Author Topic: Ground stations latest software  (Read 8521 times)

iain

Ground stations latest software
« on: June 23, 2019, 10:54:10 am »
Looking at the list of ground stations there seem to be quite a few with older software and some offline

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lsp4fhx1jlg4l64/ogn-r.txt?dl=0

Do ground stations need the latest software v20190524 for the Mode-S/3D
« Last Edit: June 23, 2019, 04:31:55 pm by iain »

Keithvinning

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2019, 09:39:13 pm »
Hi Iain

Yes, they need the latest software. This includes an auto update so once installed they will update when new software is available. We are in the process of getting all the OGN-R receivers upgraded by their owners. All new stations will, of course, have the new software installed.

peter.seddon

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2019, 07:04:50 pm »
Hi Keith, how do I upgrade my station which is running 20180802.
Peter S
G-DDLA

Moffrestorer

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2019, 12:33:39 am »
Iain, Keith,

What is the significance of the numbers in the list, following UP (+XXX) and DOWN (+XXX or highlighted in blue). My station PWKingstone has a fairly low number, compared to others. Is this a cause for concern?

Thx,

Chris

Admin

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2019, 07:19:59 am »
Iain, Keith,

What is the significance of the numbers in the list, following UP (+XXX) and DOWN (+XXX or highlighted in blue). My station PWKingstone has a fairly low number, compared to others. Is this a cause for concern?

Thx,

Chris

Hi Chris
Please post a screenshot, not quite sure what you mean
Thx
Lee

exfirepro

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2019, 08:15:02 am »
Lee,

Chris is referring to the numbers in the table Iain posted the link to in his OP above.

Chris,

I can’t remember what the ‘units’ are, but a low black number indicates recent activity - which is ‘good’. Postscript - After a quick calculation, I’m pretty sure the numbers are seconds since last traffic report.

As an example, PWBalado is one of mine but isn’t yet live. It was set up and configured for a short test (at my home address) using Version 20190403 and was then shut down again on Thu Apr 04 whilst awaiting antennas and reinstallation at Balado (soon hopefully), so therefore shows as DOWN since then and shows + 6988896 (in blue) and presumably rising daily, whereas PWBalerno, my  ‘active’ station is running the latest software v20190524 (via auto-update), and at the time of the screenshot was ‘UP’, with a report period of +94.

7  PWBalado   v20190403 Thu Apr 04 14:14:23 BST 2019 DOWN + 6988896
8  PWBalerno  v20190524 Mon Jun 24 11:34:25 BST 2019 UP   + 94

The aim is to get all stations updated to the latest software (after which they will update automatically whenever they are ‘on’) and to identify those which haven’t been operational for some time (high blue numbers) and get them back on line.

Regards

Peter


Moffrestorer

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2019, 08:50:30 am »
Thanks Peter and Lee,

As an aside, I’m concerned over the Flarm performance of the station I helped commission at Shobdon. It was performing really well as EGBS/PWEGBS, but Tom subsequently installed the latest May2019 software using a SD card kindly supplied by Keith, and seems to have renamed the station as PWShobdon. So in the Dropbox list in the OP, PWEGBS is shown as DOWN, but is still functioning (?) as PWShobdon!

Since the software update the Hereford gliding club have reported that they were unable to see a new Flarm installation of theirs via Spot the Gliders, and flights were not showing up on KTRAX. My own checks via OGNrange (acecorp) website show the PW side working but little activity on the OGN side. I feel the station needs looking at and maybe all this rain may have got to the NESDR, but hopefully not!

Regards,

Chris

exfirepro

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2019, 01:04:34 pm »
Hi Chris,

Eric C had a similar issue at PWPoulton (Poulton-le-Fylde) a few months back and on investigation found a very wet (and very dead) NooElec due to water ingress, so worth checking.

Best Regards

Peter

Admin

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2019, 01:45:14 pm »
Hi Chris

I think your SDR is hosed
I looked at Flarm contacts from Shobden and it was not looking good at all :-(
2 contacts, and only at very close range

Thx
Lee

Moffrestorer

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2019, 04:46:04 pm »
Hi Lee,

Logged into the Shobdon groundstation today and did a recalibration run of the NESDR. It passed OK and was able to detect a Flarm target on the apron, ( seen via Glidertracker.org).

Hopefully all will be well but will keep an eye on it this weekend when the gliders should be aloft.

Thx,

Chris

Moffrestorer

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2019, 01:35:56 pm »
Pleased to be able to report that the Shobdon OGN-R is still functioning OK. Busy gliding day yesterday and I was able to see it all via Glidertracker. I also received a copy of the KTRAX printout of flights record so all seems to be back to normal. Quieter day today, presumably because of very hot WX but some aviation going on as far as Incan see. Not sure what this issue was but logging in and running the SDR calibration routine seems to have reset everything. Didn’t touch anything else nor depowered the groundstation!

Makes me wonder if this is something similar to what happened to Ridders on the parallel thread? Before dismantling the mast is it worth one more try to login and rerun the setup procedure??

Thx,

Chris

exfirepro

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2019, 07:44:50 pm »
Chris,

Is it possible that water might have got into the SDR or coax during the recent spell of bad weather and that this has simply now dried out?

If it is now working and it’s a problem getting to it, it’s probably worthwhile monitoring the situation and see if the problem recurs next time you get heavy rain.

Regards

Peter

Moffrestorer

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #12 on: June 30, 2019, 09:51:50 am »
Hi Peter,

Your thoughts mirror my own. The NESDR is up the mast sealed in a tube with self amalgamating tape and connected to the Pi via a long USB cable, like your own.

The funny thing is that the failure reports were received shortly after the recent manual software update was applied, and possibly predated the incessant  heavy rain we experienced. I didn’t personally do the software change, but know that the station name was changed at the same time. I’m sure Tom would have been alerted if the calibration had failed and the service not restarted, like what Ridders experienced.


Thx,

Chris

EricC

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2019, 10:54:04 am »
My first NooElec failure was the result of condensation in the aerial mast.   

I fitted a breather top and bottom of the aerial and on inspection this week I
found all dry and in good order.
The NooElec dongle is now indoors with five meters of HDF400 cable to the dongle.

The temperature of the dongle varies between 36/40 degC.
If positioned outside, it ideally needs to be protected from sunlight with adequate
ventilation.





iain

Re: Ground stations latest software
« Reply #14 on: November 16, 2019, 05:00:16 pm »
Update to old post, new ground station link is here -

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0n5emkw4nm85sw1/ogn-r.txt?dl=0