WSPR Scheduler / Blog: Recent posts

Xampp is the preferred method of running the WSPR Scheduler databases. It has been running the WSPR Scheduler databases for over a year, but also it has a control panel that allows easy start/stop of MySQL and monitoring and includes phpMyAdmin that enables easy maintenance of the databases. It also seems to be less memory intensive.

WSPR Scheduler v 0.1.36 now includes a WSPR spectrum waterfall

In WSPR Scheduler saving slots that repeat over time, especially if the sunrise-sunset, sunset-sunrise or 24 hour option is selected, was very slow.
The database response times have now been improved in WS 0135

The map was loading very slowly. Improvements have retrieved data from the TX and RX datbases faster and rendered the map points more rapidly

A much improved version of WSPR Map will be released soon.
As with the first version you need to be running WSPR scheduler to populate the wspr.rx database with reception reports of other stations and also to transmit WSPR messages (unless you are RX only). In order to retrieve reports of your transmissions from other stations you'll ned to run WSPR Scheduler Live - that downloads reports from wspr.live and stores them in the wspr.rpt database. Both versions of WSPR Scheduler Map then retrieve this data and display it on a World map - so you will get a personalised display of your TX/RX reach around the World.
V2 will be ready soon and will include day/night zones and wrap around mapping.

In version 0.1.28+ two slot databases can be selected - the main database (wspr_slots) and a test database (wspr_slots_test)

• this means that if you have a regular schedule, but want to do some tests without modifying the main schedule you can switch the slot databases (ie. two schedules are selectable)

The layout of WSPR Scheduler Map has been modified to work better on a portable tablet PC.
Eventually it is hoped to develop a better map app

For WSPR a mini PC running an old Intel i5 7500T (7th gen) 4 core processor and 16Gb RAM and a 250Gb SSD are used at G4GCI (cost of these are typically £50 to £100 used). It has a typical power consumption of 10-20W, and so this makes it ideal for continuous WSPR usage. It works well in processing decoded WSPR signals and encoding WSPR transmissions. Its the decoding that requires most CPU time and also if you try to program slots that repeat between sunrise-sunset or vice versa, or 24hrs, over more than two months at a time. The WSPR Scheduler use of CPU rarely rises above 35% when encoding/decoding, memory typically < 110Mb. Although xampp (hosting the MySQL database) can cause the disk to get very busy when saving repeating slots over more than a month or so.... read more

Thankyou to Nigel, G6LQI, for feedback on the need for version numbers to msi uploads to Sourceforge. Each new version will now have the version number in the filename.
On the question of how the sunrise sunset times are derived: when you update them for your new location they are downloaded from sunrise-sunset.org using their REST API and then stored in the WSPR_grey database. You only need to update the sunrise sunset times when you move more than about 40 miles or so from your current location as anything less will only make <4 minutes difference to the times at most - the difference isn't really that significant until you move > 100 miles

The way in which repeating slots are edited has been improved.
Slots can be repeated in the following ways:

• at the same time each day over a period of days
• or at the same time each hour over a period of days with repeat types as follows:
  1) the same time each hour between the current time and the chosen end time
  2) the same time each hour between sunsrise and sunset (with an offset in hours) - suitable for higher HF frequencies
  3) the same time each hour between sunset and sunrise (with an offset) - for lower frequencies
  4) the same time each hour over 24 hours
  In the latest update:
  A column has been added to show the repeat type and offset if applicable.
  The repeating type and offset are now correctly displayed for saved slots when they are edited

Some improvements made to slot scheduling in release 0.1.21

WSPR Scheduler update has added support for the 22m and 8m bands - for reception only

An antenna switch placed close to the station TX/RX can be used to select antennas from various sources or directions, but a remote antenna switch can be used to allow more than one antenna to share the same coaxial feeder.
The new version of WSPR Scheduler (0.1.19+) allows a local automatic antenna switch to be selected, but also a remote switch at the same time when transimitting or receiving in a particular WSPR slot time.
An arduino controlled switch can be operated wirelessly (eg. R4 Uno Wifi) - useful if operating a remote switch that can be powered from a battery, perhaps with the aid of a solar panel.
To allow a second switch to be used simultaniously in this way two fields are added to the "wspr_slots"database - in the "slots" table (integer fields "Switch2" and "SwitchPort2") and also to the "wspr" database - in the "antennas" table (again integer fields "Switch2" and "SwitchPort2").
If you install and run the latest version of WSPR Scheduler these fields ill be added automatically when you first run the app.

1) The WSPRSked.msi installer now adds wspr_db.sql to the C:\WSPR_Sked directory when you install WSPR Scheduler - you still have to install mySQL and import the databases however, but at least you don't have to downlaod the database file separately.
2) Instructions for installing MySQL Community as an alternative to xampp to run the mySQL database have been added to the installation and configuration instructions (see the PDF in Files section) - and also to the Wiki page