Hola, soy Leo Peiro y estoy intentando poner en marcha una pequeña estación de detección de meteoros con Echoes, un equipo basado en los chips R820T2 + RTL2832U y una antena para 144 Mhz que fabriqué yo mismo y que he instalado sobre el muro de mi casa a unos 6 mts de altura. Vivo en Tres Cantos (Madrid-España).
Ahora en este punto es cuando necesito ayuda, ya que no obtengo los resultados que esperaba.
¿Cual es la mejor polarización de antena? ¿Horizontal o Vertical?
¿Y la orientación de la antena? ¿N,S,E,W? ¿Grados de elevación?
Además, tengo un problema. Cuando pongo en marcha Echores en modo automático, parace que todo va bien; pero cuando dejo el programa tabajando sin hacer nada más con ordenador... cuando ha pasado un tiempo se para el sistema. ¿qué puede ser? El equipo no está en ahorro energía ni nada similar.
Gracias por vuestras respuestas
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
1-Polarization: in my experience, my life didn't change when I decided -
following the suggestions of other OMs - to change the polarization of
my yagi from horizontal to vertical. But many says vertical it's better
because the Graves receiver too uses vertical-polarized dipoles so this
is also my suggestion for you.
I live in a place between two airports (LIN + BGY) and the 143.050 band
is often disturbed by various annoying artificial emissions, so might be
that the benefit in my case is vanified by these disturbances.
2- Looking at the figures 3 and 4 at page 99 of this document https://fas.org/spp/military/program/track/graves.pdf
you should point your antenna toward SE - ESE and high elevation ( >
70°). A friend of mine with a station located between Rome and Naples -
more or less
your same latitude - is using 2 yagis pointed to the zenith (90°
elevation).
3-Echoes stops the acquisition automatically if it finds a problem
reading data from the dongle. In this case below the (Start/stop) button
you should see
the message "RTLSDR acquisition fault".
This happens sometimes to me too, and is due to an unstable USB
connection. My dongle is a Nongles+ box placed 1mt from the PC and
connected thru a USB cable and even if the dongle is never touched,
sometimes after days of acquisition it stops with acquisition fault. I
unplug and replug the cable in the dongle again and everything restart
working for other x days... I think it's a quality problem of USB
connection that I experienced also with other USB devices - like hard
disks that connect/disconnect easily simply moving them (!!!). If you
have the dongle plugged directly into PC, try to use a cable between
them to see if the coupling quality improves. Or if you already have a
cable, try to plug it directly without it and experiment until you find
the problem.
BTW, if this is the problem, you should experience the same problem
running another RTLSDR spectrogram program than Echoes.
Sincerely
Giuseppe
Il 06/06/2020 15:54, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Hola, soy Leo Peiro y estoy intentando poner en marcha una pequeña
estación de detección de meteoros con Echoes, un equipo basado en los
chips R820T2 + RTL2832U y una antena para 144 Mhz que fabriqué yo
mismo y que he instalado sobre el muro de mi casa a unos 6 mts de
altura. Vivo en Tres Cantos (Madrid-España).
Ahora en este punto es cuando necesito ayuda, ya que no obtengo los
resultados que esperaba.
¿Cual es la mejor polarización de antena? ¿Horizontal o Vertical?
¿Y la orientación de la antena? ¿N,S,E,W? ¿Grados de elevación?
Además, tengo un problema. Cuando pongo en marcha Echores en modo
automático, parace que todo va bien; pero cuando dejo el programa
tabajando sin hacer nada más con ordenador... cuando ha pasado un
tiempo se para el sistema. ¿qué puede ser? El equipo no está en ahorro
energía ni nada similar.
Hi Giuseppe
Thank you very much for your kind and extensive responses.
Today I will modify the orientation of my antenna to see if I have more luck with the meteorite record. I will report the results in the forum.
Regarding the stability of the USB port, when the system is connected and starts working, this message always appears in the Work Console:
Record level: 4Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner [R82XX] PLL not blocked!
Found tuner Rafael Micro R820T
The exact sampling rate is: 250000,000414 Hz [R82XX] PLL not blocked!
Why does it say "[R82XX] PLL not blocked"? This is correct?
My drives are properly installed with zadig-2.5.exe
Thanks again for your responses.
Leo Peiro
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
yes, it's normal, don't care of it. It's a temporary message coming from
rtlsdr library while the initialization is in progress. It is not
related to USB issues.
Giuseppe
Il 07/06/2020 17:36, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Hi Giuseppe
Thank you very much for your kind and extensive responses.
Today I will modify the orientation of my antenna to see if I have
more luck with the meteorite record. I will report the results in the
forum.
Regarding the stability of the USB port, when the system is connected
and starts working, this message always appears in the Work Console:
Record level: 4Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner [R82XX] PLL not blocked!
Found tuner Rafael Micro R820T
The exact sampling rate is: 250000,000414 Hz [R82XX] PLL not blocked!
Why does it say "[R82XX] PLL not blocked"? This is correct?
My drives are properly installed with zadig-2.5.exe
Hello again. I would like to have your opinion again.
I'm heartbroken. In 48 hours of recording, I have not been able to capture any meteor signals, despite believing that I have installed my equipment correctly.
Following your advice, I oriented my 3-element Yagi antenna (143,050 Mhz) to ESE (130º) and an elevation of approximately 75º.
I configured Echoe as the attached pictures show.
I appreciate any comments that may help.
Thank you
Hola de nuevo. Me gustaría tener tu opinión nuevamente.
Tengo el corazón partido. En 48 horas de grabación, no he podido capturar ninguna señal de meteorito, a pesar de creer que he instalado mi equipo correctamente.
Siguiendo su consejo, orienté mi antena Yagi de 3 elementos (143.050 Mhz) a ESE (130º) y una elevación de aproximadamente 75º.
Configuré Echoe como muestran las imágenes adjuntas:
Agradezco cualquier comentario que pueda ayudar.
Gracias
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
my advice is do not start with automatic acquisition. Try periodic
acquisition first. Look at the waterfall and start acquisition to see
how much time it takes
to fill up the screen and set that time (or some seconds less) as
Recording Time. In your case you set 20 seconds and I guess it's ok for you.
Then set zero as ShotUpThreshold in order to disable automatic
acquisition. Disable gnuplot generation too, to save disk space.
For the tune is better to shift up or down by some khz, let's say +10khz
(143.060) and set the offset to -10kHz instead of tuning exactly the
Graves.
This because the tuned frequency matches with the DC portion of the
Fourier's transform. Since Echoes masks that value (overwriting in with
the N value) the resulting meteor echoes would look cutted in the middle
with a line of pixels.
So, after starting acquisition and made it run along the night, the
morning after you'll have a bunch of screenshots to look at in search of
echoes. If you can find some, the next step will be to set the correct
thresholds and timings for automatic acquisition.
If not, there should be some other problem than Echoes settings.
Good Luck
Giuseppe
Check how much time it takes
Il 09/06/2020 19:05, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Hello again. I would like to have your opinion again.
I'm heartbroken. In 48 hours of recording, I have not been able to
capture any meteor signals, despite believing that I have installed my
equipment correctly.
Following your advice, I oriented my 3-element Yagi antenna (143,050
Mhz) to ESE (130º) and an elevation of approximately 75º.
I configured Echoe as the attached pictures show.
I appreciate any comments that may help.
Thank you
Hola de nuevo. Me gustaría tener tu opinión nuevamente.
Tengo el corazón partido. En 48 horas de grabación, no he podido
capturar ninguna señal de meteorito, a pesar de creer que he instalado
mi equipo correctamente.
Siguiendo su consejo, orienté mi antena Yagi de 3 elementos (143.050
Mhz) a ESE (130º) y una elevación de aproximadamente 75º.
Configuré Echoe como muestran las imágenes adjuntas:
Agradezco cualquier comentario que pueda ayudar.
Gracias
Hi and thanks
Following her advice, I oriented the antenna and gave it the proper elevation.
I already record echoes. Thanks again.
Now I would like to have a good understanding of how reports are managed. Are there documents that expand the information? With the manual it is not very clear to me.
I see the graphs and the data tables; but i can't create a full report ... what am i doing wrong?
I will appreciate any help.
Leo Peiro
Hola y gracias
Siguiendo su consejo, orienté la antena y le di la elevación adecuada.
Ya grabo ecos. Gracias de nuevo.
Ahora me gustaría tener una buena comprensión de cómo se gestionan los informes. ¿Hay documentos que amplíen la información? Con el manual no me queda muy claro.
Veo los gráficos y las tablas de datos; pero no puedo crear un informe completo ... ¿qué estoy haciendo mal?
Agradeceré cualquier ayuda.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I cannot rewrite a manual chapter in a mail message, it would be
senseless. If you can't understand what I wrote in the manual (it took
me many days to write it) you'll understand ever less if I try to
explain again in a mail. It's always me writing :) !
I can help you if you can't understand specific parts of it, asking
focused questions.
Keep present that tThe HTML report needs at least an entire day of data
stored in the archive. It works only in automatic mode, that means you
must run in automatic mode your station for days, avoiding to touch it
or altering the parameters.
So you need to find a stable setup for your station first, and then make
it run for some days before trying to generate the report.
Cordially
Giuseppe
Il 17/06/2020 19:21, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Hi and thanks
Following her advice, I oriented the antenna and gave it the proper elevation.
I already record echoes. Thanks again.
Now I would like to have a good understanding of how reports are managed. Are there documents that expand the information? With the manual it is not very clear to me.
I see the graphs and the data tables; but i can't create a full report ... what am i doing wrong?
I will appreciate any help.
Leo Peiro
Hola y gracias
Siguiendo su consejo, orienté la antena y le di la elevación adecuada.
Ya grabo ecos. Gracias de nuevo.
Ahora me gustaría tener una buena comprensión de cómo se gestionan los informes. ¿Hay documentos que amplíen la información? Con el manual no me queda muy claro.
Veo los gráficos y las tablas de datos; pero no puedo crear un informe completo ... ¿qué estoy haciendo mal?
Agradeceré cualquier ayuda.
Hello good day
How do I have to configure Echoes to get them to function for a full 1 month and acquire the data to create the report?
I don't get it. When it reaches 00:00 UTC it stops and does not restart. When I look at it in the morning it is stopped.
I see that if we click on the "Generate Report" option, the system starts up and enters "Starting Adquisition" mode. Does this have any special function?
Sorry for my insistence; but I would like to be prepared for the "Perseids"
Thank you. Greetings,
Leo
Hola, buenos días
¿Cómo debo configurar Echoes para que funcionen durante 1 mes completo y que genere el informe completo al finalizar?
No lo entiendo Cuando llega a las 00:00 UTC, se detiene y no se reinicia. Cuando lo miro por la mañana, está detenido.
Veo que si hacemos clic en la opción "Generar informe", el sistema se inicia y entra en modo "Iniciando Adquisición". ¿Tiene esto alguna función especial?
Perdón por mi insistencia; pero me gustaría estar preparado para las "Perseidas"
Gracias. Saludos,
Leo
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
With automatic mode, at midnight UTC the acquisition stops for a couple
of minutes to let the program freeze the acquired data and store them in
dedicated subfolder
per day. Once done this, it should restart by itself the acquisition for
the new day. The acquisition stops automatically only in case of system
errors or when reached the maximum shots counter set
in the "Output" tab (Stop after...). Otherwise it should run forever.
What you've seed with "Generate report" is a feature I was asked to
implement because the report generation must be required manually at
acquisition stopped
and the report generation could take some time, specially if gnuplot
output has been requested. So checking the box "then start acq" allows
to restart acquisition
automatically when the report has been generated (the first and last day
covered must be specified first). If the box is unchecked, no
acquisition will be started.
If you cannot understand what's happening, try to send me the echoes.log
after acquisition stopped (please start echoes specifying the option -n4
for a quite detailed log) and your config rts thanks.
Sincerely
Giuseppe
Il 28/06/2020 11:36, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Hello good day
How do I have to configure Echoes to get them to function for a full 1 month and acquire the data to create the report?
I don't get it. When it reaches 00:00 UTC it stops and does not restart. When I look at it in the morning it is stopped.
I see that if we click on the "Generate Report" option, the system starts up and enters "Starting Adquisition" mode. Does this have any special function?
Sorry for my insistence; but I would like to be prepared for the "Perseids"
Thank you. Greetings,
Leo
Hola, buenos días
¿Cómo debo configurar Echoes para que funcionen durante 1 mes completo y que genere el informe completo al finalizar?
No lo entiendo Cuando llega a las 00:00 UTC, se detiene y no se reinicia. Cuando lo miro por la mañana, está detenido.
Veo que si hacemos clic en la opción "Generar informe", el sistema se inicia y entra en modo "Iniciando Adquisición". ¿Tiene esto alguna función especial?
Perdón por mi insistencia; pero me gustaría estar preparado para las "Perseidas"
Gracias. Saludos,
Leo
Hola, soy Leo Peiro y estoy intentando poner en marcha una pequeña estación de detección de meteoros con Echoes, un equipo basado en los chips R820T2 + RTL2832U y una antena para 144 Mhz que fabriqué yo mismo y que he instalado sobre el muro de mi casa a unos 6 mts de altura. Vivo en Tres Cantos (Madrid-España).
Ahora en este punto es cuando necesito ayuda, ya que no obtengo los resultados que esperaba.
¿Cual es la mejor polarización de antena? ¿Horizontal o Vertical?
¿Y la orientación de la antena? ¿N,S,E,W? ¿Grados de elevación?
Además, tengo un problema. Cuando pongo en marcha Echores en modo automático, parace que todo va bien; pero cuando dejo el programa tabajando sin hacer nada más con ordenador... cuando ha pasado un tiempo se para el sistema. ¿qué puede ser? El equipo no está en ahorro energía ni nada similar.
Gracias por vuestras respuestas
Hi Leo,
1-Polarization: in my experience, my life didn't change when I decided -
following the suggestions of other OMs - to change the polarization of
my yagi from horizontal to vertical. But many says vertical it's better
because the Graves receiver too uses vertical-polarized dipoles so this
is also my suggestion for you.
I live in a place between two airports (LIN + BGY) and the 143.050 band
is often disturbed by various annoying artificial emissions, so might be
that the benefit in my case is vanified by these disturbances.
2- Looking at the figures 3 and 4 at page 99 of this document
https://fas.org/spp/military/program/track/graves.pdf
you should point your antenna toward SE - ESE and high elevation ( >
70°). A friend of mine with a station located between Rome and Naples -
more or less
your same latitude - is using 2 yagis pointed to the zenith (90°
elevation).
3-Echoes stops the acquisition automatically if it finds a problem
reading data from the dongle. In this case below the (Start/stop) button
you should see
the message "RTLSDR acquisition fault".
This happens sometimes to me too, and is due to an unstable USB
connection. My dongle is a Nongles+ box placed 1mt from the PC and
connected thru a USB cable and even if the dongle is never touched,
sometimes after days of acquisition it stops with acquisition fault. I
unplug and replug the cable in the dongle again and everything restart
working for other x days... I think it's a quality problem of USB
connection that I experienced also with other USB devices - like hard
disks that connect/disconnect easily simply moving them (!!!). If you
have the dongle plugged directly into PC, try to use a cable between
them to see if the coupling quality improves. Or if you already have a
cable, try to plug it directly without it and experiment until you find
the problem.
BTW, if this is the problem, you should experience the same problem
running another RTLSDR spectrogram program than Echoes.
Sincerely
Giuseppe
Il 06/06/2020 15:54, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Hi Giuseppe
Thank you very much for your kind and extensive responses.
Today I will modify the orientation of my antenna to see if I have more luck with the meteorite record. I will report the results in the forum.
Regarding the stability of the USB port, when the system is connected and starts working, this message always appears in the Work Console:
Record level: 4Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
[R82XX] PLL not blocked!
Found tuner Rafael Micro R820T
The exact sampling rate is: 250000,000414 Hz
[R82XX] PLL not blocked!
Why does it say "[R82XX] PLL not blocked"? This is correct?
My drives are properly installed with zadig-2.5.exe
Thanks again for your responses.
Leo Peiro
yes, it's normal, don't care of it. It's a temporary message coming from
rtlsdr library while the initialization is in progress. It is not
related to USB issues.
Giuseppe
Il 07/06/2020 17:36, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Okay. Thank you
Sincerely
Leo Peiro
Hello again. I would like to have your opinion again.
I'm heartbroken. In 48 hours of recording, I have not been able to capture any meteor signals, despite believing that I have installed my equipment correctly.
Following your advice, I oriented my 3-element Yagi antenna (143,050 Mhz) to ESE (130º) and an elevation of approximately 75º.
I configured Echoe as the attached pictures show.
I appreciate any comments that may help.
Thank you
[Device%20settings]
Device=0: Generic RTL2832U SN: 77771111153705700
SampleRate=250000
Tune=143050000
Gain=445
PpmError=2.5
[FFT%20settings]
FFTwindow=0
SamplingInterval=35
IQbufferSize=100
Resolution=3.814697265625
FFTflags=64
[Output%20settings]
MaxShots=5000
RecordingTime=20
ShotsAfter=20
ShotUpThreshold=14
ShotDnThreshold=10
ShotFrequencyRange=40
GenerateGNUplot=2
MinFree=1
PlotType=1
AveragedScans=10
JoinTime=4500
GnuPlotPalette="-130 \"#000000\", -118 \"#0000ff\", -100 \"#800080\", -82 \"#ffa500\", -64 \"#ffff00\", -46 \"#ffffff\", 50 \"#ffffff\""
[Report%20settings]
CoverFrom=@Variant(\0\0\0\xe\0%\x85z)
CoverTo=@Variant(\0\0\0\xe\0%\x85\x97)
UnderdenseBelowMs=1000
OverdenseBelowSec=50
ColorGraph=0
SiteInfos=2
OverdenseShots=2
UnderdenseShots=2
OverdensePlots=2
UnderdensePlots=2
ShotsDetails=2
SummaryTable=2
AcqRestart=2
AutoReport=0
CarrierFilter=2
LightingsFilter=2
[Preferences]
WaterfallSecTickMarks=2
WaterfallHzTickMarks=2
PowergraphDbmTickMarks=2
TooltipsShown=2
EnablePing=2
ThresholdsBehavior=0
EraseLogs=0
EraseShots=0
DataLasting=10
[Site%20infos]
StationLogo=:/icon128
Latitude=4.5963000000000003
Longitude=-3.7517
StationName=LeoPeiro
Contact=leopeiro58@yahoo.es
RxSetup=who knows
Notes=Aprendiendo y compartiendo
Altitude=725
[Waterfall%20settings]
WaterfallBandwidth=3000
WaterfallOffset=0
WaterfallBrightness=80
WaterfallContrast=68
WaterfallPowerZoom=3
WaterfallPowerOffset=-98
[Notch%20filters]
Notches\size=0
Hola de nuevo. Me gustaría tener tu opinión nuevamente.
Tengo el corazón partido. En 48 horas de grabación, no he podido capturar ninguna señal de meteorito, a pesar de creer que he instalado mi equipo correctamente.
Siguiendo su consejo, orienté mi antena Yagi de 3 elementos (143.050 Mhz) a ESE (130º) y una elevación de aproximadamente 75º.
Configuré Echoe como muestran las imágenes adjuntas:
Agradezco cualquier comentario que pueda ayudar.
Gracias
Hi Leoncio,
my advice is do not start with automatic acquisition. Try periodic
acquisition first. Look at the waterfall and start acquisition to see
how much time it takes
to fill up the screen and set that time (or some seconds less) as
Recording Time. In your case you set 20 seconds and I guess it's ok for you.
Then set zero as ShotUpThreshold in order to disable automatic
acquisition. Disable gnuplot generation too, to save disk space.
For the tune is better to shift up or down by some khz, let's say +10khz
(143.060) and set the offset to -10kHz instead of tuning exactly the
Graves.
This because the tuned frequency matches with the DC portion of the
Fourier's transform. Since Echoes masks that value (overwriting in with
the N value) the resulting meteor echoes would look cutted in the middle
with a line of pixels.
So, after starting acquisition and made it run along the night, the
morning after you'll have a bunch of screenshots to look at in search of
echoes. If you can find some, the next step will be to set the correct
thresholds and timings for automatic acquisition.
If not, there should be some other problem than Echoes settings.
Good Luck
Giuseppe
Check how much time it takes
Il 09/06/2020 19:05, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Hi and thanks
Following her advice, I oriented the antenna and gave it the proper elevation.
I already record echoes. Thanks again.
Now I would like to have a good understanding of how reports are managed. Are there documents that expand the information? With the manual it is not very clear to me.
I see the graphs and the data tables; but i can't create a full report ... what am i doing wrong?
I will appreciate any help.
Leo Peiro
Hola y gracias
Siguiendo su consejo, orienté la antena y le di la elevación adecuada.
Ya grabo ecos. Gracias de nuevo.
Ahora me gustaría tener una buena comprensión de cómo se gestionan los informes. ¿Hay documentos que amplíen la información? Con el manual no me queda muy claro.
Veo los gráficos y las tablas de datos; pero no puedo crear un informe completo ... ¿qué estoy haciendo mal?
Agradeceré cualquier ayuda.
Hi Leo
I cannot rewrite a manual chapter in a mail message, it would be
senseless. If you can't understand what I wrote in the manual (it took
me many days to write it) you'll understand ever less if I try to
explain again in a mail. It's always me writing :) !
I can help you if you can't understand specific parts of it, asking
focused questions.
Keep present that tThe HTML report needs at least an entire day of data
stored in the archive. It works only in automatic mode, that means you
must run in automatic mode your station for days, avoiding to touch it
or altering the parameters.
So you need to find a stable setup for your station first, and then make
it run for some days before trying to generate the report.
Cordially
Giuseppe
Il 17/06/2020 19:21, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto:
Hi Giuseppe
Good. Thank you.
I will try to keep the station running continuously for several days.
Thanks again
Leo
Hello good day
How do I have to configure Echoes to get them to function for a full 1 month and acquire the data to create the report?
I don't get it. When it reaches 00:00 UTC it stops and does not restart. When I look at it in the morning it is stopped.
I see that if we click on the "Generate Report" option, the system starts up and enters "Starting Adquisition" mode. Does this have any special function?
Sorry for my insistence; but I would like to be prepared for the "Perseids"
Thank you. Greetings,
Leo
Hola, buenos días
¿Cómo debo configurar Echoes para que funcionen durante 1 mes completo y que genere el informe completo al finalizar?
No lo entiendo Cuando llega a las 00:00 UTC, se detiene y no se reinicia. Cuando lo miro por la mañana, está detenido.
Veo que si hacemos clic en la opción "Generar informe", el sistema se inicia y entra en modo "Iniciando Adquisición". ¿Tiene esto alguna función especial?
Perdón por mi insistencia; pero me gustaría estar preparado para las "Perseidas"
Gracias. Saludos,
Leo
Hi Leoncio,
With automatic mode, at midnight UTC the acquisition stops for a couple
of minutes to let the program freeze the acquired data and store them in
dedicated subfolder
per day. Once done this, it should restart by itself the acquisition for
the new day. The acquisition stops automatically only in case of system
errors or when reached the maximum shots counter set
in the "Output" tab (Stop after...). Otherwise it should run forever.
What you've seed with "Generate report" is a feature I was asked to
implement because the report generation must be required manually at
acquisition stopped
and the report generation could take some time, specially if gnuplot
output has been requested. So checking the box "then start acq" allows
to restart acquisition
automatically when the report has been generated (the first and last day
covered must be specified first). If the box is unchecked, no
acquisition will be started.
If you cannot understand what's happening, try to send me the echoes.log
after acquisition stopped (please start echoes specifying the option -n4
for a quite detailed log) and your config rts thanks.
Sincerely
Giuseppe
Il 28/06/2020 11:36, LEONCIO PEIRO ha scritto: