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I'll help you if you want to stand up an iGate

No, really this time! Mark me down for an igate!

No shipping required, I'll come get it, might be a couple weeks.

Teaser: it won't be in the Arrow!
 
Mark - pick-up orders are encouraged ! They come with a bonus - free food !

I'll stick you name on the last "complete" iGate w/ radio.


To others - I will likely be making a trip "Downeast" in December and could to deliver a system :D
 
Great responses today! Once the new radios arrive it will put the total of new iGates at TEN!

This community is outstanding! We will have added ten iGates within about two months!
 
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It is with a little releaf - but mostly disappointment - that I announce the "iGate Factory" will soon go quiet. :eek: The flow of very affordable XO-1 laptops appear to have dried up.

Three people got on the delivery list and those systems are nearly ready - so if I've been emailing with you, you are covered.

For the record, the latest iGate was light orange over purple :p these really are the cutest iGates around ! If I could justify it and had a use, I'd have loved to keep them all :)


This project really has been a labor of love and I'm glad I attempted it.

Over this winter, if I find myself idle, I have a completely different design in my head. If that works, I'll return to this thread.

In the mean time, I really hope all of the new iGates get up and running soon. If for some reason, the owners of the new systems decide not to install them, I hope they will offer them up here to a good home.


So long, and thanks for all the fish.
 
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I hope you can see the little boxes all over this picture. It is a case of "The Little Engine that Could". Since Glen helped me sort through a few setup problems, this iGate has sent over 4000 packets to APRS.fi and that is since this past Saturday, so almost three days. It has scored hits in Alabama and South Carolina also. It makes me wonder if these transmissions would have gone unrecognized by the APRS.fi system with this little iGate's efforts. No airplanes yet because the weather has been terrible. I am comfortable in saying that because of Glen, our community is giving back to the APRS groups. This is an amazingly economical solution that adds safety to flying IMHO. Thanks Glen and all of the others that have brought this to our attention and continue to pursue it.

Just an update as the packets sent to APRS.fi pass 16000 in two weeks of being turned on, I see that packets sent have now been from GA, AL, TN, NC, SC, FL, KY, and MS.......impressive and the antenna is just sitting next to garage.
 
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Stop the presses !

The iGate Factory has had an 11-th hour reprieve. Three more XO-1 laptops will arrive in the next few days.

All of the current stock has been claimed and one of the three is also tentatively spoken for.

There will be at least two iGates available after the first of the year!
 
It's Christmas time at the iGate Factory :)
20131221-112649-575x409.jpg


Of the XO's in the picture, one is my backup, two will ship out after the holiday crunch, one has a "tentative" on it, and two are available.

I only order radios when an iGate is "requested" and the radios take about 3 weeks to come by boat from China.
 
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Hi Glen,

I have mac computers, can I do the igate with the apple?

there is a little car symbol in my town, and it repeats up to an igate off of grizzly. Would there be any benefit to me doing an igate?

i live in bend Oregon.
 
Hi Danny,

You can build an iGate with just about anything - a PC, a Mac, and old laptop, a Raspberry Pi, a Cubieboard, ...

The components are described at the start of this thread but break down to three major components - a computer, a radio, and a TNC (to convert audio to data). In my iGate, I use the laptop's sound card and a software based TNC.
 
RV Sponsored I-Gate Locations

Has anyone put together a list showing the locations of I-Gates that the RV community has installed and operational?. This will be just another feather in our cap to the APRS/Ham community the next time they are less than happy with airborne transmitters.

This might be fun for someone good with Google maps to create.

My I-Gate is located at our airpark SC99 and identifier N1FLY-1.
 
Found a big hole in the coverage today.

We flew to Big Sandy Regional Airport in Prestonsburg, KY (K22 or KSJS) today and the BB's stopped about 26 miles to the South-SouthWest....
 
iGate at 5TN4

Hello Glen,

Just an update. I have all the parts required to setup the iGate you created for me. I simply need warm temps to install the antenna. The way my hangar is setup I need to puncture the roof for the antenna pole. I need temps above freezing for the same 24 hour period my son is home. Might be spring; but, there is hope:)
 
Hey Marvin ! I keep checking for the inaugural message from your iGate. I guess weather, schedules, and projects can make that a bit of a challenge.

If all else fails, I may just have to pop over for another visit :)
 
I-gates save the world!

Glen, et al,

Every day I receive E-mails from customers who believe that their transmitters are not working, and time after time, I receive the unit back for testing only to find that they work perfectly. ( Of course, many new Hams are under the impression that Byonics owns the APRS network, and our stuff should work like cellphones or there will be **** to pay!)Okay, enough pitiful whining on my part, but it has made clear to me that one of Ham Radio's primary assumptions is that Amateur Radio will still work, even when the very fabric of society is in tatters and the Zombies are in charge. This may be true, but what I am finding over and over again is that in hot weather, Digipeaters crash because of fires, and in cold weather, digipeaters crash because of antennas being buried in ice and snow or power being unavailable, and many other reasons. They are not built to commercial, post-apocalyptic, standards. Ironically this leaves the far more robust Internet backbone as the Lifeline for APRS ( yes, I know I am speaking heresy here, and that I may face the rack and execution by draw and quartering.) I-Gates usually live where people do, and foul weather access is rarely an issue ( with the exception of having to climb up on your roof) But even an indoor receive antenna provides adequate service when nature conspires against us. That being said, I want to thank you for your service as an apostle of I-gates, and you (and Hessu from aprs.fi, Bob Bruninga, etc.) shall live in the halls of Ham Valhalla, where the brave (and creative shall) dwell forever!

73,

Allen AF6OF
VHS/Byonics
 
Quick update:

This map shows those iGates which are
[green] busy getting messages to the internet
[yellow] getting the kinks out
[gray] have been delivered but are not yet operational.

i-gate-sites.jpg


I know of three iGates which are not yet online but should be soon.

I have one iGate that the lazy slob keeps telling me he's gonna visit but then makes excuses ;)

I have two iGates available, if anyone is still looking to add to the network. (I know that the Alton Bay area has a hole so if anyone is resident in that neck of the woods, let me know.)
 
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The gray one in Philly . . .

As soon as the snow clears from my roof and I can get the antenna installed on the chimney it will operational! Took me 6 weeks to get the crazy adapter for the Baofung radio. I'm working it!
 
Hey Allen, a product suggestion for you. How about a plug and play Igate receiver I can plug into a USB port on the back of my computer. It's on all the time anyway. I'm sure if the price was resonable you would sell a bunch to this comunity that are not really hams but use the APRS system and would like to give back.

Brian
 
Hey Allen, a product suggestion for you. How about a plug and play Igate receiver I can plug into a USB port on the back of my computer. It's on all the time anyway. I'm sure if the price was resonable you would sell a bunch to this comunity that are not really hams but use the APRS system and would like to give back.

Brian

The above post could be taken several ways and I don't know the intent of this particular post.

But as a reminder.....a license is required in order to legally use an APRS tracker.
 
When I got my byonics tracker, I threw the magnetic antenna on the car and drove to work a few times. I didn't have much success. Even placed it on our aircraft at work and flew around. Still no luck. Purchased Pete's J pole antenna and the difference was night and day. I went from sporadic packets to solid with hardly a miss. I highly recommend the J pole.
 
SDR and pymultimonaprs

Hey Allen, a product suggestion for you. How about a plug and play Igate receiver I can plug into a USB port on the back of my computer. It's on all the time anyway. I'm sure if the price was reasonable you would sell a bunch to this community that are not really hams but use the APRS system and would like to give back.

Brian

This is available now for about $23, assuming you have an old computer you can run a linux distribution on:

Purchase a USB SDR for $22.50 http://www.adafruit.com/products/1497

Use an old computer running Linux and install pymultimonaprs
https://github.com/asdil12/pymultimonaprs

Get it set up and you've got an iGate for less than $25.

I currently have an R-Pi sitting on the shelf waiting for me to see if I can get this to run with the little computing horsepower it has. Seems like it should work, but I have not tried it yet.
 
22.00 buck receiver? Sweet!

This sounds awesome! Has anyone out there tried one yet? Its important to remember that a data radio is judged by very different criteria. If you think of analog voice coming over an FM radio, you can visualize it as a very slow data rate. A radio can be a major success as a voice radio and a complete flop as a data radio ( I know this from painful and expensive development of our own receiver, which we use for a DTMF receiver/decoder) In order to double the range of a data receiver, you have to quadruple its sensitivity, or put another way, you have to cut your data rate by a factor of four to double your range. I wish I could build a good data radio for 22.00 bucks! If it works well as a VHF receiver, I would buy one for Glen, who is the Board's Zen master of I-Gate Jutsu, who already knows hot to make an I-gate work ( an area of which, I admit woeful ignorance) Is it really necessary to dedicate a modern PC to handling the chores of a gate? There are inadequate resources to let it run in the background? Almost everyone has a PC, and if there was a plug and play gate, the world would be a happier place (okay, at least for me, because, well, I sell transmitters, but they don't do much without digipeaters and I-gates: Full disclosure) I like that they provided access for a decent antenna! If anyone tries one of these, please let us know how it works!

FYI, my 10 Watt Digipeater/tracker should be available next month. It looks a lot like our RTG-50 ( the oversized nuclear version of the 10 Watt RTG so many people have in their wingtips) so it can work as a mobile tracker, or a tracker and digi simultaneously. My guess is that a lot of people will want to do very much what Glen is doing with his I-gate "Factory" , which is to strategically place gear where it will do the most good.

Allen
 
USB receiver

I could not stop myself....I just ordered one, will advise. Glen, after I take a quick look, do you want to see how it works as a Gate front end?

Allen
 
I could not stop myself....I just ordered one, will advise. Glen, after I take a quick look, do you want to see how it works as a Gate front end?

Allen

Check this website here:
http://www.rtl-sdr.com/setting-up-an-aprs-igate-with-the-rtl-sdr/

It links to a website in Polish that Google translate will sort out for you. It is literally a line by line how to to get an SDR to act as an APRS RX only iGate. He uses a different board, but it should work with almost any Linus distribution and the R-Pi May or may not have the horsepower to run it. There's a fair amount of computing horsepower to go from the SDR decode it to digital, then post to APRS.
 
I don't understand how these iGates work in a "remote" location if internet access is needed. I'm interested in putting one at my hanger, but the only internet access at the hanger is via cell signal.
 
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I don't understand how these iGates work in a "remote" location if internet access is needed. I'm interested in putting one at my hanger, but the only internet access at the hanger is via cell signal.

Hi Mike, without internet access, it's much harder and much less efficient to try and setup an iGate. I don't think I'd make the effort if I only had cell coverage for the internet access.

In general, APRS uses digipeaters to link remote areas and then iGates for "the last hop". This works great as a general rule but for an airplane that can be at 500AGL and at 10,000AGL we try to be good citizens by configuring our trackers to only repeat one time. This means we need to hit an iGate directly or through no more than one digipeater. Ground based trackers often are configured to allow two (or more) "hops".

This is why is helps airplanes to have more iGates.
 
RTL-SDR

For the various posts about using a RTL-SDR, I have good news and not so good news.

I've done way more experimenting that I thought I would - mostly because so many of the experiments failed miserably. Rather than go into all the background, here are some combinations and the end results:

XO+HT = success with relative easy
XO+SDR = success with a lot of initial effort
PC+SDR = success with easy
PC+HT = success with easy
RPi+SC+HT = success with a lot of initial effort
RPi+SDR = countless failures


To avoid a lot of typing assume all of the tests used a good feed line and a tuned outdoor antenna. Here are my short hand abbreviations:

SDR = a software defined radio USB dongle using the R820T rather than the more expensive E4000 which I'm trying to track down
HT = a hand held radio
SC = a USB sound card
PC = one of my modern Windows based computers
XO = one of the low power XO Laptops
RPi = a Raspberry Pi computer board with the necessary addons to make it usable

I'm not listing the software here because I tried nearly all the common combinations you'll find with Google searches.

You will find internet posts claiming to have an iGate build using RPi and SDR but you will not find any repeatable configurations. If you add "underrun" to your search you will learn why. The only difference I've been able to identify is the chipset of the SDR. Nearly all of them now use the R802T whereas the couple of instructional posts on the internet use the E4000 tuner. I've finally tracked down what should be the E4000 tuner but it will take a few weeks traveling the slow boat from China.

I don't want the discourage anyone for learning about computers, radio transmission of data, and hardware. At the same time, I was like Kevin thinking "this will be easy, a no brainer". I would estimate I've got over 150 hours or testing, experimenting, and frustration trying to build a low cost iGate. Unless this is your cup of tea (like Allen) I'd suggest a healthy dose of skepticism. Even the iGates I've shipped out are not full proof.

Kevin: FYI, the polish website uses a cubiboard which is at least as powerful as the XO laptop - and more expensive.

Allen : email me when you get your RTL-SDR and I can give you some notes to shorten your learning curve.
 
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SDR

Glen,


Will do, thanks! I plan on running it on one of the innumerable PC's I have floating around. Do you have some sense of how they perform as receivers?

Allen
 
Mounting the SDR at the antenna would minimize the coax line loss and provide the most RF signal to the receiver. Not sure of the max. USB cable length allowable and may not be practical.

Maybe the future will bring a simple all in one device, antenna, receiver and APRS decoder powered over the Ethernet connection cable.
 
Maybe the future will bring a simple all in one device, antenna, receiver and APRS decoder powered over the Ethernet connection cable.

This is pretty much what I was trying to build. It would have been a Raspberry Pi + RTL-SDR + POE spitter, installed near the base of the antenna and connected by a long Ethernet cable to a POE injector and internet connection.

The RPi (even with overclocking) was not able to process the RTL-SDR input and extract viable packet data. I continually had buffer underrun issues.


MODERATORS: if this thread has drifted too far off RV, please interject. Allen and I will find a home for the material.

[Personally I think the thread is interesting and useful for many of us who are using APRS; S. Buchanan, moderator]
 
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PiGate

I finally made it work! A ultra low power iGate using the Raspberry Pi and a USB software defined radio (RTL-SDR). The trick is the it requires an SDR using the E4000 tuner chip.

This can be installed in a weather proof box at the antenna location and fed with just a PoE Ethernet cable.

 
Glen, that is beyond cool! You may have cracked (or assembled...) the code for the ultimate iGate with current technology.

I assume this will be even lower cost than the laptop version.

Well done.
 
I assume this will be even lower cost than the laptop version.

It's close but if you start with nothing, it's probably a wash. The RPi + case + power supply is right around $50 which is the price point I hit with the laptops.

I was able to get both working with an SDR so that is the same cost. They both use a 4GB SD card.

The different is the laptop has WiFi but no Ethernet while the RPi has Ethernet but no wifi. The cost to go either way is about $10.

If you want a hard wired iGate, there are a few advantages for the RPi. First, it does Ethernet by default. Second, sometimes permanent WiFi connections can be temperamental. Fourth, an RPi will automatically reboot when power comes back from a failure. Fifth, is the option to base mount the iGate at the antenna and PoE for a single, low cost connection back to a router or switch.

It was good to finally crack the code !

This setup is small and really low power but it does require some comfort with Linux and using SSH to interact with the iGate for servicing.

It was good to finally crack the code :cool:
 
Glen,
Congratulations on developing this project.
Would it be possible to post the suggested hardware and sources? I would like to build one up for my location.
Thanks,
 
iGate ALMOST up and running

Hello Glen,
I have finally had a day with both temperatures above freezing and my youngest boy is home from school to help install the antenna. We have everything installed. I watched your video on setting up the computer for the iGate. I ran into one snag. When I go to http://callpass.kf5jwc.us and input my callsign, KK4VZM, it returns as invalid. I have looked at my license and the callsign is correct. Do I need to get a different APRS callsign?

Thanks for the help
Marvin
 
Marvin - sent you an email with the passcode for your callsign.

Allen - the SDR is not bad. Not quite as good at the a Baofeng and definitely not as good as my Kenwood. With a good antenna it definitely gets the job done.
 
iGate online at 5TN4!

Thank you Glen!
Your iGate is now online and receiving packets. The setup video is very helpful. Now I need to read up on how to understand the info it recieves.

Thanks for your efforts. I need people to fly over and test it!

Marvin
 
Flyby

Thanks for adding another iGate to the local area Marvin!

Brian,
Are you flying yet? If so, we could combine an iGate test and grass strip landing into one trip:). You could even see if that fancy new prop helps on grass:)
 
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