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  • SoftRF Skyview device database

    From Gary Jones@21:1/5 to All on Sun Mar 19 15:37:23 2023
    I'm building out trackers to go in our club ships and playing with the Skyview EZ so each ship has a rudimentary display of the tracker's received data. I have one working well and showing radar and traffic info screens nicely, connecting to both the t-
    beam and t-echo devices. BUT.... i'd love to get the OGN database downloaded and working. I followed the instructions from github but the databases at https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/tree/master/software/data/Aircrafts look to be 4 years old. Does
    that seem right? Not being able to get an updated version I can't establish if the file is being opened/read and giving CN/Tail instead of the devices hex-code. Anyone have any advice?

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  • From Moshe Braner@21:1/5 to Gary Jones on Sun Mar 19 20:53:46 2023
    On 3/19/2023 6:37 PM, Gary Jones wrote:
    I'm building out trackers to go in our club ships and playing with the Skyview EZ so each ship has a rudimentary display of the tracker's received data. I have one working well and showing radar and traffic info screens nicely, connecting to both the t-
    beam and t-echo devices. BUT.... i'd love to get the OGN database downloaded and working. I followed the instructions from github but the databases at https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/tree/master/software/data/Aircrafts look to be 4 years old. Does
    that seem right? Not being able to get an updated version I can't establish if the file is being opened/read and giving CN/Tail instead of the devices hex-code. Anyone have any advice?


    I've modified the SkyView software in several important ways. Most importantly, redesigned the traffic warnings. But also I have replaced
    its use of an SQLITE database. Instead, it now uses the CDB data
    format. Put the file ogn.cdb in the Aircrafts folder on the SD card. A
    recent copy of ogn.cdb is in the software/data/Aircrafts folder. And an
    up to date copy can be downloaded at any time from http://soaringweather.no-ip.info/ADB/data - updated daily, I have no
    idea who put that service up. At this time only the OGN data is
    available in this format, not Flarmnet. https://github.com/moshe-braner/SoftRF/tree/master/software/firmware/binaries/ESP32/SkyView

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  • From kinsell@21:1/5 to Gary Jones on Mon Mar 20 22:06:14 2023
    On 3/19/23 4:37 PM, Gary Jones wrote:
    I'm building out trackers to go in our club ships and playing with the Skyview EZ so each ship has a rudimentary display of the tracker's received data. I have one working well and showing radar and traffic info screens nicely, connecting to both the t-
    beam and t-echo devices. BUT.... i'd love to get the OGN database downloaded and working. I followed the instructions from github but the databases at https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/tree/master/software/data/Aircrafts look to be 4 years old. Does
    that seem right? Not being able to get an updated version I can't establish if the file is being opened/read and giving CN/Tail instead of the devices hex-code. Anyone have any advice?

    How good are these receivers? I wouldn't expect them to be as good as a
    Flarm, but wonder if they're useful for low-time pilots flying club
    ships occasionally.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gary Jones@21:1/5 to kinsell on Tue Mar 21 06:47:36 2023
    On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 12:06:18 AM UTC-4, kinsell wrote:
    On 3/19/23 4:37 PM, Gary Jones wrote:
    I'm building out trackers to go in our club ships and playing with the Skyview EZ so each ship has a rudimentary display of the tracker's received data. I have one working well and showing radar and traffic info screens nicely, connecting to both the
    t-beam and t-echo devices. BUT.... i'd love to get the OGN database downloaded and working. I followed the instructions from github but the databases at https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/tree/master/software/data/Aircrafts look to be 4 years old. Does
    that seem right? Not being able to get an updated version I can't establish if the file is being opened/read and giving CN/Tail instead of the devices hex-code. Anyone have any advice?
    How good are these receivers? I wouldn't expect them to be as good as a Flarm, but wonder if they're useful for low-time pilots flying club
    ships occasionally.

    Keep learning about the product. It's being adopted by the SSA who are providing free receivers to clubs to encourage the uptake. However you don't need a receiver on the ground to get proximity warnings. Two gliders carrying a device each will be able
    to see each other on the flarm screen in XCSOAR, OUDIE or one of the buildable display units. I'd say that alone was worth the ~$60 spend to build one and honestly they're a run project to do. Are they as good as FLARM? I'm sure no... you get what you
    pay for. Dad always taught me that. But the cost of FLARM prevents the frugal from adopting anything at all. Perhaps this is the answer in the meantime so that OGN AND FLARM traffic can see one another, and certainly better than nothing!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From kinsell@21:1/5 to Gary Jones on Thu Mar 23 20:28:12 2023
    On 3/21/23 7:47 AM, Gary Jones wrote:
    On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 12:06:18 AM UTC-4, kinsell wrote:
    On 3/19/23 4:37 PM, Gary Jones wrote:
    I'm building out trackers to go in our club ships and playing with the Skyview EZ so each ship has a rudimentary display of the tracker's received data. I have one working well and showing radar and traffic info screens nicely, connecting to both the
    t-beam and t-echo devices. BUT.... i'd love to get the OGN database downloaded and working. I followed the instructions from github but the databases at https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/tree/master/software/data/Aircrafts look to be 4 years old. Does
    that seem right? Not being able to get an updated version I can't establish if the file is being opened/read and giving CN/Tail instead of the devices hex-code. Anyone have any advice?
    How good are these receivers? I wouldn't expect them to be as good as a
    Flarm, but wonder if they're useful for low-time pilots flying club
    ships occasionally.

    Keep learning about the product. It's being adopted by the SSA who are providing free receivers to clubs to encourage the uptake. However you don't need a receiver on the ground to get proximity warnings. Two gliders carrying a device each will be able
    to see each other on the flarm screen in XCSOAR, OUDIE or one of the buildable display units. I'd say that alone was worth the ~$60 spend to build one and honestly they're a run project to do. Are they as good as FLARM? I'm sure no... you get what you
    pay for. Dad always taught me that. But the cost of FLARM prevents the frugal from adopting anything at all. Perhaps this is the answer in the meantime so that OGN AND FLARM traffic can see one another, and certainly better than nothing!

    SSA is providing ground-based receivers for tracking purposes, that's
    quite different than receivers in ships for collision avoidance. We're
    talking about the latter. I'm just interested in how readable the
    displays are, how good the audio alerts are, whether you get continuous proximity alarms when thermaling with other gliders (like the old PCAS systems), things of that nature.

    Dave

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gary Jones@21:1/5 to kinsell on Fri Mar 24 08:47:09 2023
    On Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 10:28:16 PM UTC-4, kinsell wrote:
    On 3/21/23 7:47 AM, Gary Jones wrote:
    On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 12:06:18 AM UTC-4, kinsell wrote:
    On 3/19/23 4:37 PM, Gary Jones wrote:
    I'm building out trackers to go in our club ships and playing with the Skyview EZ so each ship has a rudimentary display of the tracker's received data. I have one working well and showing radar and traffic info screens nicely, connecting to both
    the t-beam and t-echo devices. BUT.... i'd love to get the OGN database downloaded and working. I followed the instructions from github but the databases at https://github.com/lyusupov/SoftRF/tree/master/software/data/Aircrafts look to be 4 years old.
    Does that seem right? Not being able to get an updated version I can't establish if the file is being opened/read and giving CN/Tail instead of the devices hex-code. Anyone have any advice?
    How good are these receivers? I wouldn't expect them to be as good as a >> Flarm, but wonder if they're useful for low-time pilots flying club
    ships occasionally.

    Keep learning about the product. It's being adopted by the SSA who are providing free receivers to clubs to encourage the uptake. However you don't need a receiver on the ground to get proximity warnings. Two gliders carrying a device each will be
    able to see each other on the flarm screen in XCSOAR, OUDIE or one of the buildable display units. I'd say that alone was worth the ~$60 spend to build one and honestly they're a run project to do. Are they as good as FLARM? I'm sure no... you get what
    you pay for. Dad always taught me that. But the cost of FLARM prevents the frugal from adopting anything at all. Perhaps this is the answer in the meantime so that OGN AND FLARM traffic can see one another, and certainly better than nothing!
    SSA is providing ground-based receivers for tracking purposes, that's
    quite different than receivers in ships for collision avoidance. We're talking about the latter. I'm just interested in how readable the
    displays are, how good the audio alerts are, whether you get continuous proximity alarms when thermaling with other gliders (like the old PCAS systems), things of that nature.

    Dave

    Correct, receivers are on the ground, trackers (per the wiki) or FLARM compatible devices in the ship. The latter will talk to one another without the need for the ground receiver. That was the point I was trying and failing to get to. I have my t-beam
    connected to XCSOAR for visual indication. A majority of the SOFTRF devices can be configured with an external speaker to give audible warnings too. There are some development forks that are exploring this functionality more, using different announcement
    lengths and voices to indicate level of urgency. I think this will only continue to improve as the community continues to adopt the tech. At some point I want to connect my lxnav S80 to the device output ( i have to purchase the bluetooth dongle), to see
    what visual and audible indication that gives me, thus replacing my temporary xcsoar setup.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)