[Xastir] Weather Stations

[Dj Merrill]

I may have figured this out, partially.

I was calling xastir_udp_client with both the -to_rf and -to_inet 
options in a single command, which was producing the unsupported packet.

I changed my script to call xastir_udp_client twice, the first time with 
only -to_inet, and the second with only -to_rf.  I no longer get the 
unsupported packet indication.

However, it looks like my weather traffic is only being accepted via the 
RF interface, gated through another station.  If I only run the 
xastir_udp_packet with the -to_inet option, I can see the data is being 
transmitted via the Internet interface but the servers don't seem to be 
accepting it, whether that be to cwop.aprs.net or rotate.aprs2.net.

I'm still trying to troubleshoot why I can't send the data directly to 
the servers over the Internet. I'm also still waiting to get a 
replacement from Argent concerning the faulty humidity and barometric 
pressure sensor so I can send valid data for those values, but that may 
be a separate issue unless the servers are flagging the erroneous data 
and blocking it.

Progress, although baby steps!  :-)


-Dj


On 11/17/2018 10:42 AM, Dj Merrill wrote:
> Hi Gerry,
>     Apologies for the late reply.  I've been out of town and am just 
> getting back to this.
>
>     I've just changed the server to cwop.aprs.net as you suggest. A 
> few weather packets have been sent as of 10:40AM EST 17 Nov.
>
>     BTW, I am not running an Ambient weather station, I am running an 
> Argent WS-1 weather station connected via WeeWX with the APRS 
> extension that writes APRS packets to a file.
>
>     Due to the recent discussion on this list related to invalid 
> packets, I upgraded my Xastir installation to the latest and greatest 
> as of about an hour ago. I don't know if that is what caused the 
> unsupported packet that you noticed, but I figured it can't hurt.
>
> Thanks for helping with this!
>
> -Dj
>
>
> On 11/6/2018 3:56 PM, Gerry Creager - NOAA Affiliate wrote:
>> Dj
>>
>> For the sake of experimentation, change your server to cwop.aprs.net and
>> let's see if the Core servers are getting the data. rotate.aprs2.net 
>> should
>> work; so should rotate.aprs.net.
>>
>> Tier2 (rotate.aprs2.net) should share all its data with the Core (
>> rotate.aprs.net) and vice versa.the CWOP servers share amongst 
>> themselves,
>> and harvest the Core APRS servers solely for weather packets.
>>
>> I don't have any aggregation service running on the core right now; 
>> that's
>> on my list for "spare time enhancements". I am wondering if something
>> you're doing is sending a non-weather packet out, but WeeWx tends to do a
>> pretty good job, as I see a fair number of them out there.
>>
>> I'm still on the Xastir list primarily for historical purposes: I was a
>> long-time user but right now, my interests look a lot like "other 
>> things".
>> I do still manage the Core and CWOP servers, and as a linux wonk, 
>> Xastir's
>> been my favorite APRS client for a long time.
>>
>> I'm not current on how-to's for weather stations, but your choice, 
>> because
>> it's fairly new, isn't as likely to be in there.Ambient has made weather
>> products for the consumer for a long time, but has only a 
>> "relatively" new
>> effort in automated weather stations. I guess I could disassemble my 
>> wife's
>> and see what the protocol looks like, then try to  hack it into 
>> WeeWx? Or,
>> is it natively supported?
>>
>> gerry
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 6, 2018 at 12:22 PM Dj Merrill <xastir at deej.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Gerry,
>>>          It is still transmitting every ten minutes.  I left it on 
>>> after our
>>> email exchange last week.  N1JOV-7 is the only station ID.
>>>
>>>          On the RF side I think I understand why it might not be going
>>> anywhere
>>> other than to stations in direct range of my station.  The man page for
>>> xastir_udp_client says "It will send the packet out the RF ports as
>>> third-party packets only if you add the "\-to_rf" flag after the
>>> passcode".  My current understanding is that a third party packet won't
>>> be passed along.
>>>
>>>          However, I am also transmitting it to the internet at the 
>>> same time
>>> since I am using both "-to_rf" and "-to_inet" options.  Maybe I don't
>>> have the data being sent to the right place?  I only have one server
>>> setup for APRS "rotate.aprs2.net".  Do I need to setup a second server
>>> to send weather data, or does it also go through the same primary APRS
>>> servers?
>>>
>>>          Is there a "how to" guide somewhere describing the proper 
>>> way to
>>> configure Xastir to talk to a weather station and send the weather data
>>> along to the Internet?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> -Dj
>>>
>>>
>>> On 11/06/2018 12:48 PM, Gerry Creager - NOAA Affiliate wrote:
>>>> Sorry. I went into an intensive Cray update cycle and lost sleep 
>>>> and most
>>>> of my mind for awhile. I'm STILL not seeing anything on the CWOP
>>>> aggregation server (<= 24 hr retention in this instance) for 
>>>> N1JOV-7. I'm
>>>> not sure you've been transmitting. Is there another callsign/ssid I
>>> missed?
>>>> gerry
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 4:18 PM Dj Merrill <xastir at deej.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks Gerry.  It has been sending out data every 10 minutes since my
>>>>> note last night, so hopefully you'll see some data there today.
>>>>>
>>>>> -Dj
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 10/30/2018 05:13 PM, Gerry Creager - NOAA Affiliate wrote:
>>>>>> Erroneous values are Quality Checked (and flagged in MADIS) but
>>> wouldn't
>>>>>> preclude the data from showing up. On the server I'm checking, we 
>>>>>> only
>>>>> keep
>>>>>> 1 day in the mysql dtabase, so if you can leave it running for a bit
>>>>>> longer, I can look at things. I was out all weekend, and didn't play
>>>>>> computer or ham radio... and yesterday I worked late and didn't 
>>>>>> get to
>>>>> look
>>>>>> at email much either.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> gerry
>>>>>>

-- 
Dj Merrill - N1JOV - EAA Chapter 87
Currently Flying: Glastar
Previously: Cessna 150 - Glasair 1 FT - Grumman AA1B