Sending Position Reports via WinLink Express using Smartphone Internal GPS

G'Day Guys,

The WinLink Express client application used to allow operators to send emails via RF has as one of its features the application to send "Position Reports".  The position reports can contain lat/lon, comment and if desired include "weather details".  These reports are then if successfully received sent a "Position Report Acknowledgment" email to let the operator know the report has been received successfully and is now visible on the tracking map portal: https://www.winlink.org/userPositions

Via this portal you can see all the latest positions reports of all users for the last 10days. There are even link to allow you to view specific callsigns only (see bottom of the portal page).

The lat/lon for the position report can be entered manually, or it can be obtained from a NEMA compliant GPS connected to local COM port.  This is all fine and dandy if you have  one.... but we all do... kinda... we have a internal GPS on our all smartphones.  So th question is how do we get that integrated to WinLink.   A quick scan of the Android Playstore and I initially located the following:

• GPSIP
• GPS Tether
• ShareGPS

These programs provided a feature to support setting up a local TCP/IP Server on the phone which streamed the NMEA sequences from the phones internal GPS to any client connected.  I used VSPE (Virtual Serial Port tool)  to map a TcpClient to Virtual Serial Port.  The first hurdle I encountered was that it seems that the TCP service each app provided seemed to required a CRLF command sent from the PC before the application would send any data.  Then it appears that after a period of time the TCP socket for each application would close for no reason.

Taking a step back and rethinking this through, I located the follow applications which instead of providing a server to connect to,  it would act as a client and connect to your PC running a server and send NMEA sequences from the phones internal GPS.

• BlueNMEA
• Not available as a precompiled package on Playstore, needs to be compile and the resulting APK uploaded to phone.
• http://max.kellermann.name/projects/blue-nmea/
• NMEA Relay
• ShareGPS

Fortunately VSPE provided TcpServer and maps to a VSPE virutal comm port.  This allowed me to quickly configure NMEA Relay and ShareGPS to both connect as  clients sending NMEA sentences.  VPSE then mapped them over to the virutal comm port configured at 4800 which then be used by RMS Express.

Once the Lat/Lon is available on the GPS/Position Report, click the "Copy GPS Data" button.  Complete your report with a basic meaning comment or include weather data and send. A email / messages will be created and put int the Outbox ready for you to send via one of the WinLink sessions.

NMEA Via Bluetooth

ShareGPS offers another brilliant feature, that allows you to share the NMEA data via bluetooth.  This allows the phone to be connected to your PC via bluetooth and once connection established a COM port will appear on the PC which can be used by WinLink RMS Express.  Give it a go, but it will required your PC to have bluetooth capability (i.e internal or via external BT dongle).

VisualGPSView

Before I sign of, one other little gem of a tool I found while mucking around with all this was VishalGPSView.  Its free and will graphically show your GPS data and NMEA logs.


Hopefully wonderful WinLink devs will update the GPS/Position reports to provide a server which  accept NMEA data from Phone running an app like NMEA Relay / ShareGPS acting as a client.


That's all Folks,
73
de VK4TMZ (Mark)

Setting up WinLink HF / VHF Wingates

Guys,

I wont go too much into about what WinLink is as there is plenty of information on their site (https://winlink.org/). But in a nut shell - "Email over RF".

After my experience running a ALE Pilot Station and not having no much interest from local Australian operation using such mode. I decided to try my hand at setting up running HF/VHF WinLink Wingates.

Before I did this and I started of by installing the WinLink Express (client) software.  This allowed me to easily configure my Yaesu FT-991A fairly quickly.  Then via sessions I was able to try out and successfully contact and send / receive emails via HF to several other Australian operator providing Wingates supporting Winmor, ARDOP and VARA modes.

With that done and me up to speed with the client software, I turned to reading up on running HF and VHF Wingate.

WinLink VHF Packet WinGate

Starting of with the WinLink VHF Packet Wingate, I firstly decided to set up my BTECH UV-50x3 VHF/UHF rig along with my Mobilinkd Bluetooth TNC.  I was able to install the WinLink Packet application and very quickly configure it to use "KISS TNC".

HF Winlink Wingate (Winmor, ARDOP and VARA modems)

With success of easily running and operating the WinLink Express client software with the FT991A I was expecting the WinLink RMS Trimode application to be just as easy.

NOPE!!!!  First hurdle was the FT991 was not among the set of support HF rigs under server side application.  Fortunately I was able to quickly develop a little powershell script which acted as a "translator" between one of the rigs available under RMS Trimode.   I opted for Kenwood TS590 to control the Frequency and PTT control via CAT commands. Using VSPE to have 2 virtual comm ports I was able to intercept the Kenwoods CAT commands and translate and even inject extra control commands to the FT991.  My script is available on GitHub:  https://github.com/vk4tmz/rigtrans
but please note its not refined by any stretch of the imaghination, but if you know your rigs CAT commands and have a bit of understanding of powershell you'll be able to alter it to suit your own needs.  This sorts me out until hopefully the fine developers of WinLink RMS tools support FT991A.

Once I got over that little hurdle, the next challenge was finding clear frequencies that would have minimal impact on other operation as the station runs 24x7 fully automated.  The modems (Winmor, ARDOP and VARA) have "channel busy" detection of sort.  But it must be kept in mind that its up to  operator wishing to connect to my wingates to perform due diligence and ensure to the best to their awareness the frequency is not in use.  Wingates DO NOT auto beacon so until they are polled they will operate silently.

Once I had my frequencies selected which I opted to support / scan through 80-40-30-20-17-20m bands.  

PLEASE NOTE: It takes ~45 secs for RMS Trimode logic to scan through and spend ~7sec dwell time on each band. So please ensure if trying to connect to any of my wingates you give it a couple of goes incase when you tried I just missed you polling attempts.

So witth the HF and VHF set up I'm hoping this service will provide valuable to Ham both Land and Maritime Mobile on your travels.

Please drop me a email via VK4TMZ[AT]winlink.org and say gday.

Why no Pactor Modem / Support

Pactor modems are very expensive and are not opensource.  Many other stations around Australia seem to support Pactor, but at this time I've no intention to purchase one of these modems.


That's all for now folks
73
de VK4TMZ (Mark)

PC-ALE and MARS-ALE Running as a Pilot Station

Guys,

I ran PC-ALE for a period of months, and then requested access to become a Pilot Station using the MARS -ALE. I was granted access and set up successfully to allow Email to be sent via AMD commands.

Unfortunately at this time the only other Australian stations running ALE were primarily Peter VK2EHQ and more recently Peter VK4EA setup himself and our club station VK4RC.  The participation in Australia via amateur bands is virtually non-existent which is a real shame. 

I've enjoyed my time and the experience of running the Pilot Station but have ceased operation for now. I have both PCALE and MARS-ALE backed up for any EMCOMM situation and can be running in very short notice.  Perter VK4EA is looking to reestablish the original Brisbane ALE Pilot Station VK4SAA and I wish him all the best and hope it will continue to support those that want to have experience using ALE.

73
de VK4TMZ (Mark)

Mobilinkd - Bluetooth APRS / TNC (Yaesu FT-991A, Baofeng UV-5RTP and BTech UV-50x3)

G'Day Guys,

I originally purchased the Baofeng to 3.5mm 4 Pole TRRS cable from BTech (APRS-K2 TRRS CABLE) to use with APRSDroid. Unfortunately I quickly learnt that when using the Baofeng in VOX mode the time to change back from TX to RX on average was 4-5 seconds....   Not good for APRS as it would interfere with others and you will not get any traffic for up to 5 seconds hence miss immediate responses from digipeaters etc.  This is not fault of the BTech cable, just seems to be a feature of VOX.

So I then ordered myself a Mobilinkd and the following TNC cables:

• TNC Cable for Kenwood, Wouxun, Baofeng
• MiniDIN-6 TNC Cable and MiniDIN-6 1200 Baud Adapter for the Yaesu FT-991A
• Yaesu FTM-350 8 Pin Mini Din Data Port to 3.5mm TRRS Mobilinkd TNC - 1200 baud - This is for the BTech UV-50x3 

Baofeng UV-5RTP

The Mobilinkd arrived quickly 1.5 wks and out of the box was able to hook it up to the Baofeng within 5min and using the Mobilinkd android app was able to connect and adjust the input setting fairly quickly and the default for out left as they were.  For the Baofeng I have the "attenuation" enabled and adjust volume to the first red led starts to flicker and bingo I was up and running.

 Yaesu FT-991A

I'd read from others that I need to ensure I was using the 1200 baud data pin of the FT991A data port as the 9600 had low voltage / volume. Hence when I ordered from Mobilinkd the MiniDIN-6 1200 Baud Adapter.

Since I use the FT-991A for data comms via the USB I have to switch the following values back and forth when using Mobilinkd:

• #075 - FM Out - 98
• #076 - FM PKT PTT Select - DAKY
• #077 - FM PKT Port Select - DATA
• #078 - FM PKT TX Gain - default value 50 (just FYI)

Mobilinkd settings - I turned "attenuation" off.

After changing the FM PKT settings to rear and the volume out from radio I was up and running.

BTech UV-50x3

The Yaesu FTM-350 8 Pin Mini Din Data Port to 3.5mm TRRS Mobilinkd TNC arrived today and apart from having to grind the "rectangular" part of the mini din plug to allow it to plug into the  back of the BTech it was well constructed and worth the money.  Plugged in and connected up the Mobilinkd Bluetooth TNC.  Via the rigs PKT settings I set it to the "Right side VFO" and opened the SQL.  Using the Mobilinkd mobile app I had to turn of "attenuation" and got three green bars with flicker of yellow.  The advice on the app says to turn the audio until the first red bar starts to flicker but had to leave at first yellow.  When tracking started APRS signals heard were decoded and just worked perfectly.MY own APRX beaconing worked perfectly.

However!!!!!!  I quickly discovered that while monitoring VHF traffic on the left side VFO and the APRS was beaconing on the right side VFO (using the smart beaconing mode) the left side was desensitised / block / overloaded frequently.... This was even the Right Side VFO power level set to "low"....

DOH!!! What else would one expect with 2 VFO on same band....   So my options are that I monitor UHF voice on the left side or not use "Smart Beaconing" but rather periodic beaconing say every 10-15min.  This would cut down on the interference to a degree of a burst every 10-15min which is not bad....   ORRRR!! continue to use APRSDroid on APRS-IS mode while in range of mobile internet and have the Mobilinkd for all other times......

I'll continue to play around and see how the setup goes using the "Periodic beaconing", just means from a tracking resolution it may be lower to that compared to "Smart Beaconing". 


That's all Folks!
73
de VK4TMZ (Mark)

GPredict - Radio Control FT991A (via RigCtld)

G'Day Guys,

Since getting hooked on monitoring ARISS and other satellites (aka "birds") I quickly discovered several bits of software for predicting the satellite pass and ability to control your radio to account for doppler shift in both the uplink and downlink frequencies.

The bit of software I've quickly come to enjoy is called GPredict for the following reasons:

• Easy to Use
• Available for multiple platforms
• Computes and visualises multiple satellites passes
• Ability to control radio to account for doppler shift
• Ability to control antenna azimuth and elevation for controlling the antenna beam direction and tracking the satellite as we go from AOS to LOS

I downloaded the binary for windows and within a few minutes I had downloaded the latest  TLE and Transponder data from the internet. Out of the box it comes with a simple module with a few satellites that amateur operators can monitor and make contact through.

Next was to have GPredict control the radio uplink and downlink to account for doppler shift.  GPredict can be configured to update the TX/RX frequencies of the rig via sending "Rig Control" commands to a "Rig Control Daemon". By heading over to Rigctld you will find instruction on Downloading and compiling the Rigctrld code. However I took the easy path and downloaded the latest Windows Platform binaries.   There is further good information found at the "Hamlib Rigctld FAQ"

After downloading the binaries and installing (making sure the PATH was pointing to the bin folder) I was ready to start up an instance of RigCtld using the following command with the appropriate serial settings that suit my setup:

       
rigctld.exe -vvvvv -r \\.\com11 -m 135 -s 38400 -t 4532 -C "serial_speed=38400,stop_bits=2,rts_state=ON,dtr_state=OFF,serial_handshake=None"
       
 

!! Important Note!! when using COM PORTs above COM9 you can no longer use the syntax "-r COM10" but instead to "-r \\.\com11" as you can see I did. 

To test the ability to control the rig we can use the "rigclt" command line tool. The following example will query the rig to determine what "MODE" VFO A is in:

       
rigctl.exe -m 2 -r localhost:4532 m
       
 

Before we move on, one of the little limitation / feature lack of GPredict is when you select the different "transponder" to monitor and have GPredict track it only tracks the up and downlink frequencies. It DOES NOT automatically select / change the rig modes for both RX and TX.

To overcome this I created 3 simple commands which I run as needed to changes the modes quickly:

       
# For Voice
rigctl.exe -m 2 -r localhost:4532 M USB 0 X LSB 0
rigctl.exe -m 2 -r localhost:4532 M FM 0 X FM 0
rigctl.exe -m 2 -r localhost:4532 M USB 0 X USB 0

# For Digital Mode (ie APRS, etc)
rigctl.exe -m 2 -r localhost:4532 M PKTUSB 0 X PKTLSB 0
rigctl.exe -m 2 -r localhost:4532 M PKTFM 0 X PKTFM 0
rigctl.exe -m 2 -r localhost:4532 M PKTUSB 0 X PKTUSB 0
       
 

You will need to research the transponder for the requires mode on both up/downlink. But for the 1st command you can see I set the uplink to LSB and downlink to USB. This is for those linear transponders that each you to operation in this mode.

With RigCtrld now configured and running, we can now add a Interface to integrate with this Rigctrld instance.

1. GPredict via Edit->Preferences->Interface add new interface and give it appropriate name (ie "FT991A")  
   
2. Once saved then via Module "Down Down" Select Radio Control, Select the satellite and the transponder you wish to track.
3. Then Click on "Track" and "Engage"
4. You should see the frequencies start to adjust up / down accounting for doppler and be sent to the radio.

That's All Folks!!!!

73
de VK4TMZ (Mark)

Setting up APRS IGate - Windows via SoundCard

APRS is a very useful aspect of the amateur radio hobby. If you haven't heard of APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) then check out Eric (KJ4YZI) from HamRadioConcepts . As Eric points out the main point of APRS is MORE than just vehicle tracking its about linking and sharing information via radio.

For me to get started I used the YAESU FT991A which has the onboard sound card so its ready to go. Around the world different regions will use different frequencies for APRS so for Australia we will be tuning into 145.175MHz. But please lookup and use the appropriate APRS frequency for your region.

There are multiple tools to decode APRS as well as pushing all the decoded APRS messages up to APRS servers to share this is were you act as a IGate.  

AFSK1200 decoder for APRS 

• You can download the latest binary from Source Forge. I will not duplicate the efforts of others that have great HOW-TO on using this tool.  As a starter I'd recommend the following video titled "Using AFSK1200 decoder for APRS decoding. Ham Radio".

• Once you have the sound level right the APRS messages should start appearing.

Setting up an IGate - Windows 

• If you which to partake an become an IGate and upload the APRS messages you are decoding then again there are many options however for this article I will focus on using "APRSIS32" (APRS UI and IGate application) and "AGWPE" (TNS/Packet Engine that can decode APRS signals via Soundcard).

• Download the "free" version of the AGWPE and review the following information for installing and configuring AGWPE via SoundCard - "Basic AGWPE Program Configuration".

• Next download APRSIS32 and follow the instructions "Configuring APRSISCE/32 to use AGWPE"

• To publish APRS messages you need to request a "passcode".  There is a online passcode generator that I found afterwards. But I'd recommend you follow the process of requesting as it does not take long for them to response with the code.

That's All Folks!

Stay tuned for my next post where I integrate "Direwolf" linux based KISS/TNS tool to decode APRS traffic from a feed tied into my SDRPlay RSP2PRo which is available online via SDR.hu call VHF (2m Amateur band) - Brisbane, Australia (VK4TMZ)(OpenWebRx).

73 de VK4TMZ

Configuring your FT991A for Digital and Gotcha's

This post doesn't go into to much detail about HOW-TO configure your FT-991A for digital modes as this has been covered very well by Bob's (KR4DA) HOW-TO Guide for setting up FT-991A with FLDigi

This post is about those little things that I've encountered and how to I've corrected or overcome them

Features I'm encountered while using Digital Modes and how I addressed them.

Feature / Issuer

Description / Resolution

PTT works, but no Audio via FLdigi

I was a little stumped with this one, as all my digital mode applications (ie WSTJ-X, WSPR, MRP40, MMSSTV) would key-up and audio come via the radio fine (ie tune) except for FLDigi (which mind you had been working previously) . After reviewing the settings under MENU I found the little bugger. I'd for some reason recently change item "070 - DATA IN SELECT" to "MIC". When I changed it back to "REAR" all audio started working again via FLDigi.

Note: This post will continue to grow as and when I encounter more of these little gems :) 73 De VK4TMZ

Setting up PCALE with YEASU FT-991A

For the last week I've been trying to setup PC-ALE with Yaesu FT-991A and have managed to do so. However having the station running for last 2 days for extended periods (i.e from early morning to late at night) there doesn't appear to be too many "sounding" occurring where I can hear them at least.

Locally I've heard 1 VK station "VK2EHQ" a handful of times through the day and evening on different bands with good S/N reports.  I've just heard "YD0OXH8" there on 12m but due to a small misconfig on ALE^Stat it did not upload the report to HFLink.

So at this stage I'm probably not going to run it much longer but will keep eye on forums and the HFLink Portal.  For now though I thought I'd share with you how I setup PC-ALE to work with my Yaesu FT-991A.

Firstly head over to HFLink.net to sign up and where you can get access to download the following files

1. Download the latest PCALE Full Install

• Currently a file called "PCALEv108B1000TB3_2_FI.zip" is latest

2. Download the latest PCALE Update

• Currently a file called "PCALEv108B1000TB3_3_UD.zip" is latest and is required as this adds in the radio-type MMI-RADIO  interface which  allows you control the Yaeus FT991A as its not one of the radios currently supported.

3.  Download the latest version of the MMI-Radio library to support FT-991A

• Currently a files called "MMI-RADIO_FT-991_Library.zip" is latest. I'll described the couple of changes I made to the macros further down.

Follow the instructions for installing the full install and the update which are fairly straight forward and well documented.

At this time the FT991A is not available as under the standard / common available radio interfaces under PC-ALE. However as part of the patch they have introduced MMI-RADIO which allows you to define a set of macros to control your radio.  Thankfully the was a FT-991A MMI-RADIO library already implemented that I just had to change the channel macros.

So to install the FT-991A MMI-RADIO library, extract the  "MMI-RADIO_FT-991_Library.zip" files in under "C:\PC_ALE\MMI_RADIO"

Under the menu option "Configuration->MIL-STD 188-141 Options" set the following at minimum:

• Sounding to TWS Sound (if you wish to TX "Soundings")
• Set Radio-Type to "MMI-RADIO" this will tell PC-ALE to use the macros under "C:\PC_ALE\MMI_RADIO" how to control the radio.
• Under "Radio Port" - Set the Baud and setting as needed to match what you have set on the FT-991A.  For me I was  38400, 2, 8, N and make sure you select "Split VFO" (more on this later)
• Audio level - 
• TX - Manual says so that ALC is barely trigger.  I currently have sit so ALC ~ 50%
• RX - So the RX meter signal level was about half which for me was ~%50
• CAT  - Set to the "Enhanced Serial Port"
• PTT - Set to the "Standard Serial Port"
• BTW - to be resolved,  I had to uncheck "LBT - Look Before Talk" as for some reason it was detecting activity and not allowing "Sounding".

QRG - I utilised the "AUSTRALIA_NOCALSIGN_USBD_2014C.qrg" as this sets the channels to use "USB-D" mode.

Antenna Tuning - I was fortunate that my 1/4 WL 40m vertical antenna could be tuned by the Yaesu FT-991A built in ATU. Obviously you may have a broadband Antenna that does not require any tuning but either way all I'm going to say is for me I went through each of the channels and "tuned" them.  So as PC-ALE was scanning and then TX on any of the frequency the Freq was in memory so I did not need to have PC-ALE run any ATU steps.  But if you do then you may need to read up on the MMI-RADIO macros and add commands to the QSS_nn_CHANNEL macros etc etc

To operate the FT-991A in quiet mode while scanning, I put the radio into split-mode "manually" and as you say from the "Radio-Port" settings above we have told PC-ALE to operate via SPLIT VFO.  What this means is that while scanning the VFO A will be updated as the channel changes and upon needing to TX the VFO B will be set to match VFO via the MMI Radio Macros and then TX will take place.

MMI-Radio Changes for Me -

• The "MMI_RADIO__CHANNEL_nn"  and "MMI_RADIO_QSS_CHANNEL_nn" were not the frequencies for my region.  So I had to alter / create as necessary "MMI_RADIO_CHANNEL_nn" for each channel from the QRG file I was using.  Each frequency needs to have a corresponding macro file starting at 01.  Failure to have these sync'ed will mean you scanning and TX will on frequencies not matching the PC-ALE display.
• Obviously make sure there is a corresponding QSS channel macro
• In each of my QSS macros files I set the "preamp" to the desired level.

That's it!! Have fun with PC-ALE and your Yaesu FT-991A

73
de VK4TMZ