![planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp](http://sonicgoose.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Screen-Shot-2013-02-11-at-7.02.23-PM.png)
- Planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp manual#
- Planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp software#
- Planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp Pc#
Over a year ago I decided that I needed some good filters for ADS-B reception on mountaintops.
![planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp](https://www.satsignal.eu/raspberry-pi/htop-screenshot.png)
Am rebuilding it now to put back on the hill in the next week or two. It’s windy as heck out, and the temperatures are in the mid-50’s, but the sun is warm. On this fine day, there’s plenty of people walking the ramp. This what I call “the bowl”, where Caterpillar dozers not only moved millions of tons of rock back and forth for test and fun, but also cut the 20%-grade, ~0.6 mile long ramp that climbs north out of the bowl and then descends into the White Tank park boundaries. While Verrado continues to inch its way up the lower portions of the road, it’s unlikely it’ll ever get up this far. Verrado’s north end currently ends at the golf course the tower road is the wide diagonal that heads northwest into the narrows up-canyon. And the White Tank road was part of the testing arena. The cool thing about the White Tank road is it goes through the old Caterpillar proving grounds, where they pitted Caterpillar bulldozers against the mountain. Time-lapse video of the drive between I-10 Verrado offramp to and from the peak
Planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp Pc#
The Windows PC there had apparently died a while back, the ADS-B link failed at the beginning of April, so it was time to fix things. This morning I went up to check on the radio site on the east ridge where I have an ADS-B receiver and a railroad data receiver setup. The drop off from boost to float is a very slow ramp, that’s probably not as good as what the MPPT does.įor the White Tank peaks, I’m lazy. Here, it’s a much cruder controller, but the same kind of curve is evident. In Figure 3, the units are wrong, but the curve is the important bit. I realized that I also have for the same setup the voltage characteristics for the PWM SCC that I had out there last month before switching to the MPPT unit. There are other nice things to discuss about this SCC, including very low RFI generation, that future notes will touch on.
Planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp manual#
It’s nice to see that the real-world situation replicates the manual pretty accurately. From 1130 to about 1330 the SCC is in the sustained charge mode from 1130 to 1730 the SCC is in float charge mode. From about 0700 (the sun begins to directly illuminate the panel) to around 1130 the SCC is in the fast charge mode. Figure 2 – Manufacturer’s Chart on Battery Charge Managementįigure 2 is the chart right out of the Rich Solar MPPT-20 charge controller manual.
This particular 24-hour period was dead clear during the daylight hours, so the curve is very clean. In Figure 1, battery voltage is shown over a 24-hour period. I settled on a lead-acid battery, mainly because it tolerates higher working temperatures, and since there are plenty of charge management devices that understand lead-acid chemistry really well. It’s a tough environment out there in the desert, and determining an appropriate energy storage technology is part of the challenge. It’s the battery management that’s the thing! Figure 1 – 24-Hour Battery Voltage
Planeplotter ground stations should be running ntp software#
The load on the battery is a Raspberry Pi with two NESDR Smart radio dongles, running software called RWMon, and decoding ATCS indication messages being sent from railroad control points along the I-8 corridor, but that functionality isn’t the subject of this article. I’m using a Rich Solar MPPT-20 solar charge controller (SCC), which so far appears to be doing a great job. I’ve got a 125 W solar panel feeding a 12 Vdc 85 Ah deep cycle battery at a comms site in the southwest Arizona desert.