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)

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)