WeatherFax ...

[rgleason]

OPENCGL Test - Dell XPS15 Laptop with NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
In the display, right click and pick Nvidia Control Panel, click on Manage 3D setttings,
pick OpenCpn and set it to run with High Perforamance NVIDIA graphics processor.

Start Opencpn and check the OpenGL setting to use OpenGL, then start using Weatherfax. Without trying a Wav file in these tests, everything seemed to work fine absolutely not problems for this computer!!! THANK YOU SEAN Whatever you did OpenGL seems to work great!

Attached is a polar file 13021903-Polar.png which had the Vertical Meridian set at 70 and 10 and then the Coord at Coord1= 60, 90 and Coord2= 20, 180.

[rgleason]

WAVE Files
Here is a test with OpenGL turned on, of a Wave file "48HrSurface_Valid201302011200.wav" attached below with .doc added.
This required some fiddling, which was easily accomplished with the interace, using "Edit" and trying out different coordinates because the wav file being used was so granny. Also, tried the various filters and skew and they both worked fine. The decoder ran like a champ almost instantly, whereas before it was totally choked up.
Good Job Sean, whatever you did it seems to be working. This is a pretty awssome tool. Again Thank you.

One reason this plugin is needed How to analyze synoptic weather

The actual wave file is probably to big to load even zipped, but it can be found here
Thanks! I didn't try all the links, the ones I tried are too short, too small files. But with the help of above links I found this webpage: WeatherFax and Shortwave Radio which has two full length fax audio files:

• Sample WeatherFax transmission - WAV format. 48 Hour Wind and Wave Forecast, valid 2013 Feb 01 1200Z. Received from NOAA Pt Reyes, 17151 kHz on 2013 Jan 30
• Sample WeatherFax transmission - WAV format. 48 Hour Surface Forecast, valid 2013 Feb 01 1200Z. Received from NOAA Pt Reyes, 17151 kHz on 2013 Jan 30

These wav files are 10-12MB, but not of great quality. yahfax does decode them, see screenshots. The weatherfax plugin crashes opencpn when trying to import either one as a wav file. DIRK

The first one 48hrWindWave_Valid201302011200.wav does NOT decode successfully.
The second one 48hrSurfac_Valid201302011200.wav does decode and is the one shown below


Sample Wave Files - (a number of these are not decoded by weatherfax plugin - saying not 16bit.) JVComm32 - sound samples

Weatherfax transmission on short wave HFFax.wav
RTTY weather report transmission on short waveRtty-sw.wav
RTTY weather report transmission on long wave Rtty-rw.wavNAVTEX- transmission on 518 kHz Navtex.wavWeather satellites - (here: polar orbiting NOAA satellite in the 137 MHz frequency range Noaa.WavHam (amateur) radio SSTV transmission Sstv.wav

Don't know how important this is.

[rgleason]

I ordered a usb radio stick on ebay, it is $8 free shipping, and it is possible to modify it to work in the hf range. Without modifying you need a $50 upconverter to make it work, this method might also work better, but I didn't want to spend $50...

Also the same $8 usb stick (r820t) can do ais.

Sean,

It looks like we're going to need some radio hardware to receive weather faxes in order to test, at some point. You mentioned r820t earlier. SSB etc is out of the question.

DVB-T SDR RTL-SDR Receiver Tuner RTL2832U & R820T (e4000 replacements) MCX input, tuner made by Rafael Micro. There is an RTL2832U so you can use a variety of SDR software. Chip is R820T, the frequency range is 25-1700mhz. RF Connector type is MX
Contents: USB stick, remote, antennae, software and driver CD

OR perhaps
RTL-SDR FM+DAB USB Dongle DVB-T Stick chip RTL2832U+R820T

OR perhaps
DVB-T USB FM+ DAB Radio Tuner Reciever Stick Realtek RTL2832U + R820T ( has Linux driver)

With the product,you can receord live TV or schedule recordings using the built-scheuler.the time-shift function also allows you to pause and instantly replay your favorite scenes.

You can listen to FM audio and digital DAB radio,and record them to WMA audio format into your computer.

Supports windows 7 media center. With the device,you can watch live TV,and record it by windows 7 media center

Uses a converting software-“Blaze video magic 3.0 “, it can convert your video file as AVI-MPEG4 ,ASF-MPEG4,MP4-MPEG4(for ipod),PSP-MPEG4,3GP-MPEG4,AVI-DIVX,AVI-XVID,MOV

MPEG4 file,and convert your FM / DAB audio file as MP3 file.

Supports LINUX OS, the driver is in “for linux” folder in CD-ROM.YOU can also find a help file there.

Is there any information about modifying it to work in the HF Range somewhere?
Use good VHF/UHF antenna?

RTL2832U / R820T vs RTL2832U / E4000 | Ham Radio Science
"The frequency range of the RTL2832U / E4000 is generally around 64MHZ to 1700MHz with a gap around 1100MHz to 1250MHz. The RTL2832U / R820T frequency range is 24MHZ to roughly 1850MHz with no gaps (found yet), and no DC offset spike."

"My experience is, that the 820 is in a wide range better than the E4000. Down End is about 24 MHz, high at 1800 MHz. Noise figure in the region of 1200 MHz, which is the main interesting for hams: 3,5 db.
Freq.stability at 22 °C, 1300 MHz using 130th harmonic of GPS : 50 Hz/h, phase jitter <<<1 Hz, sideband moise estimated using spectran 130 dbc/10KHz at 1200 MHz. This is the best one I ever mesured in comparison with DDS or PLLs."

$10 ADS-B Receiver - RTL2832U / R820T | Ham Radio Science

rtl-sdr

TunerFrequency range

1. Elonics E4000 52 - 2200 MHz with a gap from 1100 MHz to 1250 MHz (varies)
2. Rafael Micro R820T 24 - 1766 MHz
3. Fitipower FC0013 22 - 1100 MHz (FC0013B/C, FC0013G has a separate L-band input, which is unconnected on most sticks)
4. Fitipower FC0012 22 - 948.6 MHz FCI FC2580146 - 308 MHz and 438 - 924 MHz (gap in between)

Reddit List of Compatible and Incompatible Tuners


Reddit How to Software Guides SDR

[rgleason]

http://www.ab9il.net/software-define...l2832-sdr.html

"In early February 2012, Antti Palosaari posed the question of using a generic DVB-T receiver as an inexpensive general coverage VHF / UHF receiver. Thus was born the "$20 SDR"


Consider, for a moment, how the miniaturization AND mass production of these small software defined radios can affect the activity of radio monitoring. Imagine what people will do with cheap and easy access to just about any radio signal between about 24 and 1700 MHz? This includes public services - police, fire, air traffic control, military, maritime, certain satellite based services including navigation, communication, and so forth. Some signals in the preceding list will be encrypted; others merely digitally encoded. Amateur radio, weather, and most maritime services will be in the clear. With proper software, most of the signals received by these $20 SDRs can be demodulated / decoded / decrypted immediately.

Ham it Up v 1.0 NooElec RF Upconverter for SDR
I think I found the upconverter.


Modification of Pins 1 & 2 as Sean is doing
Rather than spend $50 for the upconverter.

Diagram of the Modification

[rgleason]

Use Raspberry pi with DVB-T at antenna and Tcp-Ip or Wifi to reduce computer noise.
-Client Server SDR Architecture
-Too complicated for just starting out, maybe later.

http://www.ab9il.net/software-defined-radio/sdr2.html

http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/activity

Windows SDR Software
http://www.hdsdr.de/
http://sdrsharp.com/
http://www.wrplus.altervista.org/

Also yahfax?

[rgleason]

Weather Fax Coordinate Settings and Names
Look in ? Icon bottom of window.
For me the record is:
"Config file location: C:\ProgramData\opencpn\opencpn.ini

Found
[Settings/WeatherFax]
[Settings/WeatherFax/CoordinateSets]
[Settings/WeatherFax/CoordinateSets/New_Coord_1]
etc
---

Settings/WeatherFax/CoordinateSets]
Names=;Mercator;;;;Atlantic_Surface_24; <- Names here
Point1X=71
Point1Y=156
Point1Lat=60
Point1Lon=-170
Point2X=790
Point2Y=950
Point2Lat=20
Point2Lon=-120
[Settings/WeatherFax/CoordinateSets/Mercator]
Point1X=142
Point1Y=159
Point1Lat=60
Point1Lon=-90
Point2X=718
Point2Y=951
Point2Lat=20
Point2Lon=-50
...and More Records follow

Note line " <--names here" there are multiple colons (five)

What seems to happen is if you define a Coordinate set for "Atlantic Surface Analysis 24hr" and then load three images successively
and try to apply the same Coord Set "Atlantic Surface Analysis 24hr" the Name will disappear and become white.

After the second time you apply it. The third time you have to guess which white space is the correct settings.

So you end up with say 4 or 5 images all with the same settings and in the same Weatherfax window, but there appears no "Atlantic Surface Analysis 24hr" in the drop down Set Coordinates.

Also somehow the program is recording additional semicolons in the Settings Opencpn.ini file.

And the dropdown window starts looking broken up because the names are not showing.

I hope that helps fix it.

[seandepagnier]

I have been away from internet. I have made improvements to the plugin in git for a variety of things.

About the $8 usb radio.. it is designed for 24mhz to 1.2ghz or so, but since it samples at such a high rate, you can bypass the demodulator part by soldering the antenna to the right leg of the right chip and demodulate in software using aliasing to get in the HF range for weatherfax.

[rgleason]

Sean, that was fast. Thanks.
Git & Compiling Release and Debug Weatherfax_pi in Windows 7

1. Deleted ...opencpn-git/plugins/weatherfax_pi directory
2. In Win7 used Run > Cmd > cd dos commands to get to opencpng-git/plugins directory. Found a new weatherfax_pi directory there.
3. Then followed instructions http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1154001 to compile.
4. Git clone worked fine. First cmake .. unpacked and configured 100%
5. Second cmake --build . had 253 warnings and 0 errors.
6. Going to ..\opencpn-git\build\plugins\weatherfax_pi\Debug found a new debug weatherfax_pi.dll file which could be copied to ...\opencpn-git\build\plugins and then Run MS VC++Express under Debug mode to debug the weatherfax_pi plugin.
7. Going to ...\opencpn-git\build\plugins\weatherfax_pi\Release found the weatherfax_pi.dll had yesterday's date and did not complie, so I must start MS VC++Express, pick File opencpn.sln, load, pick Opencpn in Solution Explorer, change dropdown setting to "Release" and then pick "Debug > Build". It starts compiling again.
8. Compile ends with == Build: 15 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 up-to-date, 11 skipped ====
9. Checked ...\opencpn-git\build\plugins\weatherfax_pi\Release again and there is a new file with today's date weatherfax_pi.dll which is attached below as weatherfax_pi.dll.doc Please remove the doc and place this Release dll in your ...opencpn/plugin directory to test, then report to this thread suggestions and problems. Thanks.

PS. If you are interested in helping debug Opencpn and Plugins, you will need to create a Development platform for Opencpn please refer to Developers Manual - Compiling Windows also this Cruiser's Forum thread might be helpful Development Debugging Environment. This post summarizes my experience creating a Debug Environment with the help of Dave, Pavel, SethDart and many others.

[rgleason]

I now see "Capture" button added. Cool. Should I be ordering something to use it?

Tried Release dll with Opengl on (2 screen shots) - Sort of graceful
Tried Release dll with Opengl unchecked (2 screen shots) -Failed gracefully
Tried Debug version (1 screen shot) -Bombs out

..\..\src\msw\listbox.cpp(441): assert "wxAssertFailure" failed in wxListBox:oSetItemClientData(): Can't use clienct data with owner-drawn boxes.

...Can't use client data with owner drawn boxes.

[rgleason]

Here's the output-capture.doc (don't know if this is useful...please advise, so I don't need to do it again.) - Sean, try to let me know what you need, I am still driving a black box!

[rgleason]

Got into weatherfaxdialog.cpp and searched for listbox, then list.

Found

#include <list>

#include "FaxDecoder.h"
#include "WeatherFaxDialog.h"

#include <wx/listimpl.cpp>
WX_DEFINE_LIST(WeatherFaxImageCoordinateList);

--Have no idea if this is the area. How many files are you working on?
weatherfaxDialolog.cpp, weatherfax_pi.cpp, faxdecoder.h or are there others? - I now see there are a number of others including weatherfaxUI.cpp

I am still trying to figure out how to get the Debbugger to highlight the problem lines in the problem file!!! One would think this would be pretty automatic.

[rgleason]

For Atlantic and East Coast Synoptic, Surface and 500mb Forecast, Waves, Ice etc this is pretty useful. Boston Radiofax Schedule with Links

so is this with internet
http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/marsh.shtml

[seandepagnier]

Can't you go up the stack in the debugger? Then you can find the line in the weatherfax plugin that actually triggered the assert. Otherwise your are somewhere in wxwidgets which is not relevent. In any case, I suspect this is another windows-specific issue related to checked list boxes so maybe I can have a workaround.

[seandepagnier]

Try the version in git now

[ChuckSK]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

Can't you go up the stack in the debugger? Then you can find the line in the weatherfax plugin that actually triggered the assert. Otherwise your are somewhere in wxwidgets which is not relevent. In any case, I suspect this is another windows-specific issue related to checked list boxes so maybe I can have a workaround.

The error is at WeatherFaxDialog.cpp line 230.