OpenCPN and Lowrance 4G not working

[Hakan]

David
re: .................. was specific to one of the BR24 s/w components.
The "s/w component" I don't understand. The incompatible message use to say that a plugin is compatible or not. (You don't happen to have two BR24Radar....._pi.dll for BR24Radar_pi.dll but with different names? (In c:\program.....\OpenCPN\plugins\ I suppose you're on Windows?

re: How do I change over to just a black screen with no chart/map information?
The uppermost radar control info box "Radar A Radar Overlay etc.." actually is a button! Click on that and you change to "Stand alone" mode.

Håkan

[David Fullmer]

Håkan,
Thank you very much for your help with this. I'll have to get in front of the computer that I have all of this installed on. Then I can quote the exact error message I'm seeing. Unfortunately, that probably won't be until early next week given the four day holiday weekend looming. I am running on a Win7 64bit machine. I don't think I have more than one version of the BR24Radar plugin installed at one time, but I was switching between v1.1 and 1.2 while trying to land on a combination of OCPN and the BR24Radar plugin that would work. Perhaps it's time to delete everything and do a clean install.


Anyway, there's a chance I could get to this tonight, but likely it'll be next week. So thanks again, and I will be back in touch.


- Dave -

Originally Posted by Hakan

David
re: .................. was specific to one of the BR24 s/w components.
The "s/w component" I don't understand. The incompatible message use to say that a plugin is compatible or not. (You don't happen to have two BR24Radar....._pi.dll for BR24Radar_pi.dll but with different names? (In c:\program.....\OpenCPN\plugins\ I suppose you're on Windows?

re: How do I change over to just a black screen with no chart/map information?
The uppermost radar control info box "Radar A Radar Overlay etc.." actually is a button! Click on that and you change to "Stand alone" mode.

Håkan

[David Fullmer]

Håkan,


If I go to the Plugins tab, I get the following error message: "The plugin vdr_pi.dll is not compatible with this version of OpenCPN, please get an upgraded version". I checked all my version info and I'm running BR24Radar v1.3 with OCPN v4.1.1108 on Win7 64.I do not have GPS or compass inputs available.If go to the main OCPN page with the chart displayed, and I click on the radar icon in the toolbar, as expected the screen goes black, the radar starts turning, and the radar controls seem to function, but nothing is displayed (no radar data).So based on the performance and the error message, I was thinking that I need a version of BR24Radar compiled for v4.1.1108, but I'm open to any other suggestions as well. This could very well be cockpit error on my part!


Thanks,


- Dave -

Originally Posted by Hakan

David
re: .................. was specific to one of the BR24 s/w components.
The "s/w component" I don't understand. The incompatible message use to say that a plugin is compatible or not. (You don't happen to have two BR24Radar....._pi.dll for BR24Radar_pi.dll but with different names? (In c:\program.....\OpenCPN\plugins\ I suppose you're on Windows?

re: How do I change over to just a black screen with no chart/map information?
The uppermost radar control info box "Radar A Radar Overlay etc.." actually is a button! Click on that and you change to "Stand alone" mode.

Håkan

[Hakan]

Dave...
The message "The plugin vdr_pi.dll is not compatible with this version of OpenCPN, please get an upgraded version" is not about the plugin BR24Radar_pi. It's about the VDR plugin that you need to update for the OCPN version 4.1... and higher, (like beta 4.1.1108) if you use it to record/play NMEA messages.
If you don't use that plugin for the moment just delete "vdr_pi.dll" from your ....\OpenCPN\plugins\ directory. (Or give it another file extension like "vdr_pi.dll.old"

Look here for 4.1 plugins: Plugins for OpenCPN 4.1 | Official OpenCPN Homepage There's an updated version of VDR available.

Good luck
Håkan

[David Fullmer]

Håkan,


Thank you very much for setting me straight on the VDR issue. Yes, I did load it, but I'm not using it at this point (I don't have any source NMEA data to record). So I will delete it for the time being. I’ll check for the updated version as you suggested too. Down the road, I was hoping to figure out how to generate a couple of NMEA sentences and use VDR to fool my system into displaying the chart for my area so I could place the radar info on top of it.

But any ideas/thoughts/suggestions why I would get a black screen with no radar data displayed then? It sounds like the VDR error wouldn’t really have anything to do with the radar display. (So far, all of the problems have been operator induced on my part!)


- Dave -

Originally Posted by Hakan

Dave...
The message "The plugin vdr_pi.dll is not compatible with this version of OpenCPN, please get an upgraded version" is not about the plugin BR24Radar_pi. It's about the VDR plugin that you need to update for the OCPN version 4.1... and higher, (like beta 4.1.1108) if you use it to record/play NMEA messages.
If you don't use that plugin for the moment just delete "vdr_pi.dll" from your ....\OpenCPN\plugins\ directory. (Or give it another file extension like "vdr_pi.dll.old"

Look here for 4.1 plugins: Plugins for OpenCPN 4.1 | Official OpenCPN Homepage There's an updated version of VDR available.

Good luck
Håkan

[Hakan]

Dave..
There can be a black screen in "radar stand alone" mode but I'm not sure that's what you're talking about, right? You don't have a live radar connection, do you?
From start...
- Open OCPN
- Goto Tools > plugins and check that BR24Radar_pi is enabled. > Back
- From the radar icon in Tools menu click the icon. (Should now have a red dot beside) Now a radar menu and a info box will be shown telling what you're missing like OpenGL, position, heading, radar connection.
- Click the icon again and radar menus will close.
- If you've all but a radar connection you can test the radar function by:
Tools > Plugins > BR24radar preferences > Use Emulator mode. > Back
- Click the radar icon again.

If you don't have heading nor position use VDR and play a file, for example this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/.../Hakefjord.txt (Download and save it wherever you want and find it from the VDR plugin.)
This VDR replay is also fine if you've a radar connection and want to to test it.

Håkan

[David Fullmer]

Håkan,


Actually, I do have a live radar feed (Lowrance 4G). It's the compass and GPS feeds that I don't have. My long term goal is to use the radar in a fixed position (my house) to track weather. So it would be nice to have a map with the radar info overlay. I plan on modifying the radar slightly to form the beam more upward. I'll take a look and try your suggestions (below) tonight when I get home. I had hoped to use VDR to supply GPS and compass data, but need to figure out how to construct the NMEA sentences with the proper checksum for my location and heading (I'll just make my heading north).


By the way, what is OpenGL?


Thanks again for all of the help with this!


- Dave -

Originally Posted by Hakan

Dave..
There can be a black screen in "radar stand alone" mode but I'm not sure that's what you're talking about, right? You don't have a live radar connection, do you?
From start...
- Open OCPN
- Goto Tools > plugins and check that BR24Radar_pi is enabled. > Back
- From the radar icon in Tools menu click the icon. (Should now have a red dot beside) Now a radar menu and a info box will be shown telling what you're missing like OpenGL, position, heading, radar connection.
- Click the icon again and radar menus will close.
- If you've all but a radar connection you can test the radar function by:
Tools > Plugins > BR24radar preferences > Use Emulator mode. > Back
- Click the radar icon again.

If you don't have heading nor position use VDR and play a file, for example this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/.../Hakefjord.txt (Download and save it wherever you want and find it from the VDR plugin.)
This VDR replay is also fine if you've a radar connection and want to to test it.

Håkan

[NahanniV]

You may simply need to move your view to where OpenCPN thinks your boat is in order to see the RADAR image that is being drawn around the boat position.

Click the RED boat image on the toolbar "Auto Follow" or press F2 to do that.

You may also need to zoom in or out.

Cheers,
JM.

[Hakan]

- Dave -
OpenGL | Official OpenCPN Homepage
And the radar plugins need OpenGL

If you've the radar - connect it
Push the Radar icon once or twice and in the radar control click the uppermost box:
______________
|Overlay / Radar|
|Radar Overlay |
______________

And it will change to:
_________________
|Overlay / Radar |
|Radar Only Head up|
__________________

Even without heading or position.
If you have a map; move the boat to your position see: http://opencpn.org/ocpn/right_click_menu

Håkan

[David Fullmer]

JM,
Thank you so much for the simple observation that the radar display would be around the ship!! I didn't make that connection - but it only makes sense!


- Dave -

Originally Posted by NahanniV

You may simply need to move your view to where OpenCPN thinks your boat is in order to see the RADAR image that is being drawn around the boat position.

Click the RED boat image on the toolbar "Auto Follow" or press F2 to do that.

You may also need to zoom in or out.

Cheers,
JM.

[David Fullmer]

Håkan,


Okay, I think I've got everything set up correctly now. I've got the radar sitting on the floor of my workroom because I couldn't move it outside last night. But everything seems to be playing together nicely. I loaded the latest version of VDR and created a file with heading and location info that has the center of the map at my house and pointed north. The OPCN heading and sat indicators seem satisfied, the location of the ship seems right on the map, and all of the radar controls seem to be working as expected.


I'll place the radar outside tonight and see what I can "see". This radar does not have a radome on it - that was melted in a fire that was near the boat that it was installed on. The base and radar itself seem to be in good shape though. My problem is that I can't put it outside when it's raining because it is unprotected right now and it was raining last night. If I can get it all going, then I'll try to buy a new cover for it from Lowrance.


One thing I'm not seeing though is range rings on the display. Even if the radar can't "see" anything right now (because everything is too close), I would expect to see some rings for distance estimation. Can they be turned on and off?


Thanks again for all of the help!


- Dave -


PS What part of the world are you in? I'm in Seattle, Washington - hence the rain...

Originally Posted by Hakan

- Dave -
OpenGL | Official OpenCPN Homepage
And the radar plugins need OpenGL

If you've the radar - connect it
Push the Radar icon once or twice and in the radar control click the uppermost box:
______________
|Overlay / Radar|
|Radar Overlay |
______________

And it will change to:
_________________
|Overlay / Radar |
|Radar Only Head up|
__________________

Even without heading or position.
If you have a map; move the boat to your position see: Right Click Menu | Official OpenCPN Homepage

Håkan

[Hakan]

Dave..
re: One thing I'm not seeing though is range rings on the display. Even if the radar can't "see" anything right now (because everything is too close), I would expect to see some rings for distance estimation. Can they be turned on and off?

The range ring should be there although not very obvious. When the range is in Auto mode it's normally outside the screen because that mode try to set the range just outside the screen. Change range to something not Auto, say 3 NM, and zoom out beyond that and you'll see the ring.


I'm in Sweden and here it's raining, how do you say - cats and dogs? - , and blowing as well. But to my personal joy no snow yet.

Håkan

[David Fullmer]

Håkan,


I've been involved in one other online group like this and it continues to impress me with the global contributions that come together to make something happen!


I finally got the last piece to the puzzle figured out last night. The default value for 'transparency' is 10 when the BR24 plugin is installed, so I just wasn't seeing anything. I slid that down to 0 and now I get images (and the range ring). So everything seems to be working!!


I have not spent time reading the online doc's to try to figure this out yet, but do you know how can I turn off the charts and get Google Earth to display as the background? I am inland a bit and the available charts only detail the waterways (no surprise there).


And yes, the expression is 'raining like cats and dogs'... although I have no idea where that one comes from. Yesterday was nice enough, but starting today, the next week here is expected to get something like 2-3cm of rain a day. And I hear it's supposed to get windy which means power outages. I actually live in one of the outlaying areas east of Seattle, so there are a LOT of tall trees (~30m) and the power infrastructure is not as robust as in the city.


Anyway, I would like to thank you yet again for all of the help in getting this going. I will now share this info with a friend of mine to get him up and going as well. He does marine electronics installations (and is the guy that gave me this radar). So it would be helpful to him to be able to run this in his shop to help test things out.


Happy holidays!


- Dave -

Originally Posted by Hakan

Dave..
re: One thing I'm not seeing though is range rings on the display. Even if the radar can't "see" anything right now (because everything is too close), I would expect to see some rings for distance estimation. Can they be turned on and off?

The range ring should be there although not very obvious. When the range is in Auto mode it's normally outside the screen because that mode try to set the range just outside the screen. Change range to something not Auto, say 3 NM, and zoom out beyond that and you'll see the ring.


I'm in Sweden and here it's raining, how do you say - cats and dogs? - , and blowing as well. But to my personal joy no snow yet.

Håkan

[bcn]

Originally Posted by David Fullmer

I have not spent time reading the online doc's to try to figure this out yet, but do you know how can I turn off the charts and get Google Earth to display as the background? I am inland a bit and the available charts only detail the waterways (no surprise there).
- Dave -

For maps you might try OSM (OpenStreetMap) - take a screenshot and georeference it with imgkap for example. More in the OCPN manual --> supplementary software,

For GoogleEarth GE2kap is your friend. Just search the forum for instructions.

[David Fullmer]

Thanks! One more thing to look into But I noticed that there is a GoogleEarth plugin. can that not be used as the background?