[Xastir] New user..and thanks..

[Jeff Mohler]

> You can use the track map from the website as a base map, all you need to do
> is tell Xastir where the corners of the image are in relation to the face of
> the Earth (the .geo file). You could also capture the satellite photo from
> Google Earth, and create a .geo file for that image.
---
Ive just this moment finished making my first map, discovered that
they have to be square in the process.

> My preference would be to capture a large image (2000 pixels across or so)
> from Google Earth, and use that.You would be able to see a fairly decent
> image of the track when zoomed in, or back out to watch the full track.
---
640x640 fit everything just fine.

> How many safety vehicles are you tracking? Crash Trucks, Ambulances, Tow
> Trucks, etc? Are you looking at time slotting them, or having them use
> SmartBeaconing with rapid update parameters when in motion? Smart Beaconing
> would have only the responding vehicles making noise, but could have the
> occasional packet collision. Time slotting would have the packets running
> all the time, with constant monitoring of operational status of each
> tracker. With low power handheld radios, you shouldn't have to worry about
> current drain too much. The safety vehicles will probably be running enough
> to never worry about killing the battery.
---
The 25hr race test will be pace car only, and I will be adding
vehicles to the system starting with the first races in February.

> I'd probably run timeslotting with every safety vehicle reporting once per
> minute as a minimum. I'm not sure if the OpenTracker is able to sync to the
> GPS time embedded in the NMEA strings or not. You would want to keep the
> time slotting accurate. Depending on the number of safety vehicles, you
> might be able to do 30 second updates. (This is on a private frequency, not
> 144.390... don't get your panties in a bunch!)
---
Ya..were on our own licensed RF..not HAM.

Not sure what to do with timing yet, most of the time we'll have no
more than 5 vehicles to track, at Mid Ohio I could have up to 12-15.
I'll have to play with the options in the opentracker on the sending
side, to see how I can most intelligently deal with near-real-time
updates.  When in action, 30s is far too slow, but I dont see how 5
vehicles could xmit updates every 5 seconds without lots of
collisions.

> It sure would be great to have a realtime tactical map of the location of
> all safety assets at all times. This is a perfect example of textbook use of
> APRS as a real time tactical display tool.
> With APRS on the Safety crews, and Xastir dead reckoning their movements,
> you'll have just about the same thing.
>
> BTW, beautiful facility! I LOVE turn 5! That must give a great sphincter
> muscle workout to all the drivers. The rest of the course is pretty wild as
> well. What a workout for the bike riders!
---
Depends how you take it. Normal track path is CCW, and up to the top
of 5 is no challenge, but coming down is the trick, get it wrong and
youre sideways instantly. Around the bypass is lff camber, fast,
peaking..and where the two paths intersect the asphalt has a
transition..thats a LOT of fun.

CW direction both ways around 5 are very fun..total amusement ride.

http://www.speedtoys.biz/downloads/Sequence.mpg is a set of videos
from a few years ago I strung together in my instructor car, I dont
hany any videos from the racecar for download.