PilotAware
British Forum => OGN-R PilotAware => Topic started by: Keithvinning on July 26, 2017, 01:22:17 pm
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New stations are now being added on a regular basis. Thanks to Chris Tyrell a new site has been installed at PWRADFORD Abingdon Oxford. Chris tells me the antennas have not yet been raised aloft but a fantastic effort as I only met him at Wellesbourne yesterday to let him have the antennas and bridge. Great work Chris.
Also Ben Smith reports that he will have his station set up at Aldershot very soon. Thanks Ben great work.
Both of these stations will complement those set up recently at Guildford, Thame and Popham. Lets watch the progress of this new sector and see how it grows. Anyone else in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Bucks or Surrey who wants to help please contact ogn@pilotaware.com
Thanks again for helping to make the skies safer.
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Enstone Flying Club have agreed to host an OGN-PAW site. Once Thame is fully up and running I will be getting the last few bits needed for that.
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Ian
Excellent news. I didn't want to announce this until you had confirmation.
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Would OGN-PAW stations outside the UK be useful at all? And would it be legal?
What limitations exist for base stations with 869MHz transmitters in various countries? Do they need a license?
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Would OGN-PAW stations outside the UK be useful at all? And would it be legal?
What limitations exist for base stations with 869MHz transmitters in various countries? Do they need a license?
Hi Rob
Perfectly legal within Europe under the rules of ETSI
For license, do you mean Pilotaware or government?
We are not asking for licensing on the ground station bridges
Thx
Lee
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Hi Lee,
I meant if there were any licenses or restrictions to operate a base station on the 'license free' 869MHz band. I have just found official statements that in The Netherlands there's no problem as long as you stay below a certain ERP power (looks like 500mW), and below a certain duty cycle as to not hog the band.
I'm interested in setting up a station in The Netherlands, so I just sent an email to ogn@pilotaware.com as well.
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Hi Rob
Bingo !
Thats it 😁
Thx
Lee
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A new OGN-R/PAW basestation is now just about up and running at Redhill, albeit with a temporary PAW aerial pending delivery of the correct cable. A couple of aircraft have already been spotted, and we'll be monitoring closely for correct operation over the next few days. Hopefully the final PAW aerial will be installed next weekend.
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Well done Mike looks like a great installation at a great location.
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I'm pleased to announce that PWEverton is now appears to be on air! :)
Based near Sandy in Bedfordshire.
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Great job Brian
Thx
Lee
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Just wonder whether I have the PAW antenna to close to the receive antenna. they are about 250mm apart.
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What is the approximate range you can receive one of the groundstations?
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Hi Iain
Good question
On the receive side one can expect to get upto 60km. I.e. Detect gliders transmitting a FLARM or OGN Tracker signal at 868 MHz. This has to be line of sight so in most cases the further away a target is then the higher it has to be. For a good example of a site that will detect gliders at 100km look at the one at the Myndd on the OGN tracker site.
PilotAware will see between 30 and 40 Km on a standard end feed dipole antenna which should be used. Up to 50 km is regularly achieved at some site.
PilotAware doesn't like to over sell so that's why we say install an OGN-R and have an effect on 30Km around your site.
Do you want to put one in?
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Hi gents,
This is to report that my OGN-R node PWHlaken is up and running in the center of The Netherlands. Due to weather constraints the antenna is still a temporary setup, but all seems to work as expected. Hope to see some traffic activity soon!
Rob
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Hi Rob
Thanks for your support in extending the network. I look forward to seeing traffic
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Hi all,
PW Kingstone, SW of Hereford now fully operational with antennae mounted on top of my house on a 3 metre mast. Thanks for your help Keith in supplying the system and initial set-up.
I repeated the set-up yesterday after erecting the aerials. Not sure if that was necessary. It gives the same message as seen by another new station in an other thread, that results are inconsistent. Is this likely to be a problem?
Not much traffic around this weekend but did get acknowledgement from OGN for seeing an RAF Tutor aircraft NE of Shobdon (presumably PowerFlarm equipped), so range not bad on that direction.
Chris
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Hi Chris,
Well done. Milfield (nr. Berwick on Tweed) also went live on Thursday.
The 'inconsistent results' message refers to the gsm scan, though this 'could' I understand reflect other issues. I ignored it and mine (OGN-R PWBalerno) works fine.
Regards
Peter
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Hi Chris
What sdr dongle are you using, and what was the reported crystal error in ppm
Thx
Lee
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Hi Lee,
The SDR is the NooElec NESDL Dongle as supplied by Keith Vinning. In fact Keith supplied the complete system last week with software pre- loaded.
Yesterday's gsm scan concluded with a receiver crystal correction of +1.040 (0.335) 71 ppm
"Warning: measurements appear inconsistent:please retry with better initial estimate or with lower gain to reduce distortions. Note when the receiver warms up the Xtal may drift 5-10ppm". In fact the system was powered up for approx 4 hrs before redoing the set-up which was mainly done to change the password, as recommended. I'm not sure what "initial estimate" refers to, is it the Station Lat/long which we obtained from the Shellenberg site?
The Summary of the set-up was as follows;
Station SDR PPM is 1
Station SDR Gain is 50
Station SDR Freq Centre is 957.400
Thx,
Chris
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Hi Chris,
The 'Initial Estimate' referred to is the ./gsm_scan --ppm 50 --gain 20 that you put in to get things started. The starting point of 50 parts per million for frequency drift is designed to cope with 'cheaper', less technical SDR dongles (like the standard PilotAware ones), where the frequency can drift considerably with temperature. With the Temperature Controlled Crystal Oscillators used in the NooElec TCXO dongles (other makes are available) which we are using for the OGN-R relay stations, we expect to see virtually no frequency drift, so the start point of 50ppm for the gsm scan (which is designed to measure the drift of each individual dongle) is far too high. Best results are obtained by starting the gsm scan at ./gsm_scan --ppm 0 --gain 20.
The 'inconsistency' report relates to significant variations in the figures achieved during the scan, for the range of gsm frequencies compared, which 'should' apparently all report within +/- 1ppm or so of each other. This could result in an inaccurate figure being applied to compensate for 'non-existent' frequency drift.
An 'expected' result for a TCXO dongle should apparently be in the region of RF crystal correction +/- O.1 with an RF gain of somewhere around 30dB, though there are several factors which combine to influence the actual result.
There is an excellent explanation of this on the OGN forum at
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/openglidernetwork
though you need to sign up to the group via the OGN wiki page to read this, see....
http://wiki.glidernet.org/subscribing
Regards
Peter
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Thanks Peter, very informative.
The results of my gsm scan were generally within +/- 1ppm with the only exceptions being +82 ppm at 957.0 Mhz, +7ppm at 957.8, and +150 at 958.8 Mhz. I'm guessing these latter readings are unlikely to be significant in the overall picture.
The OGN forum posting by Nick Bonniere seems to outline an approach for estimating initial ppm and gain for the scan test but it would also seem that the ognpaw software does this automatically in a series of steps to set the SDR crystal correction and Tuner gain. So I'm assuming there is not a lot one can do to improve on these figures?
Thx,
Chris
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Hi again Chris,
I wouldn't worry too much about a couple of slightly 'out of range' results. The purpose of the exercise is simply to calculate the frequency 'error' of the particular dongle, by measuring the reported frequency of 'known frequency' gsm signals, so that the software can then tune the receiver to the correct receive frequency. With the TCXO dongles we are using for OGN-R, frequency error and drift are generally extremely low at around +/- 0.1ppm. The actual figure derived from your setup is reported on (ognpaw.local):8080 as RTL-SDR device / Frequency correction...... If this is reporting a significantly greater figure than the above it might be worth rechecking the scan, but otherwise things should be just fine.
You are correct by the way, Lee has already 'automated' the OGNPAW setup, including the gsm scan to save non technical users having to worry about all this, so this shouldn't normally be an issue. It certainly took me a while to get my head round it all with the early 'manual' setups.
In extreme cases, the figure can if necessary be adjusted manually within the 'config' file, by those who have the required knowledge / expertise.
Best regards
Peter
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Hi All,
Just had word from Rob Tatlow, that PWUKKir is now 'live' at Kirton (UKKir) - just south of Scunthorpe.
No sign of PAW traffic yet, so feel free to fly by and help populate the heat map if you are flying in the area (once the winds die down a bit).
Regards
Peter
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There's now an OGN-R station at Orwell - about 15km west of Cambridge. It's sitting alongside the Orwell OGN station. Antennas mounted high and outside on a chimney.
Good results for OGN traffic, but still working on getting PAW traffic.
Paul
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PWDeanlan (Deanland) has been online for about a week, once I finally got a pair of brackets to mount the two aerials to a 2 and quarter inch mast. Ive seen gliders detected on the OGN site that were some considerable distance away, the site has good line of sight and the tug and gliders from Parham were occasionally detected by it this afternoon, when I was looking. Being in close proximity to ringmer I hope that we may see OGN-UP from any local Flarm equipt gliders/Aircraft.
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New Station now online.
Just converted our OGN station to an OGN-R station over the weekend at the Longmynd (Midland Gliding Club - PWMynd) between Shrewsbury and Ludlow in Shropshire.
The station is 1500ft above sea level so should get some good results, I just need to get the setup back into the proper position as I had to locate it in a temporary position whilst we had our new building built, once it is in the final position it should get 100 - 150 km range and will reach well into Wales.
Cheers
Paul.
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New Station now online.
Just converted our OGN station to an OGN-R station over the weekend at the Longmynd (Midland Gliding Club - PWMynd) between Shrewsbury and Ludlow in Shropshire.
The station is 1500ft above sea level so should get some good results, I just need to get the setup back into the proper position as I had to locate it in a temporary position whilst we had our new building built, once it is in the final position it should get 100 - 150 km range and will reach well into Wales.
As a power pilot PAW user based at Welshpool, that's brilliant news!
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Turweston, EGBT is now up.
In testing phase with antennas slightly below roof level, once all OK these will be permanently installed on top at 45m above ground.
Currently getting about 40KM range which should improve once the antennas have clear 360deg sight of the horizon.
ATB
Deker.
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As a power pilot PAW user based at Welshpool, that's brilliant news!
What do we need to do to get one at Welshpool?
There is one also at Foel
Keith
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I'm pleased to say that PWOrwell2 is now up and running well, and receiving contacts.
Paul
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Well done Paul
Thanks for all you are doing in the East of the country.
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And we can now add PWGRL to the list of stations (thanks to Bob Pursey for the help).
GRL (home of Cambridge Gliding Centre - about 20km west of Cambridge) has two OGN stations - one (UKGRL) omnidirectional with a 9 dBi antenna mounted above the clubhouse roof, but with a hanger in the way to the NorthEast. The second (UKGRL2) a higher and more directional antenna pointing NorthEast to fill in the gap (and assist with coverage in that direction). Both have active filters on them. The coverage from UKGRL2 is worth looking at to see what can be done (http://flarmrange.onglide.com/?#UKGRL2,max,all,52.232983_-0.136719,8,#00990000:#009900ff, (http://flarmrange.onglide.com/?#UKGRL2,max,all,52.232983_-0.136719,8,#00990000:#009900ff,)).
To UKGRL is now added PWUKGRL, with an PAW antenna on the clubhouse roof. I expect similarly limited coverage to the NorthEast which will need filling in, but coverage should be good in other directions.
Paul
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Great to see another station up and running, good coverage in this area now with PWEverton, PWOrwell and PWGRL :)
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Well done Paul.
Last night I gave a presentation at Reading from which an antenna was taken to be installed at Chilton Park. Possibly another near Newbury.
I dispatched a co linear antenna to Sweden on Tuesday so another country also added to the list.
Thanks to all for what you are doing great work and a great service to the communities.
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Paul
That is phenomenal coverage from UkGRL2
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Paul,
Extremely impressive coverage - especially UKGRL2.
You say UKGRL2 is directional, which I can see from ognrange by setting it to ‘last 30 days’, though if I look at ‘historical’ range data, it seems to show pretty impressive good coverage all round. What antenna are you using? (can you provide a link) Was this a recent antenna change? Are you running pre-amps? Always interested in comparing notes for the common good!
The PWUKGRL coverage will no doubt build as the weather improves.
Regards
Peter
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I can't claim the credit for this one...
But it's eight stacked yagis plus pre-amp plus filter.
Paul
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And here's a pic of UKGRL2's antenna to give a feel for it
https://www.dropbox.com/s/adwbq0kbhp96zxv/GRL2%20antenna.JPG?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/adwbq0kbhp96zxv/GRL2%20antenna.JPG?dl=0)
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My eyebrows went up at eight stacked Yagi so was keen to see the piccie. I am fairly sure that there are no Yagis in that picture. Stacked Dipoles most likely.
Yagis are very directional and commonly used for TV reception. Immagine eight TV arials one above the other :o
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No, they're yagis.
That was a picture from our club news letter, and it's lined up with the yagis. I put it on here to show how tall they were. Next time I'm there I'll get one from the side.
Paul
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I know you wanted to target a blind spot, just was not expecting such extream measures. Side on photo would be good.
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Here you go. Eight stacked yagis. Short yagis admittedly, but yagis none the less.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0vxo3bd4ta19ktf/2018-01-13_104924.JPG?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/0vxo3bd4ta19ktf/2018-01-13_104924.JPG?dl=0)
Paul
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I had wondered about enhancing coverage since setting up PWKingstone when a gliding colleague pointed out the existence of Flarm Preamps with SAW filters such as the Uputronics HPA/FPA868 unit. However this is fine for Flarm reception but the PAW side of the base station is not only a receiver, but transmitter as well, utilising a single antenna. Aside from Eirp considerations (not to exceed 500mW), there seems little scope to enhance PAW coverage in a similar fashion. Better in my view to have similar coverage for Flarm and PAW so the OGN-R function is most efficient. Is this also how others view this?
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Hi Chris,
I am using an Uputronics Filter/Preamp at the moment on 'Balerno' because of my fairly unique situation - right across the wrong side of the Edinburgh Zone from the gliders, with my antennas in my loft. (Her indoors would have thrown a fit if I had fitted them outside without testing to see if the system would work and I haven't had the time to move them outside yet). Other than that I would totally agree that the principle for rebroadcast is to maximise the local PAW efficiency by optimal antenna positioning and make sure you are seeing as many of the local gliders as possible.
You are correct that we can't 'improve' the basic PAW antenna setup except to overcome any coax / connector losses as we would exceed the maximum allowed ERP.
Paul R,
Impressed by the yagis. Being 'short' the stack will still have a fairly broad radiation pattern in the horizontal plane (reflected in the coverage) while concentrating the signal in the vertical plane to improve the 'reach'. (I used to use 4 x stacked 17 element horizontal yagis at 144 MHz on a 60 foot tall scaffold pole mast for Ham Radio Contests in times past).
Regards
Peter
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I like that antenna setup!
73 de G1YJY!
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PWEGTU is now installed at Dunkeswell, c/o the LAA Devon Strut. Thanks to Brian Lyford and Chris Parsons for the installation and to Brendan Proctor of Devon & Somerset Flight Training for the use of the clubhouse.
Mike Mold
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PWEGTU is now installed at Dunkeswell, c/o the LAA Devon Strut. Thanks to Brian Lyford and Chris Parsons for the installation and to Brendan Proctor of Devon & Somerset Flight Training for the use of the clubhouse.
Mike Mold
Hi Mike
That is a pretty impressive antenna setup :)
Thx
Lee
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Hi Mike,
Looking on Spot the gliders and the APRS servers, I don't see PWEGTU appearing.
Have you confirmed this has appeared and connected to the servers :o
I do see UKNHL appear very close to Dunkeswell
thx
Lee
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No, not yet, Lee. Can you point me to the test methodology, please? The station went in today and as the weather was lousy, there was no local glider activity. Mike
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No, not yet, Lee. Can you point me to the test methodology, please? The station went in today and as the weather was lousy, there was no local glider activity. Mike
Hi Mike,
When the station is up and running it logs into the APRS servers, these are listed here
http://wiki.glidernet.org/aprs-server
As you can see there are 4 servers, and if you have named your station EGTU, then 2 entries will appear
EGTU (The Flarm Server)
PWEGTU (The PilotAware Server)
unfortunately it is trial and error to go through each of the server pages and search for the text in the page
Additional debug can be found as follows assuming your hostname is still called ognpaw (the default)
You should be able to point a web browser on the same network that is connected to the receiver
http://ognpaw.local:8080 - This contains FLARM RF Diagnostics
http://ognpaw.local:8081 - This contains FLARM Decoder diags, and will list the APRS Diags (This is useful)
http://ognpaw.local:8082 - This contains FLARM/PAW captured A/C diagnostics
So the first thing to look for is http://ognpaw.local:8081, and see if the APRS section indicates a connection to the servers.
Finally, if ognpaw.local does not resolve to an IP addres, then you will need to log in to the router to get the IP Address of the Receiver, and consequently http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8081, where xxx is part of the IP address
Hope that helps
Thx
Lee
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Thanks Lee. I'll report back.
Mike
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Thanks Lee. I'll report back.
Mike
Hi Mike
Looks line PWEGTU has now appeared !
Do you know who runs UKNHL, it is very close to you
Thx
Lee
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We've still a few issues with not being able to interrogate our station but we've made progress. UKNHL is at North Hill, the site of the Devon & Somerset Gliding Club, just to the west of Dunkeswell. We originally requested locating our PAW station there last year but the GC committee didn't want us to jeopardise their flaky broadband connection, depite the reassurances provided by Keith.
Mike
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I am one of the guys working with Mike Mold and Brian Lyford installing the OGN PAW Bridge at Dunkeswell Airfield (EGTU) ?
We completed the installation on Saturday but unfortunately were not communicating with the internet so went up there Sunday
to do some debugging - looks like the OGNPAW Bridge is connected to the internal network in the Devon and Somerset Flight Training
offices, I can ping the device which is identified as 192.168.1.67 or ognpaw on the router, but it looks like there is nothing running on
ports 8080, 8081 or 8082 ?
I have tried to telnet to the ports but get no response so it appears the firmware is not loading?
I have tried
http://ognpaw:8080
http://ognpaw:8081
http://ognpaw:8082
http://192.168.1.67:8080
http://192.168.1.67:8081
http://192.168.1.67:8082
I inspected the device and noticed that the SD card does not 'latch' in - you can slide it in
with no resistance (on my PAW the card is spring loaded to eject it) so I am wondering if the
socket in the Pi is faulty and the contacts on the card are not connecting - in any event the
firmware is not loading, although apparently we did appear briefly on the servers perhaps
when we were adjusting the SD card position and restarting?
I have the OGN PAW Bridge here at home (I live 20 miles from Dunkeswell) and intend returning
it to Keith Vinning for checking but wondered if there is anything else worth trying before I send it off?
Chris Parsons
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If it is still in the case, I would remove the Pi from the case band recheck that latching of the SD card, and that there is no debris in the socket. Also try a latching a different SD card just to check it is not the card that is at fault.
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Yes, I tried this - the card will insert into the socket right up to the end with no resistance
with the Pi out of the case
Usually you can press the card in slightly to unlock it and then it springs out slightly to allow
it to be removed?
SD card was fine in my PAW?
Chris
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Chris,
Not sure what is going on, and it's a while now since I set up my station (PWBalerno) but please note the following observations from your post above.
Re the Micro SD card fit, I would guess you are running a Raspberry Pi 3 - If so, note that RPi no longer use the standard 'latching' system for the Micro SD card on the Pi 3 - it just pushes into the slot with no latching. I got caught out with the first one I bought and ended up sending it back thinking it was faulty. It was only when I got the replacement and found that it was exactly the same that it finally dawned on me.
I would be very surprised if the PAW Bridge is the cause of the problem as it primarily runs the P3i transceiver and has very little to do with the OGN side and certainly nothing as far as I'm aware to do with passing info to the OGN servers. Also the fact that Lee could see PWEGTU on the net at just before 4pm implies that the Bridge was working at that time.
I can't access my ports via http://ognpaw:8080, etc., either. Try looking up the PAW ID on your router and connecting using that address - in my case the OGN-PAW URL is 192.168.0.8, so I simply type 192.168.0.8:8080, etc. in the URL bar and up come the relevant screens.
Hope this helps
Regards
Peter
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Well I never. I obviously have never taken the card out of my Pi3, as I had not noticed this. Glad you posted that as it will save me from grief in the future.
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Does the OGN-PAW software work with a Pi 3? As I understood it there was a special trial version of the bridge software to work with the Pi 3...are these incorporated into the OGN-PAW software?
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Hi all
Pi3 is supported, and as mentioned the sd card does not latch on a pi3
Can you connect a keyboard and monitor to see if we get any diagnostics?
Alternatively, you can connect over ssh or shellinabox, this should be documented in the guide
Also, it can take upto 10 mins after book ing before the ports are active
Thx
Lee
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Interesting - so it might not be the SD socket...didn't know a Pi3 SD card socket was different (not an improvement in my view!)
Yes, I tried the IP address as shown on the router, and the host name - which is ognpaw (NOT ognpaw.local)
I think I mentioned in my earlier post I had tried http://192.168.1.67:8080, http://192.168.1.67:8081 and http://192.168.1.67:8082
using Chrome and nothing, and tried to telnet to these ports and also nothing. I CAN ping the host name and IP address so they are
correct?
Think as Lee suggests I'll try and find an HDMI monitor and keyboard/mouse and see if it is booting up, if the card socket functionality is as described it is perhaps not faulty
Chris
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I think I mentioned in my earlier post I had tried http://192.168.1.67:8080, http://192.168.1.67:8081 and http://192.168.1.67:8082
using Chrome and nothing, and tried to telnet to these ports and also nothing. I CAN ping the host name and IP address so they are
correct?
Think as Lee suggests I'll try and find an HDMI monitor and keyboard/mouse and see if it is booting up, if the card socket functionality is as described it is perhaps not faulty
Hi Chris,
How did you log in to perform the initial configuration ?
you must have used either 'ssh' or 'shellinabox' - is that correct ?
If you managed to use either of these methods to get a login shell, then you should be able to dump the diagnostics from the OGN processes, so assuming you are logged into the PI, can you try the following
$ telnet localhost 50001
This should provide the diagnostics from the OGN decoder which connects to the OGN APRS Servers, this is a pre-requisite to anything running TBH
Thx
Lee
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Hi Lee
I loaded and configured the software using Shellinabox at Wilmcote and tested the unit which was working here but obviously reporting as at Dunkeswell.
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Hello Lee and Keith
Not sure if Mike told you but we are 'guests' on the network infrastructure of the flying school so I am trying to keep the disturbance
to a minimum?
We (Mike, Brian and myself) have had a few weekends climbing around on the roof, and installing CAT5 cable inside - the OGN PAW Bridge is
15m from the network router, which had no spare ports, so we had put a 4 port hub on the router to give us the capacity. Fortunately the flying
office was not too busy because of the poor weather - the few pilots that came in were very interested in what we were doing, so there was a bit of promotion going on too :)
I have a feeling when I connect this at home and give it enough time to settle down and connect, everything will be good (ever the optimist!), while I did see the 10 minute connection time in the documentation I am now not convinced that perhaps we left it alone for long enough to connect fully?
One thing that has just occurred to me...I can attach my PAW antenna for the transmissions but don't have the incoming USB feed from the OGN antenna, will this still show up as active on the map?
We have seen that it did briefly connect at around the time we stopped, and decided the SD card was not fitting properly.
At least at home I have the ability to carry out some further testing if I need to. Very interested in your remote 'radar' interface - let me know if you want a guinea pig, I have one or two Pi's I could experiment on, and perhaps offer this to the flying school as a thank you?
Might be worth mentioning the SD card behaviour/change in the docs?
I'll keep you posted
Chris
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Got the OGN PAW Bridge running at home, and it looks to be working - while I appreciate there will be no OGN
traffic (no antenna attached) I do have a PAW antenna attached and wondered why the visibility hasn't updated
on the range map? Or does it update when it picks up traffic?
I have had a look for EGTU on the Aprs servers and cannot see it anywhere - do I need to do some port forwarding
on my router?
I have left the config file alone, the position of the station is actually a bit out but nothing significant but thought it worth
taking a backup, interesting stuff.
Before I drive back up to the airfield and reinstall it, it would be good to know it is connecting and talking so I know any issues
are then with the airfield network?
Regards
Chris
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Hi Chris
Can your u look at the http ports we mentioned before
8080
8081
8082
8082 should report your pilotaware as received
Also if you are connected via ssh
telnet localhost 50000
telnet localhost 50001
telnet localhost 50002
Thx
Lee
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Guys,
Just looked at Glidertracker - nothing showing, so switched to 'Spot the Gliders' and PWEGTU was showing at Dunkeswell - albeit red, but that's probably because there is no traffic at this time of night - 1015pm. Checked back again a few minutes ago at 1025 and EGTU is visible but PWEGTU has disappeared again. I take it you are testing Chris?
Peter
PWEGTU back again at 23.00
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Hi Peter
The definitive method to detect if a station is connected, is to look at the APRS servers page
Spot the gliders will only show either EGTU or PWEGTU I think
Thx
Lee
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I left it running all night - from around 8.00pm so I am not sure about why it was dropping in and out, but think the next step in to put it back at the airfield and see if the Aprs servers still see the station using the airfield network?
I have established that I can open http://<ip>:8080, http://<ip>:8081 and http://<ip>:8082 from home, while I couldn't get anything from the airfield
Keith, you are correct about being little difference between you running it on your network and me running it on my network but I take small steps - for instance I cannot see the Aprs servers from the office network because port 14501 is not open? Not sure if there are any restrictions on the airfield router for instance?
Don't think this will be a problem as the station has been seen once, on Sunday when it was connected at Dunkeswell so it must be visible at least part of the time (ie the relevant ports are open)
Regards
Chris
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Hi Chris/Lee,
Yes, I realise that checking the server listing is the definitive test. Just thought it might help Chris to know the station had been visible on the net.
Chris might not be aware that the OGN net (spot the gliders and ognrange) has been a bit ‘shaky’ for several months now and often shows stations as being ‘down’ (red) when they actually aren’t, so the fact that a Station is showing red (or isn’t showing at all) doesn’t necessarily mean the unit isn’t working.
As you say Lee, the only reliable way to check is to look for the APRS messages on port 8081 and look for the station on the APRS servers.
Chris, if you are interested, there is lots of useful additional info available on the OGN Forum....
https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/openglidernetwork
....(though some of it does get a bit ‘highbrow’). You need to sign up first via the OGN wiki page....
http://wiki.glidernet.org/subscribing
I’m sure you’ll get to the bottom of it shortly. Looking at UKNHL on www.flarmrange.onglide.com , you should get really good coverage from Dunkeswell, so well worth the effort.
Best Regards
Peter
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Ok, I am home and have switched the PSU to one of the new Pi3 2.5amp PSU's
I have attached a centre fed dipole to my PAW and left the end fed dipole on the OGN PAW Bridge
but my PAW has not (yet) appeared on 192.168.1.24:8082
I have noticed that the 'connected to' info in the aprs section on 192.168.1.24:8081 changes periodically,
I guess this is the server losing connection and the bridge getting reconnected to a different one?
You wanted me to capture some diagnostics, I'll look out the post and do that shortly?
Chris
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Hi Chris
just to clarify, this is completely unrelated to the bridge, what we are seeing here is a networking problem, the OGN decoder is connecting / disconnecting, and from our recent email exchange sounds suspiciously like an NTP issue.
A quick check would be to print the current date from a your secure shell login
$ date
Thx
Lee
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EGBS (Shobdon) OGN-R installed last Friday, though the antennas will have to be relocated on the VCR at the request of the senior AFISO.
The system was set up by Keith Vinning off site (thanks Keith) and just appeared to work once powered up. Owing to the nature of the local computer network I was unable to determine an IP address for the ognpaw unit, so no diagnostics were possible at the time. Fortunately PWEGBS showed up on glidertracker.org and I was able to see evidence of some Flarm contact. Yesterday saw some PAW contacts also but checking on ognrange.onglide.com plus flarmrange.onglide.com I see the Flarm track of last Friday but switching to see PWEGBS the site places it in the Atlantic Ocean south of Gambia*! Checking the aprs servers I can see EGBS listed but NOT PWEGBS. Strange that glidertracker was showing PAW tracks. Any thoughts where the problem lies?
Edit: * zero lat/ lon so no GPS location in some database.
-
It looks like PWEGTU is now working.
-
PWEGBS up and running again after powering it down for several hours, two days ago. Keith is suggesting turning it off for 15mins every night so effectively rebooting on a daily basis. I will do this with PWKingsto also.
As an aside, I saw PWEGTU receiving a glider local to Shobdon at 5000’ on Sunday via glidertracker!
Regards,
Chris
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Crowland (near Fenland) is now up and running, and looks like it has good range.
We can expect in the next week or two to see Troston (near Bury St Edmonds), Alconbury, Calne, Bicester and Upwood to join it. I'll post when they appear.
Paul
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Great to see more OGN station being added to the network!
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Hi Paul
Great to see Crowland up and running it will b a great pairing with Fenland working in co-operation. Also in the neck of the woods Peterborough is in the WIP category.
Keith
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And Alconbury is now up. A single antenna station.
We might have to wait for the snow to go through before we can check its performance though.
Paul
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Is there a list published anywhere of current OGN-R ground stations a) fully operational, b) pending and c) mooted/intended?
Thank you.
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Now we've added Calne (just SW of Swindon) to the list. Internal Chinese antenna at the moment, but expected to be moved outside shortly.
Paul
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I would like to know who is running PWCoventry ?
This is the default - unmodified setup, so it would appear that somebody has not setup their receiver correctly
Edit: I think it is UKPOC - can anyone confirm ?
Here is a list, as of today 42 stations
1 PWAlconbu Wed Feb 28 18:32:24 GMT 2018 UP + 227
2 PWAldersh Wed Feb 28 18:33:00 GMT 2018 UP + 191
3 PWBalerno Wed Feb 28 18:36:07 GMT 2018 UP + 4
4 PWBarton Wed Feb 28 18:35:55 GMT 2018 UP + 16
5 PWBurn Wed Feb 28 18:33:01 GMT 2018 UP + 190
6 PWCalne Wed Feb 28 18:32:55 GMT 2018 UP + 196
7 PWChilter Wed Feb 28 18:35:51 GMT 2018 UP + 20
8 PWCoventr Wed Feb 28 18:30:33 GMT 2018 UP + 338
9 PWCrowlan Wed Feb 28 18:35:27 GMT 2018 UP + 44
10 PWDeanlan Wed Feb 28 18:33:35 GMT 2018 UP + 156
11 PWDyfnant Wed Feb 28 18:35:21 GMT 2018 UP + 50
12 PWEGBKE Wed Feb 28 18:32:38 GMT 2018 UP + 213
13 PWEGBS Wed Feb 28 18:32:20 GMT 2018 UP + 231
14 PWEGBT Wed Feb 28 18:31:33 GMT 2018 UP + 278
15 PWEGBW Wed Feb 28 18:34:58 GMT 2018 UP + 73
16 PWEGTU Wed Feb 28 18:34:25 GMT 2018 UP + 106
17 PWETNG Wed Feb 28 18:35:47 GMT 2018 UP + 24
18 PWEverton Wed Feb 28 18:32:58 GMT 2018 UP + 193
19 PWGuildfo Wed Feb 28 18:32:07 GMT 2018 UP + 244
20 PWHerefor Wed Feb 28 18:33:56 GMT 2018 UP + 135
21 PWHusBos Wed Feb 28 18:33:15 GMT 2018 UP + 176
22 PWKingsto Wed Feb 28 18:34:44 GMT 2018 UP + 87
23 PWLinton Wed Feb 28 18:35:21 GMT 2018 UP + 50
24 PWMynd Wed Feb 28 18:31:35 GMT 2018 UP + 276
25 PWNewbury Wed Feb 28 18:33:49 GMT 2018 UP + 142
26 PWOrwell Wed Feb 28 18:33:03 GMT 2018 UP + 188
27 PWRadley Wed Feb 28 18:35:15 GMT 2018 UP + 56
28 PWRedhill Wed Feb 28 18:31:32 GMT 2018 UP + 279
29 PWSALTBY Wed Feb 28 18:33:44 GMT 2018 UP + 147
30 PWSaxonda Wed Feb 28 18:34:29 GMT 2018 UP + 102
31 PWStoke Wed Feb 28 18:35:43 GMT 2018 UP + 28
32 PWTatenhi Wed Feb 28 18:35:43 GMT 2018 UP + 28
33 PWThame Wed Feb 28 18:35:21 GMT 2018 UP + 50
34 PWTopclif Wed Feb 28 18:35:14 GMT 2018 UP + 57
35 PWUKEDG Wed Feb 28 18:33:24 GMT 2018 UP + 167
36 PWUKGRL Wed Feb 28 18:35:09 GMT 2018 UP + 62
37 PWUKKIR Wed Feb 28 18:34:03 GMT 2018 UP + 128
38 PWUKLSW Wed Feb 28 18:33:02 GMT 2018 UP + 189
39 PWUKmil Wed Feb 28 18:34:02 GMT 2018 UP + 129
40 PWWilmcot Wed Feb 28 18:29:51 GMT 2018 UP + 380
41 PWfenland Wed Feb 28 18:31:18 GMT 2018 UP + 293
42 PWukBER Wed Feb 28 18:33:06 GMT 2018 UP + 185
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Hi Lee,
I have just spoken to the guy who runs Pocklington. He used one of GG's software images - suitably modified. It has been up and running for some time now and both UKPOC and PWUKPOC show on OGN Range and on the APRS Servers so unlikely to be them.
More likely to be someone trying to set a new station up without the requisite knowledge or expertise.
Regards
Peter
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Is there a list published anywhere of current OGN-R ground stations a) fully operational, b) pending and c) mooted/intended?
Thank you.
Lee has just published an updated list of 'Operational' OGN Stations above. In addition, you can find a map showing the 3 groups you asked about by following this link...
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,140.msg12843.html#msg12843
Regards
Peter
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I have just spoken to the guy who runs Pocklington. He used one of GG's software images - suitably modified. It has been up and running for some time now and both UKPOC and PWUKPOC show on OGN Range and on the APRS Servers so unlikely to be them.
More likely to be someone trying to set a new station up without the requisite knowledge or expertise.
Hi Peter
I selected Coventry from OGN/Range, and the traffic centered around UKPOC - that was the reason for my suspicion
thx
Lee
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Lee,
I am only seeing borderline contacts around Pocklington from the 'Coventry' login on OGN Range. By far the majority of the traffic looks to be centred around Thirsk and it is all historical - nothing whatever showing inside 60 days on OGN Range and there is no visible station icon - I even checked 0oE, 0oN, off West Africa, where there are a couple of 'dodgy' ones but no sign of 'Coventry'. My guess is that someone in the Thirsk area has downloaded a copy of the OGN-R software and has been 'experimenting' (tinkering).
To protect your own position/site, it might be safer to reconfigure the 'default' software to a 'Fictitious' sitename / location.
Regards
Peter
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Peter,
Excellent map of OGN-R stations. Thank you.
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Hi Lee,
What is the significance of the + integer following “UP” against each station listed?
Thx,
Chris
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What is the significance of the + integer following “UP” against each station listed?
Hi Chris
Number of seconds since last heartbeat announcement
This should occur every 360 seconds
Thx
Lee
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No. 40 needs a pacemaker :o
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No. 40 needs a pacemaker :o
I give it the benefit of the doubt in case of nrwork errors, if it misses 2 it is reported as down
I would like a way to report this somewhere but cannot think of a way to automate
Thx
Lee
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Hi Keith/All,
I have just heard from Rob Tatlow (who is also responsible for PWUKPOC(lington), PWUKKir(ton) and PWUKMIL(field) plus several other OGN sites).
He and his colleagues at Darlton Gliding Club have just brought PWUKDRL on line to cover their local area, between Lincoln and Sheffield. It is showing well on Glidertracker. OGNRange however seems to be down again at the moment.
Edit at 6.30pm: OGNRange is now back up and UKDRL coverage showing well, but PAW traffic seen earlier on Glidertracker on PWUKDRL still not showing on OGNRange.
I have added PWUKDRL to the PilotAwares Map.
Well done guys!
Regards
Peter
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I'm a bit behind here but well cone everyone we have now passed 50 sites WooHoo
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It's good to hear that there are now 50 sites but the map on the main PilotAware website OGNR link only shows 11.
To help silence the die hard critics of PilotAware it would be better to advertise the expanding coverage more widely.
Keep up the good work.
Dave
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Oooh yes, would be good to get that updated wouldn't it. Maybe it could show @exfirepro's OGN-R map layer as he does a grand job of keeping that in good shape.
It's good to hear that there are now 50 sites but the map on the main PilotAware website OGNR link only shows 11.
To help silence the die hard critics of PilotAware it would be better to advertise the expanding coverage more widely.
Keep up the good work.
Dave
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The actual map is preset much up to date but I agree the website needs refreshing as this isn’t automatic
Keith
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Just to set the record straight, although I was responsible for re-structuring Ian Fallon’s ‘PilotAware Users Map’ and adding / updating the layers for ‘Active’ and ‘In Development’ OGN-R, most of the ‘updates’ since have been done by Keith or Ashley Vinning - as they are generally aware of when new stations come into development or on line before I get to know about them.
I’m happy to take the credit for doing my bit, but not my style to steal other’s thunder.
It would be good to see the pilotaware.com website up to date though ;) :)
Regards
Peter
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p.s. meant to say, I heard from Rob Tatlow earlier this week. He was up at Milfield last week (weather not good for gliding, unfortunately) but did update PWUKMIL(field) to the latest software and also did PWUKPOC(lington) on his way back home.
Regards
Peter
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Two new stations up:
Swaffham (East Anglia) and
Skelling (Eden Soaring in the Lake District).
Paul
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And another at Biggleswade - UKBIG
Paul
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Hi Paul
Great news you really have been prolific since coming back from holiday.
Also good news we have had commitment for a further 4 sites from the GA community following the Popham microlight show.
These are
Between the bridges on the River Severn
Portsmouth
Eastbourne
East of Deanland
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I've shipped a lot more than that! They should come online over the next few weeks.
Paul
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Well done Paul / All,
Lots more Ground Stations showed up this time on my route to / from Popham - very impressive!
Regards
Peter
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And another at Fordham (20 km north east of Cambridge).
Paul
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Hi Paul,
When did Fordham go live? I flew past about 10.30 local on Tuesday morning on my way from Damyns Hall to Beverley, but didn’t see it. I was working Lakenheath, with PAW, FLARM and Mode S-ES all running.
I did pick up FLARM traffic x 2 in the circuit at Wittering via one of the local OGN-R sites though.
Best Regards
Peter
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Wednesday night, so it wouldn't have been there.
Paul
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Heads up to all, I have the following stations down (19 out of 65)
does anybody know the maintainers, maybe these were temporary and should be removed from my list ?
Thx
Lee
2 PWAldersh Thu Apr 19 21:41:39 BST 2018 DOWN + 1853580
8 PWChernog Tue May 08 19:51:17 BST 2018 DOWN + 218602
12 PWDeanlan Sat May 05 06:32:25 BST 2018 DOWN + 525734
13 PWDiss Sun Apr 22 00:45:31 BST 2018 DOWN + 1669748
19 PWEGHPTEM Thu May 03 22:29:48 BST 2018 DOWN + 641091
20 PWEGNO Wed May 09 19:09:57 BST 2018 DOWN + 134682
21 PWEGSF Sat May 05 06:33:01 BST 2018 DOWN + 525698
22 PWEGTU Tue May 08 13:26:45 BST 2018 DOWN + 241674
27 PWHusBos Wed May 09 05:43:00 BST 2018 DOWN + 183099
33 PWOrwell2 Sun Apr 29 12:11:14 BST 2018 DOWN + 1023805
34 PWOxford Sat Apr 28 10:28:29 BST 2018 DOWN + 1116370
36 PWRedhill Sat May 05 04:37:46 BST 2018 DOWN + 532613
40 PWSnitter Fri May 04 11:17:01 BST 2018 DOWN + 595058
48 PWUKDOG Sat Apr 28 10:45:13 BST 2018 DOWN + 1115366
51 PWUKGRL Wed May 09 19:09:45 BST 2018 DOWN + 134694
56 PWUKRAT Sat Apr 21 18:37:42 BST 2018 DOWN + 1691817
57 PWUKRUT Sun Apr 22 13:14:15 BST 2018 DOWN + 1624824
59 PWUKTIB Tue May 08 18:37:58 BST 2018 DOWN + 223001
64 PWukprk Tue May 01 17:18:17 BST 2018 DOWN + 832582
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Diss, Oxford, UKDOG, UKRAT, UKRUT are mine and are in the process of being commissioned.
Orwell2 is offline deliberately (Orwell is online), since there are problems with running two OGNR stations at the same location.
UKGRL is Gransden Lodge - looks OK to me right now (I've got management access).
Paul
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Hi Paul
Thanks for update
Should I ignore orwell2 for the time being, I am guessing this is your test station ?
Thx
Lee
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Yes. I've got one two antenna receiver and one single antenna. Also a straight OGN receiver. I could run both OGNR receivers, but if you do that I think we've decided that they will receive each other's rebroadcast traffic, and it messes up the range plots.
I'm currently running the single antenna OGNR and the OGN receiver (seen on APRS as OrwellA).
Paul
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New station - UKRAT at Rattlesden, near Bury St Edmonds in East Anglia.
Paul
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New station - UKRAT at Rattlesden, near Bury St Edmonds in East Anglia.
Paul
Excellent, just seen it come online
Thx
Lee
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Lee
PW Snitter is a test station at the moment until I get permission from the club.
Keith
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New station - Oxford. Which is good because UKBIC is down at the moment due to issues outside my control.
Paul
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And I don't think I ever told you about Upwood - but it's there. (UKUPW).
Paul
-
New station at Booker - thanks to Peter Wyld.
Paul
-
New station at Troston - a few km NE of Bury St Edmonds.
Paul
-
And another - UKTIB - Tibenham in Norfolk.
Paul
-
Pauls a very busy bee!!
Good work its appreciated
Brian
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Impressive, PWBooker picked up a PilotAware, flying across the Thames
-
And another new station - UKRUT - Rutland, near Peterborough.
Paul
-
That's handy - I should pick that up from home base!!
-
Well Enstone is finally up an running. I cannot access the system through the network as https://ognpaw.local:8080 is not accessible. As the router is locked down by ISP, I cannot find the IP either. Any suggestions?
I am able to see the ground station on SD And see gliders being winched at Rizzy and Bicester once they are a few hundred feet up. So all looks good.
Note: Site is not 24/7/365 as it will only run when the genny is running. Approx 08:30 to 18:00
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Any suggestions?
Yes, install remot3 on it, which will reverse tunnel through the router.
Also, if you can't see ognpaw.local, find out its IP address (the router might tell you), and access it via <IP address>:8080
Paul
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Thanks Paul, I swot up on remote3 for when I am back at Enstone tomorrow. Newbie to Linux🤔
I knew of the IP trick, but the router is locked down by the ISP. It's a small wireless broadband provider, and I contacted them, but they said no chance of the login details 🙁
Prob will take a screen and Keyboad with me anyway.
Cheers
-
PWBroadmd is now online with aerials properly installed outside.
Based at Broadmeadow Farm, Hereford, only a few miles from Chris at Kingstone, but all helps with the coverage :-)
There will be occasional outages as our internet is only 4G mobile and we sometimes run out of data, but should be up most of the time.
Steve
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UKMAC is now online, in West Wales.
Paul
-
And another - at Kings Lynn
Paul
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Hi Keith and team,
RADLEY/PWRADLEY now has been upgraded to it's full complement of external aerials and the heat map around Abingdon is expanding nicely. In a quick ground-based test with my car-based PAW, the base-station seems to be transmitting properly. The PAW was about 1Km away from the base-station (in a stationary car) with the standard PAW dipole aerial stuck to a side window. A surprising number of glider positions were visible in SkyDemon.
The RTLSDR-OGN has logged 154 different aircraft so far today; mostly gliders (FLARM 124 and ICAO 30) and probably including Benson's training fleet - clearly a good day for a test with some big gliding event going on overhead.
If anyone flying in or through the Abingdon area can confirm that the base-station is providing a service to a reasonable range that would be most encouraging (supplementing the other nearby stations of Barton and Oxford). I'm not expecting miracles as the station is only 67m amsl (with the aerials above the roof-line). The best glider detection range is just over 40Kms so far.
The North-South corridor between the Brize and Benson MATZ seems to be very popular for both gliders and fixed wings which is often criss-crossed East-West around Abingdon and South so hopefully together we are helping make this area safer.
The RTLSDR-OGN did log one anomalous contact RND3923E7 at a range of 1289.4km and altitude of 15082m at location 40.87489 +46.04073 (Dallar in Azerbaijan!!). I think this is somewhat unlikely or that Chinese colinear aerial (which is working well) really is something else :-) - someone testing perhaps?
It is good to see the base station picking up the contacts as they pass though on the http://glidertracker.org website.
Cheers
Chris
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Hi Chris
Great to hear that you now have the antennas external. A great help thanks. I just looked at
http://ognrange.onglide.com/?#PWRADLEY,max,lastweek,51.733862_-1.100986,9,#00990000:#009900ff,circles; (http://ognrange.onglide.com/?#PWRADLEY,max,lastweek,51.733862_-1.100986,9,#00990000:#009900ff,circles;)
and PWRadley over the last 7 days has achieved 57km to the north and 44Km to the South.
The bias (there always is one) is North South in your case.
However this will be a great location and will complement Enstone, Booker, Chiltern Park, Turweston, and Thame
Great work. Thanks
To all of the other OGN supporters please keep up the good work. Last week I socialised the work we are doing with the Electronic Conspicuity Team at EASA in Cologne and they were amazed at the progress.
Lets get more and show them what we really can do
Regards
Keith
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Thanks to Grant Shapps, Yes Grant Shapps MP and head of the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group on Aviation) for installing an OGN station at BKpark near Harlow. This is great location in that it is in the northern corridor between Luton Stanstead and Heathrow so there is a lot of traffic about. On the very first day PWbkpark was picking up gliders as far away as 60Km at Bicester and PilotAware at 40km. The site will complement Booker, Chiltern Park and Denon when that is installed. Perhaps we should encourage Elstree and Halton to fill in the gaps. Any offers?
Today we tracked a specific Pilotaware equipped aircraft from North London all the way to Coventry as it was picked up by various stations including BKPark, Orwell, Alconbury, Everton, BIG, HusBos, Stoke, Gransden Lodge and Coventry as it travelled en route.
The OGN-R is really coming of age. Thanks to all your continuing support.
Grant really is a champion for GA aviation in the UK and spearheading the mission to make the UK the best place in the world for GA. Sometimes an uphill battle and needs all our support. Well done Grant Top Man
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OGN Station at Morecambe upgraded to OGN-R and now online as reported over in 'Technical Support' here...
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,1401.msg15974.html#msg15974
Thanks due to glider pilot Peter Seddon, who also hopes to update the site at UKBRW for Walney Island and the Lakes Gliding Club this weekend.
Well done Peter and welcome to OGN-R
Best Regards
Peter R
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Any chance of Kemble being added to the list please?
-
Hi CBondRAF,
Have you set up or know of an OGN-R station at Kemble? or is this a request to install one?
-
A request, I guess, as I understand there is a 'black hole' in the Kemble area.
-
Can you speak to the owners/management at Kemble and see if they are willing and able to get one installed? If they are, then we might be able to find people willing and able to set one up.
-
Successfully erected my self bùild coliner antenna.
-
Hi Eric
Is the station up and running yet, or still WIP ?
Thx
Lee
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I am totally all at sea at the moment.
All connected up but not able to log on to https://ogm.local:4200/
Connect to tele with hdmi cable booted up ok last line to log in.
Solid red on pi , flashing green crack heard on comms set on 869.5
There is another click out of sequence with p3i transmission.
Screen shot of PAW G/Stn 190.6km 195ft
-
Hi Eric,
Are you following the set-up instructions from the PAW document entitled “Building and Installing an OGN-PilotAware Uplink to detect and retransmit glider locations” ? If so, it says “ Connect on the same network as the Pi to https://ognpaw.local:4200/“, so what you have written is incorrect.
I found it easier to just connect a keyboard and monitor directly to the Pi and make the responses as detailed in red in the instructions document, to do the setup.
Looking at your screenshot (presumably made from your original PAW groundstation) I guess it thinks your OGN station (note, N for network!) is in Coventry, which is the default setting. When you run through the setup responses you will change the location using the Schellenberg site (see start of “Shellinabox” section of the instructions).
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Chris
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ognpaw.local didn't work for me.
I put in the ip address of the Pi like this https://192.168.1.100:4200/
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Hi All,
After a bit of remote coaching over the phone, we have managed to get EricC’s PW OGN-R Station at Poulton-le-Fylde up and running as (PW)Poulton. We got some weird results from the gsm scans so might need to re-run them later, but for the moment will see how it goes with the figures we have set.
The station is now visible on Glidertracker and OGNRange.
Well done Eric. Thanks for your persistence.
Best Regards
Peter
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The patience Peter had with me today was up and beyond the call of duty.
I am not computer savvy so each line of code passed to me required more than one attempt on my part to enter correctly.
Thanks a million.
-
Well you are picking up traffic I’ve just observed, Eric. A Eurofox taking-off from Blackpool and a passing RV9, as well as your PAW ground station! Well done for your efforts.
Chris
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After the fantastic help from Peter on programming I think I am able to follow the instruction now.
-
Peter and Eric
You are both stars and making history.
When we get Mode-S/3D past the trial proving stage and rolled out nationally you will be really contributing to aviation safety
Also this site will be a great neighbour to the recent site installed a Warton home of the Typhoon.
Brilliant
Keith
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There's a new station near Diss.
Paul
-
Anyone know who owns CalneW?
Paul
-
Calne is in the list of UK OGN stations but CalneW isn't. Where is Calne?
-
Between Chippenham and Marlborough in Wiltshire
-
Anyone know who owns CalneW?
Paul
Yes
-
Anyone know who owns CalneW?
Paul
Yes
Excellent. Would you like to share - at least with me? (paul@ruskin.me.uk).
I manage Calne, and will put the owner in touch.
Paul
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CalneW is my setup which I intend to move to the airstrip once I have all the bits assembled.
It will run of battery charged by a solar panel, have a 4G internet connection and uses a aerial I picked up at the LAA rally.
Once moved I’ll look at building another for CalneW and then mount the aerials on the roof and replace the FR24 in the loft.
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CalneW is my setup which I intend to move to the airstrip once I have all the bits assembled.
It will run of battery charged by a solar panel, have a 4G internet connection and uses a aerial I picked up at the LAA rally.
Once moved I’ll look at building another for CalneW and then mount the aerials on the roof and replace the FR24 in the loft.
Great. Which airstrip?
Ping me an email with your email address, and I'll put you in touch with the owner of Calne.
Paul (paul@ruskin.me.uk)
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I have now moved the OGN-R from the front room to the garage and placed the aerials on the garage roof as pictured.
It is now using an LTE router with a free Three PAYGo SIM which gets 200MB of data free each month. Will run it like this for a few weeks so I can see how much data it uses.
-
My station (Morecambe) has used 200Mb up and down since midnight Friday 28th Sep.
-
I was discussing this earlier
I think we could probably come up with a low bandwidth scheme to make this better suited to this type of scenario
Thx
Lee
-
Looks like UKBRW is up and running now at Barrow in Furness, so that's another one for the list.
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Hi all,
I have recently setup a new site in Congleton, to cover the gap over Cheshire.
At the moment I am just using the original Antenna provided for the PAW mounted internal to the attic. When I have worked out the best way, I will update with better antennas.
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Great Job let me know when you want a better antenna.
So everyone has been busy and we now have 98 OGN-R locations that have been fitted. This, as Arthur Nap Shappy on the Cabin Pressure Radio show would say is BRILLIANT. . An absolutely great example of co-operation between the Gliding and power communities.
I need to check those that are currently down and we will also at some time get the SW up to a standard so that upgrades are automatic.
However with 2 months to go I am confident that we will have 100 sites up and running by the end of the year. An unbelievable achievement.
I will make a list of all the sites and update the MAP when I have chance. If however you have time to put yours on the map then this will help.
The target is now 200 by 2020.
We will continue to provide the bridges and Pi's so if you are able to install an OGN-R over the winter at your site then please help us to increase the coverage in preparation for Mode-S/3D after the trial.
Also for those of you that are of an engineering bent why not consider installing a 360 RADAR node at your home. As well as being a great little project it will help contribute to the MLAT data for Mode-S/3D. https://signup.360radar.co.uk (https://signup.360radar.co.uk)
Cant mention you all by name but thanks for all your hard work. You are really making history.
Keith
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My unit has been now running a month on the garage and so far is using less than 200mb of data via the 4G router so will make an effort to move it to the airfield soon. Attached is a screen shot of the data used with 2 days left to run last month.
When I do move this over to the airfield I will look at replacing the one here at home so will need some aerials and bits Keith. That will take you to 99 ;)
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Hi Vince
Thats great
What is the name of the airfield and what will be the name of the House
Drop me a PM of what you want and I'll get it mustered
Cheers
Keith
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Ahah
I guess one of them is Lydeway?
Keith
-
Yes Lydeway and CalneW
-
PWEdinbuW is now up & running. Only in my loft just now And battery powered for testing purposes as currently no permanent power up there.
Alan
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PWEdinbuW is now up & running. Only in my loft just now And battery powered for testing purposes as currently no permanent power up there.
Alan
Congrats Alan - OGN-R No.2 in Scotland - How in the UK, Keith??
Must get PWBalerno back up and running - hopefully very soon and then we can concentrate on the Airfields where we have already got approval to install !!
Might be able to do a 'fly-by' today with FLARM Alan if you can leave it running.
Best Regards
Peter
p.s. I have added you to the 'PilotAwares' Map.
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Hi Keith,
I upgraded my aerials earlier in the week.
I am suffering from them being in the loft at the moment as coverage out to the west is a bit weak (about 8-10km range) but I can see both FLARM and PAW in the Barton circuit which is 38-42km out to the north west.
I will see about getting them moved outside onto the roof, hopefully then I should be able to provide coverage from the south end of the Manchester Low Level corridor.
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Hi Iain
Thats great
Being in the loft is always problematical because of the attenuation usually from the tiles.
Also very few stations have a range that is the same through 360 degrees. PWCrowlan is one that is an exception to this.
When you get them outside they will be better
However if you are getting 34Kms in the loft that looks good for the future
Cheers
Keith
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Hello
PWUEHRDE is online
thx
Keith
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Used 140MBytes this month so looks like the free 200MB per month SIM will do.
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CalneW has been moved to Lydeway which is now up and running.
http://ognrange.onglide.com/#Lydeway,max,today,51.27454_-1.88070,11,#80000040:#008000ff,circles;
I will now need to build a setup for CalneW but have most things except pi & radio board. I may temporarily use my Rosetta so I can test the Mode-S/3D OGN-R software.
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Hi Vince
I will send you a PI and RADIO board FOC for CalneW.
Cheers
Keith
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CalneW now back up with the complimentary Pi & radio board, thanks Keith. Will see about getting an external 1090 antenna erected this weekend.
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It’s good to see someone has set up a station at blackbushe, (EGLK / PWEGLK)
I often pick up PW equipped aircraft going in and out of the bushe, however their PW range looks quite poor at the moment, hopefully it can be improved.
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PWMiltnKy active now. Thanks to Keith's help with cabling.
Just off M1 Jct14.
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Ben Smith,
Excuse me from being slow to catch on, are you saying that in your glider (with Flarm presumably) you also pick up PW traffic so long as you are in range of a PW-OGN station?
Phil PA28 man
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No he will have a pilotaware unit in his a/c. OGN-R only relays glider traffic to pilotaware units and does not transmit on flarm or OGN.
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Vince,
I see, so Ben's reference to 'range' is how far away he can see (with PW) the ground station at Blackbush?
brgds Phil
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Hi all
The Blackbush installation is a new development called trident which has been donated by Pilotaware to air mobility
Since the day it went in it has been very windy. I will keep an eye on its range. However a similar trident installation at Bembridge is giving good range.
Keith
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Cool name, no prizes for guesing why it’s called that. 😀
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Hi All,
Not a 'New' station, but we finally moved PWEfortun (East Fortune OGN-R) from inside the clubhouse caravan (on small antennas) to its permanent site inside the hanger yesterday - with full external antennas on the hangar roof (see photo - now that's what I call a 'Trident' Keith).
We've still to do some tidying up of the cabling as we are anticipating a new microwave broadband link being installed next week, but the station is already showing good 1090 MLAT coverage and pulled in a glider from Portmoak this morning (43 Kms), despite several closer OGN stations, so OGN performance is looking good. The wind is currently 30G42Kt so no PAW traffic flying at the moment, but it's still early days.
Best Regards
Peter
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Ya mita taken a new foti when they were ALL wired up. ;D
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Hi Alan,
I wondered who would be the first to notice. :-\ (I might have known)
(As you are well aware... ) ...it was pitch dark by the time we finished the setup yesterday evening, so I used a photo taken on Monday - before we added the cables to the PAW and 1090 antennas - Sorry :-[. I will swap in a new photo when I get one.
Regards
Peter
p.s. just for comparison and to balance things up, here’s a photo I took today of Alan’s smart new outdoor antenna setup on PWEdinbuW (with cables)!
-
Andrewsfield (EGSL) is up and Running. Bit of a fiddly job due to poor estimation on RF cable lengths (not Keiths fault!) and having to run a new ethernet cable up to the tower and install a small switch but Overall it went well.
(http://i64.tinypic.com/etbeb7.jpg)
Antennas. A bit cramped but the best we could do
(http://i65.tinypic.com/fxw3yu.jpg)
ADSB Reception is impressive
(http://i68.tinypic.com/mh9ge8.jpg)
Quite hopeful for this site as the elevation is the highest place around for at least ten miles. Watching a club 152 depart however. on the 360Radar, we lost it less than a mile out. I think the PAW sits on the coaming and the antenna is allowed to flop down. Results on the OGN site are already starting to look a bit more promising.
One observation though, on 360Radar, the PAWs label on the ground didn't show any callsign, just their height. This was both from the departing 152 whose Reg didn't show until he was about half a mile out, and my Rosetta that I had in the tower with me.
Vic
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Hi Vic
Look's like a great job.
I can get you more cable if you need it when I get back.
Also looks like the issues that you are having are configuration based
The PAW tracked today from Frinton on Sea to Bury St Edmunds shows good PAW Range in that direction.
Lets talk when I get back
Thanks again for your help
Cheers
Keith
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PWEgerton is up and running.
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OGN-R Firbank and PWFirbank is now up and running, antenna upgrade soon to post at roof height. Shows up on Glider Tracker but not on Pilot Aware map yet. Also is on spot the gliders.
-
Paw circuit traffic EGNH.
-
FirBank
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The OGN-R at Nottingham Tollerton went live on the 14th of November with the callsign EGBN
Thanks to Keith for all the support in getting the beast running.
Should have the screen running in the tower prior to to the end of the year.
Regards
Neil
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OGN-R Firbank and PWFirbank is now up and running, antenna upgrade soon to post at roof height. Shows up on Glider Tracker but not on Pilot Aware map yet. Also is on spot the gliders.
Hi Peter,
I have added it to the PilotAwares Map for you. Keep up the good work.
Best Regards
Peter Robertson
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Hi all,
I have finally got the Long Mynd station up on the new tower and working properly. From this high point, we can see from Birmingham to the Welsh coast, and from Whitchurch to the Brecon Beacons.
I have also added a small ADSB antenna, but no idea if it is working. It is a bit shaded by the (huge) anemometer, which I presumed was plastic but turned out to be 1950s metal (and still going....). Can anyone see if the ADSB bit is working?
Roger
.
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Wow Roger, that’s much more like it! I always thought there was a problem with PWMynd and actually voiced this concern in the past to Keith Vinning, particularly because of the site’s elevation. Should nicely infill the gap in coverage to the North of Shobdon where that station’s coverage is masked due to higher ground.
Thx,
Chris
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New station EGNL is now up and running to supplement the UKBRW station, it connects to the internet via a 3G WiFi dongle. I note that it has already updated to the latest software overnight as I installed it yesterday (Saturday). NOTE its position is not correct and needs to be adjusted slightly as the antenna is not in the middle of the airfield but on the corner of the clubhouse. I'll do that next Sunday when I'm back at the club.
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Hi all,
I have finally got the Long Mynd station up on the new tower and working properly. From this high point, we can see from Birmingham to the Welsh coast, and from Whitchurch to the Brecon Beacons.
I have also added a small ADSB antenna, but no idea if it is working. It is a bit shaded by the (huge) anemometer, which I presumed was plastic but turned out to be 1950s metal (and still going....). Can anyone see if the ADSB bit is working?
Roger
Hi Roger
It appears the station is only picking up PilotAware traffic - No ADSB and no FLARM.
If we can install the latest software, as per these instructions
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,1760.msg19000.html#msg19000
We can get access remotely to diagnose (you will need to share a login password)
Thx
Lee
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It appears the station is only picking up PilotAware traffic - No ADSB and no FLARM.
If we can install the latest software, as per these instructions
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,1760.msg19000.html#msg19000
We can get access remotely to diagnose (you will need to share a login password)
I put in the new sim card I bought from you, with the new software on it.
Is it not giving that version?
Edit - I see there is a new version.
It says ‘after logging on to the OGN’.
How do I log on to the OGN...?
R
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Hi Roger,
There seems to be a bit of confusion here. PWMynd is still running the 20191008 software. You need to update by running the curl script Lee referred to above.
You should be able to get to the login prompt from the Status screen after connecting with your tablet, pc or laptop.
If you pm me your e-mail address, I will e-mail you a copy of the detailed instruction sheet explaining how to do the update.
Regards
Peter
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Sorted. I am sending a new disk to the Myndd.
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PWUKCHP is now update and running the correct software. Also PWEGNL is up now but will only be on at weekends as it is a backup to PWUKBRW for when we are active.
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I’m new to Pilotaware and was wondering if the attached pic of the Open Gliders Network map of Hungary showing green coverage means that these are rebroadcasting stations.
-
I suppose these are mainly OGN (FLARM) stations
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Hi tmmtaha75,
Sorry - unfortunately there are no OGN-R rebroadcast stations in Hungary yet. As per mariko’s post, the ones on your screenshot are all basic OGN Receiving Stations. Where are you based?
Regards
Peter
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Hi All,
Thanks to hard work by Gary Sinclair and his colleagues, a new ATOM Station is now on line at Strathaven (pronounced Strayven) south east of Glasgow. This should prove a valuable and significant addition to the network north of the Border.
Well done Gary.
Regards
Peter
p.s. Gary also runs the station at Lenzie north east of Glasgow
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Hi All,
Not a ‘New Station’ as such, but Rob Tatlow and I added 1090Rx to the existing site PWUKMil, at Milfield Gliding Club, near Alnwick yesterday, which brings it up to full ATOM-GRID Status, (with Mode-S 3D transmission already enabled). Coverage looks good from south of Newcastle to well up the East coast of Scotland.
Regards
Peter
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Hi,
I'm in the process of setting up an OGN-R station in south Lincolnshire near Long Sutton.
I've gone through loading the software Ver. 201902020 onto the Pi and logged in per the instructions but cant get the ./do-cfg.sh command to work. The cd command works fine and I'm in the rtlsdr-ogn directory and can see the file PilotAware-OGN.config.sh which I presume is the correct file to run?
I'm new to Linux, but following the setup procedure in the document to the letter but getting nowhere.
I watched the installation unpack and there weren't any errors shown so I can't understand why the process won't start - Any ideas please?
Thanks,
Frank.
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Hi Frank,
It sounds like you are trying to manually configure the software. There is a much easier (and more efficient) method.
Download the latest software from...
https://pilotaware.lode.co.uk/downloads/OGN/PilotAware-OGN.latest.zip
You will currently get version 20200714 - please don’t use your pre-November 2019 version - it doesn’t contain the network or auto-update software.
Load this onto a fresh or fully reformatted card, install into your Pi, power up and leave it to unpack.
Log into the pi..
pi
12345678 (or later your own password if you’ve already set one)
Change directory (just type the bits in bold and hit [Enter])
cd rtlsdr-ogn
Then type...
./PilotAware-OGN.config.sh (in this step OGN is in caps - as are the 'P' and 'A' in PilotAware)
This will automatically stop the rtlsdr-ogn service (which will be what is stopping your attempts) and lead you through the configuration process.
If you make a mistake, complete the sequence then power the Pi down, restart it, log back in (using your new password if you have already done that bit) change directory as above and re-run the config script.
Much easier than trying to stop/start the program and configure the files manually.
Best Regards
Peter
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Hi Frank
Can I ask what instructions you were following, that is a very old release
We need to update those instructions
Thx
Lee
-
Hi Frank,
It sounds like you are trying to manually configure the software. There is a much easier (and more efficient) method.
Download the latest software from...
https://pilotaware.lode.co.uk/downloads/OGN/PilotAware-OGN.latest.zip
You will currently get version 20200714 - please don’t use your pre-November 2019 version - it doesn’t contain the network or auto-update software.
Load this onto a fresh or fully reformatted card, install into your Pi, power up and leave it to unpack.
Log into the pi..
pi
12345678 (or later your own password if you’ve already set one)
Change directory (just type the bits in bold and hit [Enter])
cd rtlsdr-ogn
Then type...
./pilotaware-OGN.config.sh (in this step OGN is in caps)
This will automatically stop the rtlsdr-ogn service (which will be what is stopping your attempts) and lead you through the configuration process.
If you make a mistake, complete the sequence then power the Pi down, restart it, log back in (using your new password if you have already done that bit) change directory as above and re-run the config script.
Much easier than trying to stop/start the program and configure the files manually.
Best Regards
Peter
Hi Peter,
Thanks for your reply and info.
I'm just attempting to follow the setup information from here:
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,974.0.html
which links to this document:
http://www.pilotaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Building-an-OGN-PAW-Uplink.pdf
I downloaded and unpacked the latest version as you suggested, but was still getting exactly the same error. HOWEVER I checked the directory contents and the penny dropped!! I typed ./PilotAware-OGN.config.sh and lo and behold it worked. It was the lack of capitals P and A in the right places that were causing the problem.
I note though the remote connection option using http://ognpaw.local:4200/ still works on the latest version, none of the diagnostic ports:
http://ognpaw.local:8080
http://ognpaw.local:8081
http://ognpaw.local:8082
listed in the above document seem to work now.
I've entered all the lat/long/height info etc, named the site and completed the setup but as yet can't see the station on the https://ognrange.glidernet.org/ site. Whether it's because the Pi and aerials are inside at the moment I'm not sure, but I would have thought the station position would be sent to the server via the internet connection to update the location but I may be wrong - It's a learning thing!
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I progress, but it's a great project!
Thanks,
Frank.
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Hi Frank
Can I ask what instructions you were following, that is a very old release
We need to update those instructions
Thx
Lee
Hi Lee,
Thanks for your message. Please see my reply to Peter above for details.
Thanks,
Frank.
-
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the update. That is an old link - we will need to get it updated and yes, though I’m not a Linux expert, I have learned that syntax is everything, which is why Lee has simplified the setup procedure to minimise potential problems.
Oh, and just to prove the point about syntax, thanks for pointing out my error using all lower case in the spelling of PilotAware in the ./PilotAware-OGN.config.sh command line - I have corrected my earlier post to avoid confusing anyone else.
You should be able to bring up your status screen from...
ognpaw.local (without the http://), though confusingly that doesn't always work. The alternative is to find the local IP allocated to the Raspberry Pi by your router and simply type that into the URL bar.
The same applies to the diagnostics on...
ognpaw.local:8080
ognpaw.local:8081
again without the http://
or you can get into the diagnostics if you know your local IP address for the station, via...
<Your local IP>:8080
<Your local IP>:8081
(Port 8082 is no longer available)
It can take a while for the station to appear on the tracker sites - especially if there is no data being sent. If you tell us what you named it, we can take a look for you to see if it’s showing up on the PilotAware Grid.
Regards
Peter
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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.
-
Hi Frank,
I only have limited access to the PilotAware Database I’m afraid, but I can see an entry for PWLongSut on the ‘Stations List’, though none of its details are showing (i.e. date last updated, software version, lat, long, altitude, etc), which I can see for all the others. This may of course be ‘normal’ for new stations until their data becomes established, but together with the ‘non-appearance’ of your Station on any of the regular reporting sites, Glidertracker, ognrange, GliderRADAR, Spot the Gliders, etc, would suggest that it either isn’t running or isn’t passing data to the internet properly.
Edit: I have also just checked and it isn't showing on any of the APRS Servers.
Can you remember if the ‘service’ restarted properly at the end of the setup process? After finishing the gsm scan and reporting the Station Criteria, it should have done this automatically as shown below...
################# Summary #######################
Station Name is : LongSut
Station APRS Server is : aprs.glidernet.org:14580
Station Latitude is :
Station Longitude is :
Station Altitude AMSL [M] is :
Station Altitude GEOID [M] is :
Station SDR PPM is :
Station SDR Gain is :
Station SDR Freq Centr is :
################# Summary #######################
Starting services
(Current time) FILESYS : Mount RO
PI@ognpaw:~/RTLSDR-ogn $
You were obviously able to log in to the Pi to run the config script. Can you use the same login to check port 8081 and see if it is reporting APRS Beacon and APRS Status at the bottom of the page.
How is the unit connected to the internet - presumably by Ethernet cable direct to your router?
I take it you haven’t added any additional (e,g, remote access) software?
By the way you can use up to 9 letters for the OGN station name, which is what you enter in the config, but the 9 letter name will be truncated to the first 7 for the station’s PilotAware name when the PW prefix is added by the software, after which the station displays the 2 names e.g. EFortune (OGN) and PWEFortun - no ‘e’ (PAW). Not a good idea to change the name after you get the station running, however, as this creates duplicate files all over the networks.
Regards
Peter
-
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.
-
Not really my area Frank, but I've certainly never had to configure any firewalls to get any of mine to work. Nor have I heard of anyone else having to.
Where did you see the message that the SDR wasn't calibrated? The configuration allocates SDRs to specific functions - i.e. if there is only one SDR, the software automatically suggests allocating it to Flarm reception, whereas if there are two, it suggests using the one in Port 1 for Flarm and the one in Port 2 for 1090 reception. (With the unit 'right way up' and the Ethernet port to the left, the top row USB ports are numbered from the left 1 then 3, with Ports 2 and 4 on the row below). For an OGN-R ATOM Station the convention is to put the OGN antenna dongle into Port 1 (top left) and the 1090 antenna dongle (where fitted) into Port 2 (bottom left) before starting the configuration, then say 'Y'es when the software asks you to confirm the standard allocation(s). What type (make/model) of SDR(s) are you using by the way? Did you get them from Keith or elsewhere?
Peter
-
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.
-
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.
-
I must admit I did the Pi install differently.
Rather than trying to connect to it with phone or laptop, I found an old VGA monitor, got a very cheap HDMI->VGA converter, and a USB keyboard.
Plugged the keyboard into a spare USB port, and the HDMI end of my adaptor into the Pi, VGA end into monitor from loft.
Then you can see the unpacking process, verify what happening without having to guess, and use up arrow to recall the previous command you typed wrong and have just one letter to correct in...
I never need to connect to ognpaw.local...
-
Morning both,
Hi Steve,
That’s the way we had to do it all ‘back in the day’. It certainly stretched the brain for us ‘non-linux’ types I can tell you. Lee has since automated as much of the process as possible to make things easier for non-technical users and reduce the possibility for errors, but it’s still fun to plug in a monitor and keyboard as long as you know what you are doing (which you obviously do).
Frank,
Great to hear. That’s exactly what I was going to suggest. Lee added simple shortcuts for config and a few other commands to this latest software version, but as you didn’t have it running properly yet, I wasn’t sure if they would work.
Edit: The ‘inconsistency message’ is fairly common by the way. The system is trying to determine the frequency calibration offset for the FLARM Receiver dongle by comparing the known frequencies from local gsm (mobile phone) masts and results can be inconsistent depending on your location. With the NESDRSmart dongle, the offset is almost zero in any case, so no worries. If you are concerned, rerun the config once you have everything connected and up the mast and all will be well.
PWLongSut is now showing on the PilotAware Database (with all it’s details) and also showing on the usual websites. Well Done! Your persistence has borne fruit. Pretty sure there will be no ‘chaff’ on any of the websites from the setup, but if there is that can be sorted later.
You just need to get it up the mast now.
p.s. as you already have a second dongle, you can easily add 1090 - all it needs is the dongle (in the lower left port) and a simple 1090 whip on a length of fairly cheap coax ( it doesn’t need to be high quality). At its most basic, you could just strip the outer cover and braid off the top 69mm of the coax and seal the end to keep the rain out. That will work for a while, though the range will be limited.
Once you add it, rerun the config to add the second dongle (this will automatically connect the 1090 feed) then let Keith or Ash know via ogn@pilotaware.com and they will get our partner 360Radar to supply you with their MLAT feed for Mode-S 3D Rebroadcast - it’s a simple process and could significantly improve Mode-S coverage in your area.
Best Regards and once again Well Done!
Peter
-
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.
-
Hi Frank,
You can use virtually any dongle for the 1090 side. In fact if you tried another NooElec NESDRSmart you would find it won’t fit in the recommended port as they are taller above the plug than below! If that’s a problem with the ones you have (which it shouldn’t be) you can of course fit it on a short USB extender cable. The frequency is much less critical for 1090 receive, so no calibration is required, though you do need to rerun the config to add the dongle.
OK on the antennas - I come from a Ham Radio background and used to teach communications in the Fire Service in my latter years, so also like ‘playing’ with alternative antenna options. There are lots of ideas on the Forum and elsewhere, no harm in experimenting, though as you say - best to stick to a tuned one for the P3i transmit. If you want to improve range on that side, I suggest speaking to Keith / Ash (send a contact number via the ogn@pilotaware.com link). Keith can usually supply tuned antennas at a very reasonable ‘cost + postage’ price.
I will watch developments with interest.
Best Regards
Peter
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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.
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PWMurg is up and running in Esher with antennae mounted above the roof, receiving mainly from the West and round to the south with some terrain masking SE
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PWMurg is up and running in Esher with antennae mounted above the roof, receiving mainly from the West and round to the south with some terrain masking SE
the range is to the North and West is unbelievable!
by any chance did you have this sited somewhere else during testing ?
the range is massive, you captured to the NW at 99km - which is where we place the cutoff!!
Thx
Lee
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Well done Neil,
Looks like it will be a very useful Station. Congratulations.
Regards
Peter
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PWMurg is up and running in Esher with antennae mounted above the roof, receiving mainly from the West and round to the south with some terrain masking SE
the range is to the North and West is unbelievable!
by any chance did you have this sited somewhere else during testing ?
the range is massive, you captured to the NW at 99km - which is where we place the cutoff!!
Thx
Lee
;D nope, the Antennae spent 2 days in the garden, 2 days in the roof and now on the outside of the west facing wall. We're almost at the top of a small hill to the north, so great view of the Thames / River Mole valley. If we cut the top off a couple of the neighbours houses I could watch Chelsea training....
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But after last weekend would you want to?
Sorry, not really a Scotsman’s place to comment - especially a non-football-fan one. Never mind, there’s always next year!
Oops - tin hat time again.... :-\
Best Regards
Peter
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No not much of a fan either. I grew up near Leeds in their pomp, a difficult team to like...
So, watching Chelsea not a great attraction. Cutting the tops of the neighbours houses..., more tempting
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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.
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Hi Frank,
Glad to hear you've managed to get it up onto the mast.
The 170 nm range you are seeing on your ATOM VRS screen will be 1090 - probably ADSB - it will tell you on the screen on each individual aircraft label whether it is ADSB or MLAT (Mode S), or if relayed from another station, the label will say 'Grid'.
Your reported Max Range (so far) on the PilotAware Database for the PilotAware P3i side is 25Km, which isn't bad for a start. This report is of course completely dependent on passing traffic equipped with PilotAware to generate reports. You need to be patient I'm afraid (we've all been there :-\ ).
Edit: Just realised you are already using ognrange, so this next bit is ‘surplus’, but will leave it in for the benefit of new readers - Duh! Too early in the morning :-[
You can easily check your own coverage on https://ognrange.onglide.com as the 'heat map' builds, (see below) - simply log in to the ognrange site and key in your station name - LongSut for the Flarm Side or PWLongSut to see the P3i coverage, then click 'Goto' and select your desired timescale. You currently need to go out to 'Last 30 Days' to get a coverage report on either PW or Flarm, which reflects the fact that the station has presumably not been receiving - or at least not significantly during the last week as you got it ready and up on the mast, This is a very useful tool to allow comparison as time progresses - you can also take screenshots (as I have just done - see below) to keep a record of progress. You can zoom in and out at will, but watch your 'Zoom' level - the site will show you at the bottom of the screen if your zoom level is out of reporting range.
The comparative screenshot for LongSut (Flarm side), shows a weaker trace over a smaller area, which would perhaps imply that your Flarm antenna or feed isn't (yet) optimal. Most of us use 7 or 9dBi gain collinears for the Flarm side to pick up the weaker glider signals from further out. I know you said earlier that you are keen to experiment with your own options, but if you get stuck, remember that Keith can (usually) supply commercial antennas at 'cost + postage’, though postage on the big 9dBi ones is almost as much as the antenna.
Let's keep an eye on things and see how the coverage develops.
Best Regards
Peter
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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.
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Hi Frank
With the latest ATOM GRID software, there is no need for the timer
Thanks
Keith
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With the latest ATOM GRID software, there is no need for the timer
Doh, I just bought one :(
Is it better to just not install it?
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Paul,
The timer was originally required to prompt a check for and install of software updates at daily restart. This isn’t required any more as the software takes care of this automatically.
Some users, however, still use timers to control ‘active’ periods, particularly on remote sites, e.g. to limit data usage or where availability of power is an issue.
Regards
Peter
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I recently removed my timer. It kept getting out of sync with real time and shutting the station down during the day. :(
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Thanks guys. I'll just let it keep going 24/7, so I will try and think of some other use for the snazzy new timer :)
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The timer was originally required to prompt a check for and install of software updates at daily restart. This isn’t required any more as the software takes care of this automatically.
Some users, however, still use timers to control ‘active’ periods, particularly on remote sites, e.g. to limit data usage or where availability of power is an issue.
I find with systems left up for a long time there is often a "memory leak". Android appears to do it, Windows is terrible, and there's a possibility Raspbian might suffer from it.
I ran "top" today and it was using just under 1GB of RAM. I could bypass the timer without unplugging and go to "top" after 7 days for comparison...
I'd probably reboot my system once a week an ideal world, as it stands I've left the timer in circuit so the Pi gets about 4 hours a day of rest.
It means that if the device does hang up I haven't got to visit the strip to reset it.
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After over a year of trying, I today finally managed to get the new ATOM-GRID station installed on the ex WWII tower at Balado Airfield, nr Loch Leven - (where ‘T-in-the-Park’ used to be based).
Don’t let the blue skies and fluffy clouds fool you - working 30ft up on a ladder cable tied vertically to the mast off the top of the parapet in a 15G25KT gale was a bit of a challenge :-\.
Nonetheless, another one to add to the list.
Regards
Peter
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I assume you had a harness and fall arrestor on ! ::)
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That's the newer Trident style offering with PoE, isn't it?
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I assume you had a harness and fall arrestor on ! ::)
Might have if I had planned it better, though without a skyhook there would have been nothing suitable to connect to - except the same pole I tied the ladder to, so (after risk assessment of course) I decided instead to improvise and rely on a long working life with and from ladders and put my trust in my training and about 8 heavy duty cable ties. I have to say, I never felt in any danger - it was just hard work doing everything from a vertical ladder in today’s strong gusty wind - and reminded me I’m not getting any younger! :-\
That's the newer Trident style offering with PoE, isn't it?
Not quite Steve - my ‘interpretation’ of an earlier version powered by a 20volt laptop psu, reduced to 5volts at the top by a ‘hard-wired’ Anker lighter socket adaptor.
Regards
Peter
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Thanks guys. I'll just let it keep going 24/7, so I will try and think of some other use for the snazzy new timer :)
I bought one as well so if you need 2 snazzy new 7 day electronic timers with battery backup....
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Handy as burglar deterrents - as long as you can throw them accurately. :-\ :-[
Regards
Peter
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We got burgled last Nov, so nothing left worth stealing. Interestingly it was a Chilean gang from Santiago, bloody foreigners are even out-competing us in crime.
I blame the EU... (?)
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Hi all,
new station up and running in Germany: EDDG / PWEDDG.
It was an OGN/Flarm station and is now upgraded to PW, using the existing Flarm antenna und cable.
View to south is great, to the north it is obstructed by some trees and hills.
https://ibb.co/z7zwvXp (https://ibb.co/z7zwvXp)
A big thank you to Ashley and Keith for the great support!
More stations to come.
Patrick
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Hi again,
New station in Germany, Meppen1 up and running. It was built from scratch, there was no Flarm station before.
Currently it is without the Flarm antenna, which is still on order. Mlat range looks to be good with 50km at 2000ft.
Update: All three antennas are now up and at their final position. It was quite difficult to get those antennas up there, since there were not allowed to be attached to the roof or visible from the front of the house. https://ibb.co/1RT2FBX (https://ibb.co/1RT2FBX).
Kind regards,
Patrick
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Hi All,
Another new PAW ATOM-GRID Station went live yesterday. PWPwick near Tarbolton overlooks Prestwick Airport and the busy ‘Kilmarnock Corridor’ between Prestwick and Glasgow. It also has a clear view out over the Firth Of Clyde and North Channel to County Antrim. Antennas are still indoors at present, but the station is already receiving traffic. Once Graeme gets the antennas up on the roof this should prove an extremely beneficial addition to the network north of the border.
Well done to Graeme Park (and to Keith for supplying the kit).
Best Regards
Peter
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hello pilotaware team, my PWHohelohe station has been permanently online since 2020-10-09. Greetings from DE UlyFlieger
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Thanks Uly
I have sent you a PM
Thanks for your support in Germany
Keith
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Interesting station name, you can yodel it :)
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New Station in Germany went online yesterday
PWlsvpbg
Its located onroute to the popluar German north coast islands (e.g Norderney) at a glider airfield. We just need to fix a faulty SDR and then everything should be running fine.
@German OGN/Flarm User + Pilots. PAW and Atom Stations have been increasing, especially in the NW of Germany. It would be great to see similiar coverage than in the UK here in this area.
Kind Regards
Patrick
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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.
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Hi Frank
There was a glitch :(
Please try downloading and installing again
Alternatively you can install live by reboot and issuing the command
reinstall
(Takes upto 20 mins)
Please let us know the outcome
Thx
Lee
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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.
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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.
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Hi Frank,
Just “LongSut”
I stick with Kingston and Sandisk.
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Thanks Ian :)
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Just back from a long (13 hour) day, driving down from Edinburgh with AlanG to install a new PAW ATOM-GRID Ground Station at Athey’s Moor in Northumberland.
Now all up and running and looks like being a very useful site - and extends the ‘Scottish’ coverage a bit further down into the North-East England ‘gap’.
Hopefully we can add a few more sites in due course.
Regards
Peter
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Hello from new station at Coal Aston airstrip. EGCA. Situated just south of Sheffield.
This station also compliments North Sheffield.
Both stations became operational at the end of November 2021.
All good so far.
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Thanks, Bob
New sites to be dispatched this week include Smrtsky near Daventry, Seagull at Haverfordwest Cosford and Huntingdon.
Still hoping to have 250 installed by the end of the year
Cheers
Keith