[Xastir] Now that I have it, What do I do with it?

[Curt Mills]

On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 12:10 PM wa7skg <wa7skg at wa7skg.com> wrote:
>
> I finally have Xastir running, decoding and displaying data. Now what?
> Various questions abound.

This would be a very good subject for a new Wiki page...


> 1. Maps. Map > Map Chooser gives me a list that I have no idea which to
> choose. Is there a description some place about these? I've tried
> several, some take many minutes to load, some look like a child drew
> them with a broken crayon, others simply make no sense.

One of Xastir's strong points is that it can use so many different
types of maps. I'm using the Online/OSM_tiled* maps.

One key thing to know: If you're using raster maps you generally want
to select only one. If you're using vector maps, especially ones that
don't fill in areas, you can use multiple at the same time. You can
also do your own map stackups with certain maps (like vector) on top
of others (perhaps a bottom-of-the-stack raster map).

Play around with one map at a time until you figure out the useful /
favorite ones. Read README.MAPS file. Check out the xastir.org Wiki
pages.


> 2. What am I looking at on the screen? I see a bunch of icons. I can't
> seem to find any kind of legend that tells me what they are. Some of the
> icons have associated text that is completely unreadable. They are
> bright yellow, small, and in a weird font. I am also seeing various
> lines on the screen. Some are associated with icons, some not. Some are
> straight, some have specific bends, others just seem to randomly meander
> around the screen. Some are solid, some are dotted, some are dashed.
> They are in all colors, red, black, green, violet, white, blue, etc.
> These lines seemingly come and go at random. Some of the icons have red
> flags on them that look like wind symbols on weather charts. Zooming in
> only shows a smaller area, it does not affect the text at all.

If you compiled Xastir with fontconfig support you can change several
of the fonts to your liking.

Some of the stuff you describe above sounds like you are trying the
oldest style of maps: APRSdos maps. Try other maps.

You can enable/disable various types of stations on the
Station->Filter Data menu, and decide which parameters of the stations
to display on the Station->Filter Display menu.


> 3. The navigation buttons at the top are very awkward to use. They move
> in such large jumps it is hard to center on any particular segment of
> the screen.

Then don't use them. Use the PageUp/Dwn keys to zoom in/out, and use
the mouse to zoom into the exact area you wish. You can also use the
arrow keys. There's a way to remember a map zoom and center as well
and call it up again from the mouse menus.


> 4. Should I be beaconing or something to show others I am there? I have
> yet to see my radio transmit. I look at on-line resources like aprs.fi
> and I see everybody on my screen except me.

Set up an Interface on the Interfaces menu to connect to an internet
feed or a local TNC.
Allow transmitting on that interface.
Allow global transmitting on the main Interface manu.
Set up your callsign and location on the File->Configure->Station menu.
Run through the File->Configure->Defaults menu and set what you'd like there.


> 5. I guess the biggest question right now is, so what? What purpose does
> this serve me right now? How can I utilize this information? I
> understand I can send messages, but is everybody looking for messages?

Depends on what you want to do with it. I use it for SAR and watching
my friends on APRS, as well as watching ADS-B (planes) and AIS
(ships).

Everyone seems to have a different purpose for running it.

I'm typing mostly with one hand these days. The above took a lot of
effort. Yell out if you need more and I'm sure others will jump in.

-- 
Curt, WE7U        http://we7u.wetnet.net        http://www.sarguydigital.com