Messages

31

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: OGNRANGE Ported to Open Street Map API

« on: January 02, 2019, 01:26:46 pm »

I'm pleased to see the new porting of the Onglide Web pages to the Open Street Map API.

The credits on their web page says "Thanks to Nick Bonniere for porting to Open Street Map API …..!".

Good work and thanks to him.

A Happy New Year to all
Chris

32

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: OGN-R Traffic Stats

« on: September 13, 2018, 06:19:28 pm »

Thanks Lee,

That makes sense however this does suggest that the connection may periodically reset back to location 'unknown' as my OGN-R unit confirms that it has been up for several days and the most recent RND record was received today.

  APRS.Server[0] -> aprs.glidernet.org:14580
  connected to 88.99.111.134:14580
  connected for 111h12
  KiloBytes sent/received 7986/1521

RND919DBF [    1/    1sec]   C:0:919DBF  <249.0m/s> < 5.0dB>, <11.0bit/packet>, < -3.08(0.00)kHz>
153728: [ +48.64621,  -4.18685]deg    0m +178.4m/s 249.0m/s 235.6deg -44.8deg/sec 2 23x02m 00f_ -3.08kHz  5.0/11.0dB/2 11e  397.2km 312.2deg  -3.5deg   ?   ! 

Chris

33

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: OGN-R Traffic Stats

« on: September 12, 2018, 09:33:24 am »

Is it possible that the those marked as RND are the cloaked ones? The identities are possibly real but the associated location data appears to be randomised which might account for the bizarre reported Long/Lat positions which can be thousands of miles away. I've only logged 22 unique RND identities so far. However if this is the case one might argue going forward that in terms of privacy v safety that it is the identity which ought to be hidden not the location. 

Chris

34

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: OGN-R Traffic Stats

« on: September 11, 2018, 10:57:49 am »

Hi Moffrestorer,

I happened to use the long list but the short list should give the same result (from the diagnostic page :8081). I simply 'select all' in the browser and copy and paste the results into Excel, and expand out with Data and Text-to-Columns. It's crude but quick. A simple sort of the list will aggregate all lines with identifier codes in one block. As to what exactly is recorded will be for others to advise us. It appears to be just Flarm and OGN devices (not sure about PAW). I understand that some FLARM devices can be coded with the plane's ICAO number so that typically the Benson training fleet of Grobs show ICAO ID codes.

You are right that other aircraft do not appear to be recorded here. Other aircraft transiting with ADS-B, Mode C/S, military aircraft; police helicopters and others with no identifiers are all missing - however the number of these is relatively small compared to the very significant number of gliders on some days. I also run a PAW as a ground station so the traffic logs I've saved may contain the combined data of PAW + OGN-R. The format of the PAW.trk files looks messy and I haven't looked at decoding them.

The aircraft identifiers in the RTLSDR-OGN logfile are prefixed with the following 3-letter codes which I believe refer to :-

  FLR is Flarm with identities typically starting DDxxxx
  ICA is devices programmed with the ICAO identifier which can be translated to the registration (as shown on http://glidertracker.org, PAW and can be looked up on the ginfo site at  https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/ for UK regies).
  OGN Open Glider Network device
  RND Random?? The small number of contacts with these identifiers tend to appear to be in very far off and unbelievable locations so I cannot account for their origin.

Hope this helps.

Chris

35

OGN-R PilotAware / OGN-R Traffic Stats

« on: September 10, 2018, 04:46:09 pm »

I thought this might be interesting to the PAW and OGN-R community. I'm manually logging the daily traffic seen from my OGN-R station RADLEY (Abingdon, Oxfordshire) located between the Brize and Benson zones. The attached graph shows the daily variation of aircraft/gliders recorded in this area (a few days are not recorded or no traffic was observed due to poor weather). Over the period from May-Sept 2018 a total of 5,415 aircraft were observed. This was from 888 unique aircraft (many of which passed through on multiple days - they are only counted once per day even if making multiple passes) - peaking at over 200 during some afternoons. The graph is a reminder that the daily traffic can vary enormously and in some cases there can be a lot of it in a relatively small corridor (and concentrated at popular times of day). If ever we needed a reminder of why we are doing this, this may encourage our efforts on conspicuity in general and OGN-R in particular, in order to get the best possible continuous PAW coverage in the air. On several recent trips the PAW + OGN-R has helped highlight traffic ahead and been a useful addition to situational awareness and flight safety.

The biggest peaks have tended to coincide with Gliding Competitions. A useful source of possible Glider activity can be found at https://glidingtasks.co.uk/ although it can be updated quite late if the weather is marginal.
 
Chris

36

OGN-R PilotAware / OGNRANGE offline at the moment

« on: August 04, 2018, 12:18:27 pm »

Sadly the very useful http://ognrange.onglide.com appears to have been taken offline with the following message to users.

"Sorry everybody but the new google maps pricing makes this service temporarily unavailable. I will keep collecting data and work on a solution when I get time."

Anyone any suggestions to help get this tool back online or helpful alternatives?

Chris

37

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: Identifying potential gaps

« on: July 25, 2018, 08:09:07 pm »

Hmmm, I logged 77 different Glider ID's over Abingdon in Sunday 22nd (which created 3125 lines records of received positions). PWRADLEY/RADLEY was up and transmitting so it should have been relaying the OGN data in that area as it is receiving out to at least Benson.
Chris

38

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: Calling Antenna Guru's .....

« on: July 09, 2018, 09:37:26 pm »

I am next going to try and scale the Quadrifilar Helical Antenna that I successfully built for picking up the NOAA Polar Orbiting weather satellites (~135MHz). It appears several people have tried this for 2.4GHz so this should be interesting if a little challenging to make for OGNPAW. These are very pretty :-) I have no idea how well it will perform but the big advantage of the QFH is the ability to receive the signal clearly from a moving target from one horizon to the other - which is more of less exactly the same requirement we have here. If anyone has a working design for OGN I'd be happy to see it.

39

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: Calling Antenna Guru's .....

« on: July 09, 2018, 09:03:47 pm »

Guru's pushing it (a lot)!

Here is a picture of one I built which is an adaptation blending a couple of designs including one from 'martybugs'. It is a colinear but not the coax variety.

The sections are tuned lengths (from the base)  1/2 lambda; 3/4 lambda and slightly less than 3/4 lambda. The 360 degree coils are quarter lambda long. The tube is 6mm brass and the coils 5mm copper which is a snug fit brazed into the tube. The ground plane reflectors are 1/4 lambda. These are all attached to a 'N' chassis connector (which was then encased for external mounting).

It seems to work very well however I have not been able to fine tune it as I do not have access to any relevant test equipment. The options are to alter the section lengths (in particular the top section to adjust capacitance) and also the angle of the ground plane to the horizontal which impacts the impedance.

There is also a 1/4 lambda sleeve balun below the aerial attached to the cable sheath aiming to prevent reflections and the coax radiating if using it for Tx.

The aerial is claimed to have a gain of just 5db which should improve horizontal effectiveness at roof level. It seems to be receiving very well.

I'd welcome any constructive comments and tuning advice from the real gurus.

Chris   

40

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: Stations Offline

« on: July 09, 2018, 01:24:25 pm »

Many thanks. Useful report.

In a typical report as below please can you advise me what the last number relates to as I can't (yet) equate it to anything on the RTLSDR report that I get from the Pi.

Cheers
Chris (PWRADLEY) 


########################################################
       Report Date : Mon  9 Jul 12:55:56 BST 2018
########################################################
1  PWAlconbu  Tue May 29 20:56:41 BST 2018 DOWN + 3513555
2  PWAldersh  Mon Jul 09 12:53:56 BST 2018 UP   + 120
3  PWBalerno  Mon Jul 09 12:54:48 BST 2018 UP   + 68
4  PWBarton   Mon Jul 09 12:51:19 BST 2018 UP   + 277
5  PWBidford  Mon Jul 09 12:54:15 BST 2018 UP   + 101
6  PWBkpark   Mon Jul 09 12:53:47 BST 2018 UP   + 129
7  PWBooker   Mon Jul 09 12:52:03 BST 2018 UP   + 233
8  PWBroadmd  Mon Jul 09 12:53:48 BST 2018 UP   + 128
9  PWBurn     Mon Jul 09 12:54:35 BST 2018 UP   + 81
10 PWCalne    Mon Jul 09 12:51:24 BST 2018 UP   + 272
11 PWChernog  Tue May 08 19:51:17 BST 2018 DOWN + 5331879
12 PWChilter  Fri May 11 11:27:42 BST 2018 DOWN + 5102894
13 PWCoventr  Mon Jul 09 12:52:07 BST 2018 UP   + 229
14 PWCrowlan  Mon Jul 09 12:53:05 BST 2018 UP   + 171
15 PWDeanlan  Tue May 29 15:55:22 BST 2018 DOWN + 3531634
16 PWDiss     Sun Apr 22 00:45:31 BST 2018 DOWN + 6783025
17 PWDyfnant  Sun May 27 14:32:20 BST 2018 DOWN + 3709416
18 PWEGBKE    Mon Jul 09 12:54:44 BST 2018 UP   + 72
19 PWEGBS     Mon Jul 09 12:53:26 BST 2018 UP   + 150
20 PWEGBT     Mon Jul 09 12:51:04 BST 2018 UP   + 292
21 PWEGBW     Mon Jul 09 12:52:52 BST 2018 UP   + 184
22 PWEGHPTEM  Thu May 03 22:29:48 BST 2018 DOWN + 5754368
23 PWEGHS     Sun May 13 21:29:59 BST 2018 DOWN + 4893957
24 PWEGNO     Wed May 09 19:09:57 BST 2018 DOWN + 5247959
25 PWEGSF     Sat May 05 06:33:01 BST 2018 DOWN + 5638975
26 PWEGTU     Tue May 08 13:26:45 BST 2018 DOWN + 5354951
27 PWETNG     Sun Jul 08 19:33:22 BST 2018 DOWN + 62554
28 PWEnstone  Mon Jul 09 12:51:29 BST 2018 UP   + 267
29 PWEverton  Mon Jul 09 12:55:12 BST 2018 UP   + 44
30 PWFordham  Tue May 29 20:58:40 BST 2018 DOWN + 3513436
31 PWGuildfo  Tue May 29 20:54:05 BST 2018 DOWN + 3513711
32 PWHusBos   Mon Jul 09 12:53:19 BST 2018 UP   + 157
33 PWKingsLy  Mon Jul 09 12:52:33 BST 2018 UP   + 203
34 PWKingsto  Mon Jul 09 12:53:10 BST 2018 UP   + 166
35 PWLinton   Thu May 17 22:23:47 BST 2018 DOWN + 4545129
36 PWMoosbg2  Mon Jul 09 12:54:47 BST 2018 UP   + 69
37 PWMoosbur  Mon Jul 09 12:37:06 BST 2018 DOWN + 1130
38 PWMynd     Mon Jul 09 12:51:03 BST 2018 UP   + 293
39 PWNewbury  Mon Jul 09 12:54:55 BST 2018 UP   + 61
40 PWOrwell   Mon Jul 09 12:55:41 BST 2018 UP   + 15
41 PWOrwell2  Sun Apr 29 12:11:14 BST 2018 DOWN + 6137082
42 PWOxford   Mon Jul 09 12:55:21 BST 2018 UP   + 35
43 PWRadley   Mon Jul 09 12:54:35 BST 2018 UP   + 81
44 PWRedhill  Mon Jul 09 12:54:25 BST 2018 UP   + 91
45 PWSALTBY   Mon Jul 09 12:51:29 BST 2018 UP   + 267
46 PWSaxonda  Mon Jul 09 12:51:04 BST 2018 UP   + 292
47 PWSkellin  Mon Jul 09 12:53:04 BST 2018 UP   + 172
48 PWSnitter  Fri May 04 11:17:01 BST 2018 DOWN + 5708335
49 PWStoke    Mon Jul 09 12:54:38 BST 2018 UP   + 78
50 PWSuttonB  Mon Jul 09 12:54:21 BST 2018 UP   + 95
51 PWSwaffha  Mon Jul 09 12:53:20 BST 2018 UP   + 156
52 PWTatenhi  Mon Jul 09 12:47:56 BST 2018 UP   + 480
53 PWThame    Mon Jul 09 12:52:16 BST 2018 UP   + 220
54 PWTopclif  Tue May 29 20:54:33 BST 2018 DOWN + 3513683
55 PWTroston  Mon Jul 09 12:54:40 BST 2018 UP   + 76
56 PWUKBIG    Mon Jul 09 12:54:50 BST 2018 UP   + 66
57 PWUKDOG    Sat Apr 28 10:45:13 BST 2018 DOWN + 6228643
58 PWUKDRL    Mon Jul 09 12:51:26 BST 2018 UP   + 270
59 PWUKEDG    Mon Jul 09 12:53:16 BST 2018 UP   + 160
60 PWUKGRL    Mon May 28 13:52:31 BST 2018 DOWN + 3625405
61 PWUKKIR    Mon Jul 09 12:55:11 BST 2018 UP   + 45
62 PWUKLSW    Mon Jul 09 12:54:23 BST 2018 UP   + 93
63 PWUKMAC    Mon May 21 16:19:44 BST 2018 DOWN + 4221372
64 PWUKPOC    Tue May 29 20:58:26 BST 2018 DOWN + 3513450
65 PWUKPRK    Mon Jul 09 12:55:56 BST 2018 UP   + 0
66 PWUKRAT    Tue May 29 20:58:06 BST 2018 DOWN + 3513470
67 PWUKRUT    Mon Jul 09 12:53:15 BST 2018 UP   + 161
68 PWUKSE2    Mon Jul 09 12:52:45 BST 2018 UP   + 191
69 PWUKTIB    Thu May 17 22:23:34 BST 2018 DOWN + 4545142
70 PWUKUPW    Mon Jul 09 12:52:22 BST 2018 UP   + 214
71 PWUKmil    Mon Jul 09 12:52:40 BST 2018 UP   + 196
72 PWWilmcot  Mon Jul 09 12:51:57 BST 2018 UP   + 239
73 PWfenland  Sun May 13 14:33:04 BST 2018 DOWN + 4918972
74 PWukBER    Mon Jul 09 12:54:58 BST 2018 UP   + 58
75 PWukprk    Tue May 01 17:18:17 BST 2018 DOWN + 5945859
76 PWukwrm    Mon Jul 09 12:52:30 BST 2018 UP   + 206

41

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: New Stations Added

« on: June 21, 2018, 07:22:48 pm »

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

42

OGN-R PilotAware / Rosetta and OGN-R

« on: May 14, 2018, 07:04:52 pm »

Any changes expected/needed/possible to the OGNPAW ground stations following the Rosetta uplift (such a processor upgrade)? Does the OGNPAW code roughly follow the latest PAW build or is it a completely different fork (and something that may well be left on a legacy software and hardware build given the need to get Rosetta launched quickly).

Looking forward to seeing the 978MHz Wx receiver being added to PAW.

Keep up the good work
Chris

43

General Discussion / Re: Enhancement Requests

« on: March 25, 2018, 12:54:20 pm »

Hi Lee

Small request re Radar view. I run my PAW as a ground station when not flying with it. At the moment the rose on the radar view is based on GPS heading but with a static ground station this results in a largely random heading being displayed depending on the GPS output. Would it be possible to have an optional feature to allow one to set the rose heading to a fixed bearing in degrees. This would enable one to enter 0/360 for a 'north up' view or any other bearing that might say be the direction one was seated at looking at the screen so one could quickly ascertain a planes position from the ground observers view. When flying the GPS view would no doubt be preferable for many people.

Many thanks.
Chris

44

OGN-R PilotAware / Re: OGN Station Status

« on: March 20, 2018, 11:42:39 am »

You may find this a useful link to tell you about the graphical status and history of your OGN-R hardware, including RF Noise, CPU Load, Temperature and RF sensitivity. Just select your own station (OGN name only; not the PAW station). I have used changes in the graphs to spot that the receiver had stopped and that the aerial was not screwed in properly.

http://grafana.glidernet.org/dashboard/db/receivers?orgId=1&var-receiver=Radley

I hope this helps

Chris

ps. Sorry, the link is similar to Ben Smith's earlier posting.

45

Technical Support / Re: Error Message every 5 mins in Log file "mount : can't find /boot in ......."

« on: March 02, 2018, 06:12:24 pm »

Thanks Lee,
I'll do the full install - not a problem.
Cheers
Chris
ps. Thx, that sorted it (it upgraded the kernel from 4.1.19-v7+ to 4.9.35-v7+)