OpenCPN on Pi Zero

[ejs]

Boat_A,


Not sure which boot time you mean, the Orange Pi boots up to the chart display in 30-40 seconds, but it is doing lots of initialization, connecting to my nav system, etc. I’ve not optimized that because I almost never turn it off. OpenCPN starts in about 4 seconds to a chart, if I click on it from the menu.


I think the key to the APT satellites is the antenna, I tried with a wire dipole antenna without much luck, then I made a crossed dipole, which is actually circularly polarized like the signal, tuned to 137 MHz and it worked quite well. Everything has to be right of course, satellite times, correct frequency per satellite, etc. I use a set of python scripts available as a git download, https://github.com/DrPaulBrewer/rtls...-wxsat-capture



I also have a dedicated APT radio that uses a usb port and a sound card which makes slightly better images on the PC. I could never get high quality sound input on the Orange PI to use that radio, though.
It uses sox and wxtoimg to do the processing and predict to track the satellites. I hacked (my python skills are terrible, though) it to interrupt the rtl-ais function when a satellite is overhead.


I’m not sure what you mean by connecting the OpenCPNs. I do have it on both machines, I use the PC one for planning, mostly. How do you Sync the routes and tracks?


I guess because I hadn’t found the git repository for openplotter, that is a good idea I’ll look for it and see if I can get it running.

Rhapsody,


It has been very stable, I started it in September and it ran continuously for my passages from Samoa to NZ. I turned it off when we went back to the states for the Christmas holidays. I’m using Armbian linux, which seems fairly well sorted out.

Cheers, Eric

[conachair]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

It would be interesting if networked opencpn's could synchronize user data like routes and tracks.

I just do it manually at the moment copying the navobj.xml(.*) files with astro file manager on the tablet or filezilla on the laptop talking to the I over wifi to copy across the latest files.
Node-RED on the Pi should be able to automate the process more easily for us not so high up the programming ladder.

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by ejs

Boat_A,


Not sure which boot time you mean, the Orange Pi boots up to the chart display in 30-40 seconds, but it is doing lots of initialization, connecting to my nav system, etc. I’ve not optimized that because I almost never turn it off. OpenCPN starts in about 4 seconds to a chart, if I click on it from the menu.

I can see a chart in 20 seconds from power, but on a pi2, not a zero. This is with tinycore linux.

I think the key to the APT satellites is the antenna, I tried with a wire dipole antenna without much luck, then I made a crossed dipole, which is actually circularly polarized like the signal, tuned to 137 MHz and it worked quite well. Everything has to be right of course, satellite times, correct frequency per satellite, etc. I use a set of python scripts available as a git download, https://github.com/DrPaulBrewer/rtls...-wxsat-capture

Does it work in the daytime?

I also have a dedicated APT radio that uses a usb port and a sound card which makes slightly better images on the PC. I could never get high

Slightly better than rtlsdr? Is it a usb sound card? What kind of radio?

quality sound input on the Orange PI to use that radio, though.
It uses sox and wxtoimg to do the processing and predict to track the satellites. I hacked (my python skills are terrible, though) it to interrupt the rtl-ais function when a satellite is overhead.

Yesterday I hacked the weatherfax plugin to access rtlsdr directly and tune it (assuming upconverter) automatically to retrieve images. I should really play around with different filters though, but it's working. It is nice to have automatic radio control of hffax, but now I fear we are all going to need 2 or 3 dongles to be able to receive everything we want to.

Are you able to run the rtlsdr through a usb hub? I am not having much success with that.

I’m not sure what you mean by connecting the OpenCPNs. I do have it on both machines, I use the PC one for planning, mostly. How do you Sync the routes and tracks?

This is a future feature I may implement.

[ejs]

Does it work in the daytime?

Yes, they work in the daytime, there are two modes, at night they are far infrared and near infrared and in the daytime they are far infrared (I think) and visible.

Slightly better than rtlsdr? Is it a usb sound card? What kind of radio?

I was trying to use the built-in microphone sound on the Orange Pi 2 plus. The radio is the R2FU weather sat radio made by a German HAM Holger Eckardt, DF2FQ. It is a dedicated weather sat radio that integrates well with WXTOIMG on both PCs and Linux.


Yesterday I hacked the weatherfax plugin to access rtlsdr directly and tune it (assuming upconverter) automatically to retrieve images. I should really play around with different filters though, but it's working. It is nice to have automatic radio control of hffax, but now I fear we are all going to need 2 or 3 dongles to be able to receive everything we want to.

Very cool. Are you using the RTL explicitly or is the interface generic enough to use other SDRs? Can O start an external script to actually run the radio? I ask because I use an SDRPLAY for HF and not a converter so the actual commands will be different. It is well supported by the SoapySDR library on the Pi (and on other platforms) You don't necessarily need one dongle per function, I am currently sharing one for AIS and APT weather. Ii, of course don't get AIS when a picture is downloading, but I an usually well offshore and can afford a 10 munite gap in my AIS coverage. HF fax might be different, though.

Are you able to run the rtlsdr through a usb hub? I am not having much success with that.

I haven't tried, the Orange Pis I have have 3 or 4 USB ports, so I don't need a hub.


This is a future feature I may implement. Looking forward to that one, I sometimes have three instances of O running (PC, Pi and Tablet) and it would be great to have them in sync!

Cheers, Eric

[/QUOTE]

[rgleason]

Do you have the plugin Launcher on your version & os? I use it to run vdrplayer script python

[ejs]

Can you explain the launcher/vdrplayer role? It looks like it is for simulation playback. I'm on the boat and have the live instruments available, so I don't think I need it, but I could be wrong.


Eric

[rgleason]

You do not need it except for testing perhaps.