell and Barkston Heath, but very little to the east so far.

OK re the aerials. The Flarm one is a cellular 5/8 over 1/4 wave on-glass I saved from years ago and the 1090 is a cellular 1/4 wave whip cut down and mounted on an old vacuum-cleaner centrifugal impeller disc which just happened to be 1/2 wave in diameter with a hole in the middle. I like recycling! The coax's are a bit long as they are oddments I had in the shack, but I'll see how the range settles and decide if I need to improve anything. The MLAT feed has been enabled now, so I will have to see what difference that makes although I'm not sure how to check it.

I just have to tidy the wiring, put the PSU on a timer, then go flying!

All the best for now,

Frank.

24

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: August 12, 2020, 12:06:59 am »

Hi all,

PWLongSut is now up and running on the mast about 12m AGL, but I would like someone to review it please so I can get an idea of how it is performing and whether anything needs improving. The ATOM screen seems to indicate a range of around 170 nautical miles, but I don't know if that's direct reception or a feed from the server. Also, do I need for the station to see FLARM equipped aircraft so it can build the range map on the OnGlide Range page?

All comments and guidance appreciated.

Thanks,

Frank.

25

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 22, 2020, 01:53:49 pm »

Hi Peter,

Ok, I'll go ahead and try the SDR dongle I've got. I need to get a couple of short usb extension cables as I want to mount the dongles off the pi so hopefully the connections don't become intermittent.

I've had my amateur radio licence since 1980 but had 20 plus years out of the hobby. I'm getting back into it slowly as I'm retired now. I've been playing with ATV on 23cms and 5GHz recently as I'm not far now from old amateur friends I used to contact years ago. Fortunately I've got a crank-up tilt-over tower in the garden so that where the OGN-R system will be mounted and I can experiment with aerials fairly easily. Yes, there's some interesting designs for colinears around which I shall have to consult.

Best regards,

Frank.

26

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 22, 2020, 11:36:21 am »

Hello Peter and Steve,

Thanks again for your  replies and comments.

Yes, it was nice to see the station pop up on the map to confirm it was running at last. It was pure chance I tried the config command so thanks to Lee for his sterling work to make it simple for us numpties not familiar with Linux, although I'm hoping to learn more about it and the Pi. I had a 7 inch monitor and keyboard connected to the Pi for the installation and setup, so I could see the commands scrolling up the screen as it progressed. I would have liked to have paused it as there was an error that flashed past so fast that I couldn't read it in time before it disappeared. Not sure if it was important as is still seems to work OK.

Re the 2nd dongle, does it need to be the same as the primary one i.e. a Nooelec one or can I use the standard one as used for the Pilotaware as I have a spare one of those? I expect I can, but just wanted to check before plugging it in.

OK about the calibration of the rx dongle by using phone system signals as the reference, that's interesting. I've dug out some old mobile phone aerials I saved from years ago when I used to install them in vehicles. The old TACS/ETACS analogue system worked around the same frequencies as the P3I and Flarm so I'm going to experiment with the aerials to see if I can improve coverage. I'm aware of the limitation for the P3I bridge because of the max ERP of 0.5 Watts (from memory) so won't mess with that but just get the aerial as high as possible. Again for the 1090MHz rx, I will experiment with aerials and may make a 1/4 wave with radials as a reference and play from there.

Best regards,

Frank.

27

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 21, 2020, 11:11:40 pm »

Hello Peter,

I think I've got it working!

I logged in on port 4200 and decided to see what I could do. Although I know diddley squat about Linux, I typed "config" at the prompt and it started running the installation again. I've accepted all the same defaults but with the SDR in port 1 as you kindly pointed out and this time it ran the calibration procedure OK. It gave a message at the end saying the results were inconsistent, but I think that may be down to the aerial not being optimum for 968MHz,  but at least it works.

The status now shows all the relevant info and on checking https://ognrange.glidernet.org the station is on the map and LIVE!!

If I have caused any hassle in the system with duplicate files etc, I'm really sorry but please let me know.

Right, what next? Get the hardware sorted and mounted, network and power cables up the mast and commission it properly.

Many thanks,

Frank.

28

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 21, 2020, 10:31:23 pm »

Hello Peter,

OK, I've done some checking and although I can get into the paw using just the basic IP address of the Pi, I can't get any diagnostic access through ports 8080 or 8081, either by local nor appending the port to the IP address - Any ideas please? Yes, PAW is connected by cable to my router as is my laptop. I can view the basic PAW at the IP address and can see the ATOM map on port 9000 OK with my station location shown but no activity.

Just thinking, as both my laptop and PAW are on the home side of the firewall, I think it won't stop the port 8080/8081 connections or will it? - I don't know enough about networking/firewalls to be sure. Maybe it's my Avast antivirus stopping it - just thinking aloud now!

Thanks for the info re default position of the USB devices. I think that may be part of the problem as I didn't see anywhere about where to put the SDR receiver in the setup instructions. BTW, I'm using the NESDR Smart from NooElec so I've got the recommended rx. I got that from Fleabay. I've got another standard SDR and have tried that in place of the NESDR, but no difference. I may use that later for the 1090 MHz if I get the basic setup working.

Next question, can I re-run the installation again from scratch using the same parameters; LongSut, Lat,Long, Alt etc. or will that screw up something on the server?

I can't remember what I saw exactly during the install, only that I read about the calibration tests for signal strength and that didn't seem to happen. It certainly sounds like I need to re-run the setup if at all possible, now I know a bit more about the basic hardware configuration prior to installation.

Thanks,

Frank.

29

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 21, 2020, 02:47:40 pm »

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your reply.

I suspected something was amiss as I do remember seeing some of the details when it was installing, for instance I don't think the SDR was calibrated. I seem to remember the comment "undefined" or something similar against it, so maybe that's a clue?

I will attempt to look at the status through the ports again although my earlier attempts didn't work for some reason. Would the firewall on my router need to be configured for this, i.e. opening ports for it to send data to the server?

Thanks,

Frank.

30

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: July 21, 2020, 09:16:18 am »

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, the syntax is crucial, so I've learnt that and it's easy to assume everyone knows how important it is.

Re the port numbers for diagnostics, I did wonder if some of the access details had changed. I'll try the revised ports later to see what they do.

The station is named LongSut and it will be located 12 metres above sea level 2Km south-west of Long Sutton in South Lincolnshire. The name is about as descriptive as I could make it whilst keeping to the 7 characters, although I note some station names have 8 or possibly more so maybe I could improve it?

It's up and running at the moment and I left it on for several hours last night, but it's still not visible on the OGN map. It should appear NE of the Fenland site. How do I check whether it's actually up and running correctly please?

Its's a bit of a lash-up at the moment as I'm checking everything works as it should before mounting the Pi in a waterproof box up on the mast and installing the cables and power to it. I'll put it outside on the garden table today so it's got a good view of the sky and can hopefully see some aircraft data to work on.

I'll report back once I've checked it later.

Thanks,

Frank.