New Stations Added

[neilmurg]

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

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....

[exfirepro]

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

[neilmurg]

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

[trident]

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.

[exfirepro]

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

 

[trident]

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.

[Keithvinning]

Hi Frank

With the latest ATOM GRID software, there is no need for the timer

Thanks

Keith

[PaulSS]

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?

[exfirepro]

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

[Ian Melville]

I recently removed my timer. It kept getting out of sync with real time and shutting the station down during the day. 

[PaulSS]

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 

[steveu]

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.

[exfirepro]

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

[iain]

I assume you had a harness and fall arrestor on ! 

[steveu]

That's the newer Trident style offering with PoE, isn't it?