tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42944918924128260442024-03-05T03:34:30.740-08:00What's new @ OPENAPRS?NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-48620929430400639732011-01-20T17:33:00.001-08:002011-01-20T17:36:16.225-08:00OpenAPRS for iPhone 2.3.1 has been released!Included in this release:<br /><br /><ul><li>Push notification support<br /></li><li>Memory improvements</li><li>Local storage of APRS messages</li><li>Background support (including background beaconing support)</li><li>FCC callsign lookup</li><li>Improved signup and account tools<br /></li></ul>You will need to make sure your device is running iOS 4.2 or higher in order to get this update.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-18942751864484670422010-12-02T22:46:00.001-08:002010-12-02T22:55:23.442-08:00New OpenAPRS for iPhone/iPad FeaturesWe're currently doing final testing of our push notification server and background support for the iPhone/iPad app which means in the next two weeks we should be pushing out the long await next version.<br /><br />Included in this new version will be:<br /><ul><li>Push Notification for APRS messages, based on the callsign SSID you have set in settings for messaging. Our push notification server has been written and is active, subscribing for notifications will be as easy as opening the app and answering yes to push notifications, after the first map sync with our servers you should be able to receive notifications. We'll be removing any duplicate messages automatically to prevent any ack problems. APRS message acknowledgments for registered push users will be implemented shortly on the server side but will not block this release.</li><li>US FCC callsign lookup.</li><li>Improved connection speeds to our servers, improved app memory management and iPhone 4 retina graphics (for interface and -some- common APRS icons we've remastered; we'll remaster more as we go).</li><li>iOS 4 background support.</li></ul>This release will require iOS 4.2 or higher to run.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-42280124982483304062010-10-31T12:23:00.000-07:002010-10-31T12:27:31.734-07:00iPhone iOS4 Support Coming SoonWe will be releasing a new version of OpenAPRS for iPhone and iPad with iOS4 support and the much anticipated background support soon. iPad is expected to get iOS4 sometime in November and we are waiting for that release to come out. Once iPad gets iOS4 we'll release the new version of OpenAPRS with background support.<br /><br />We will be removing all iOS3 support when this happens to keep code bloat to a minimum as all phones by this time should be upgraded.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-35052700845071230002010-10-12T21:08:00.000-07:002010-10-12T21:10:09.930-07:00Password Reset emails MIAWe've had reports that our password reset features were not sending the reset emails. Unfortunately in the server move some of the automated email features were disabled. The issue has been corrected so password reset emails should flow freely again. This also affected our support email system so if you didn't receive an immediate reply from us, this is why. Usually our reply times are between 4-6 hours.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-88099503909077193832010-08-22T09:58:00.001-07:002010-08-22T09:59:07.350-07:00OpenAPRS MovingWe will be moving the OpenAPRS servers this week so there may be some outages during the move. Rest assured, we'll be back shortly...NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-41854818226528561822010-05-16T15:33:00.000-07:002010-08-12T22:52:57.778-07:00OpenAPRS Mobile v2.1 Released! Web server Imrpovements.I've released v2.1 of OpenAPRS mobile, the xL version for iPad is just around the corner (waiting for apple review).<br /><br />I noticed that iPhone will go into a deep sleep mode when it's locked which disables GPS updates. I've researched and found a solution that plays a blank wav file every so often so the iPhone is forced to stay awake even though it is locked. Unfortunately, this appears to be the only way to prevent deep sleep since the SDK doesn't have any other options other than disabling the screen saver idle timer (which is already supported in OpenAPRS mobile). The next release will have a new option in Settings that allows you to prevent the iPhone deep sleep but the trade-off will be battery life.<br /><br />I've changed the web servers and the production code to optimize things a bit which should help allow more users on at one time and improve slowdowns. You may notice now that the map no longer shows position tracks for stations on the main display. The query to display the tracks for 100+ stations at once was taking too much time so position tracks are now limited to track mode. Fortunately you can track multiple stations at one time so if you want to see the tracks for a group of stations for an event it should be pretty simple.<br /><br />Also, to improve performance as a whole I have changed the web code to go into an idle mode when it detects the web browser has been left unattended. Typically the map data is refreshed every 15 seconds or on zoom change. Now, this behavior is the same as long as you have been moving the map within 15 minutes. After 15 minutes of inactivity map data refreshes are slowed down to once every 5 minutes. This means that when you return, you will still see active APRS data, it is just not updated as frequently. Once you move the map again the 15 second data refresh will resume until you are idle for 15 minutes again.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-63429841189844020132010-04-28T19:39:00.000-07:002010-04-28T19:41:15.170-07:00OpenAPRS for iPhone - 2.1 Is Just Around the CornerOpenAPRS for iPhone 2.1 is in pre-release stages and will offer several user suggested feature improvements and additions.<br /><br />Here is what is coming...<br /><ul class="pageitem"><li class="textbox"><span class="header"></span>04/28/2010 - Change default Google map type from settings (street, satellite hybrid).</li><li class="textbox">04/28/2010 - Ability to change Google map type from map console.</li><li class="textbox">04/28/2010 - Increased console icon size.</li><li class="textbox">04/28/2010 - Detailed information for stations on map.</li><li class="textbox">04/28/2010 - Tracking mode will show previous stations breadcrums.</li><li class="textbox">04/28/2010 - WX Stations show weather conditions in station detail view.</li><li class="textbox">04/28/2010 - Object creation and deletion. </li></ul>NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-28870877193073546252010-04-07T17:02:00.000-07:002010-04-07T17:04:05.972-07:00Activation EmailsWe have been doing a lot of work to improve the speed of our web servers and help load balance them. As a result during all of the work our activation emails stopped going out since the 5th. We've had the system send out the emails that were queued up for the last few days so if you didn't receive your activation email, you should shortly.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-48023735213626431682010-04-01T09:23:00.000-07:002010-04-01T09:25:02.423-07:00CWOP Stations AddedYou may have noticed that there are now a ton of weather stations showing that weren't there a few days ago. We're now taking a feed from the CWOP network and adding their station reports to our database.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-54792442790936503272010-04-01T08:31:00.001-07:002010-04-01T08:34:40.177-07:00Service Availability RestoredAt about 5am this morning one of our primary servers decided it didn't want to play nice anymore and caused an outage to the website and iPhone interface. I've taken some steps to insure that one server can't take down the rest this morning so it shouldn't be an issue again.<br /><br />I've added load balancing to the webservers as well as to the DCC interface which will detect when a server is out and pull it out of service. I've also moved our DNS offsite to prevent losing any name resolution should our main servers lose connectivity.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-46762982836236828392010-03-23T18:26:00.000-07:002010-03-23T18:29:30.835-07:00OpenAPRS iE 1.2 ReleasedHere's what's new:<br /><br /><ol><li>03/09/2010 - Added support for symbol overlays.</li><li>03/09/2010 - Added symbol rotation to match station course if given.</li><li>03/10/2010 - Added station search function with wildcard support.</li><li>03/12/2010 - Click message to set TO field.</li><li>03/12/2010 - Separate SSID for messaging.</li><li>03/12/2010 - Stations searched for can be tracked on a auto-refreshing map.</li><li>03/15/2010 - Shake to reveal map console.</li><li>03/15/2010 - Shake to refresh messages (when viewing message window).</li><li>03/15/2010 - Map distance option for selecting stations on map.</li><li>03/15/2010 - Allow 72 hour preactivation use in case user doesn't get activation email for some reason.</li><li>03/18/2010 - Add metric conversions.</li><li>03/18/2010 - Correct speed down to 0 when assuming no movement.</li></ol>NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-39202244125006748402010-03-12T06:49:00.000-08:002010-03-12T06:54:11.691-08:00OpenAPRS iPhone Edition RELEASED!Yesterday I received word back that Apple approved our APRS iPhone application. Search for "OpenAPRS" or "APRS" in the app store to find it.<br /><br />OpenAPRS iPhone Edition Details:<br /><br />OpenAPRS iPhone Edition brings the world of APRS right to your iPhone. Paired with iPhone’s built in map engine, Internet connection and GPS, OpenAPRS gives you access to check your APRS messages, beacon your position and view other Amateur Radio operators anywhere in the world.<br /><br />Send your position with any model iPhone by assisted GPS, cell phone triangulation or manual coordinate entry. Share your trip with your friends as they view you on their iPhones, APRS software connected to APRS-IS or on the OpenAPRS website:<br /><br />http://www.openaprs.net/<br /><br />Posted positions can also be viewed at other APRS websites such as aprs.fi, findu.com and APRSWorld.<br /><br />Check your APRS messages or send a message to a friend right from OpenAPRS iPhone Edition. Our servers are always on to receive and store your messages so you don’t have to keep a station running 24/7. Never miss a message again!<br /><br />Non or aspiring Amateur Radio operators can also view APRS activity near them on OpenAPRS iPhone Edition but will not be able to send their position or messages. Not yet a HAM operator? There is still time, check out www.arrl.net for information on how to study and where to take your Technician class exam today; no morse code required!<br /><br />A free account with OpenAPRS is required to send your position or send and receive messages. Signing up is easy, simply open up OpenAPRS iPhone Edition, click the signup tab, fill out the form and click Signup! The app will automatically contact our servers and set up your account. You will need to have a valid email account to receive our activation message to activate your account. The activation email should be received within about 15 minutes, click the activation link, start up OpenAPRS iPhone Edition and you’re all set.<br /><br />Features:<br /><br /><ul><li>Callsign SSID support.</li><li>Ability to change your APRS Icon.</li><li>Auto beaconing on a user settable interval.</li><li>Custom position comment.</li><li>Breadcrumb creation to show your beaconed positions throughout your trip.</li><li>Auto centering map on movement.</li><li>Ability to disable the iPhone screen saver to use as a map during your travels</li><li>Manual coordinate entry if desired for beacons instead of using automatic GPS coordinates.</li><li>Supports sending and receiving APRS messages to your callsign + SSID. You don’t have to be online when a message is sent to you, our servers will store messages until you check them.</li><li>Distance traveled indicator.</li><li>Estimated speed based on time and position change between updates (not to be used as an actual speedometer).</li><li>Built in compass that works on 3GS or higher iPhones.<br /></li></ul><br />OpenAPRS iPhone Edition will run on iPod touch but will need to have coordinates entered manually unless it is connected to a well-known WiFi location.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-17516331062798483132010-02-12T22:46:00.000-08:002010-02-12T22:53:26.346-08:00Web Release-1.2I've upgraded the whole web system on the production servers. You should notice some feature changes like the way tracking a station works and speed improvements. If you come across a bug please let me know.<br /><br />We've also changed the way verification works, you can either verify over RF for free or we've added the option to verify your account for a $2.99 processing fee payable by PayPal. This processing fee will help support OpenAPRS in the future and is automated so rather than wait 48 hours for us to manually verify your account it can be done within minutes.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-78449968541639474372009-11-18T21:45:00.001-08:002009-11-18T21:46:10.726-08:00Unforseen Server MoveUnfortunately we've had to move our servers at the last minute. They should be back up around 11/21/2009.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-65944879879496110422009-09-02T20:23:00.000-07:002009-09-03T11:41:38.351-07:00OutagesSome of you may have noticed that for a week in August OpenAPRS was unreachable. Our internet connection had an unfortunate failure which knocked us out for about 5 days completely. We are currently back up and running and everything seems to be back to normal.<br /><br />We are working on replacing a lot of our main code with some new development code which should enhance our current services quite a bit. For most browsers (excluding Internet Explorer) there should be a pretty good speed enhancement. IE doesn't seem to parse Javascript very quickly so unfortunately there isn't much I can do about that. Live updates will happen more frequently, at high zooms a cluster map of activity will be displayed and APRS stations displayed won't be just limited to the visible screen instead limited to a larger radius around the center.<br /><br />At this time some functionality still needs to be worked on in the development code, such as the ability to specify a map center or callsign tracking from the URL which is currently supported in our live environment. I'm also working on a replacement for the Ham's Near You functionality since Google's API doesn't allow a flood of reverse address requests which makes snagging 70+ addresses and showing them on a map very difficult.<br /><br />For those of you darring enough to take on some fun, point your browser <a href="http://d.openaprs.net/">here</a>. I make no warranty on the development code until I can finish it and debug it a bit but I'd love to here your comments either on the blog or privately through OpenAPRS's contact page.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-62745810933124231952009-06-01T09:36:00.000-07:002009-06-01T09:37:34.556-07:00Outage 5/30-5/31Last weekend we were having some server troubles which caused an outage between 5/30 and 5/31. Unfortunately, tracks between those dates were not stored in the server so they will be missing. We restored service around 1700 hours on 5/31 and are back up and running.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-23847317880107035052009-05-11T07:00:00.000-07:002009-05-11T16:00:23.150-07:00Track STS-125's Orbit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4LGmXtsygbGWGeccPASlo6FObxsWZPTtV_OvIAeC_-EyXnVptJd2_CFAmqRe5Ou-tf43NogSp8lD6u5inHlWqye8YR4W1cCb62PbUkTqQEDSFQExbnD3YqnYU-xO71jdWVm0ARclsi0/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4LGmXtsygbGWGeccPASlo6FObxsWZPTtV_OvIAeC_-EyXnVptJd2_CFAmqRe5Ou-tf43NogSp8lD6u5inHlWqye8YR4W1cCb62PbUkTqQEDSFQExbnD3YqnYU-xO71jdWVm0ARclsi0/s320/Picture+2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334705071146473186" border="0" /></a><br />Today STS-125 blasted off in route to repair the Hubble telescope to make some enhancements and extend it's useful lifetime to 2014. I've added STS-125's orbital elements for about mid mission to <a href="http://www.opensats.net/">OpenSATS</a> for anyone who wants to track an approximation of where the shuttle is in orbit. I'll remove it once the shuttle lands and try and keep up with future launches. Click on the red "no" sign next to STS-125 to turn it into a star and have it displayed on the map at the bottom of the Satellite List. Once STS-125 displays it's name in the Satlelite List will be clickable, this will show the Shuttle's current projected path.<br /><br />Enjoy :)NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-84871147501850204512009-04-24T18:27:00.000-07:002009-04-24T18:31:58.243-07:00OpenSATS - BetaIf you're looking for something to do point your browser <a href="http://www.opensats.net/">here</a> to our new OpenSATS website. At the moment you have the ability to track Amateur Radio satellites, the moon, sun and ISS via Google Maps. Be sure to login to your OpenAPRS account on OpenSATS and check out View..Set Location... to set your home location for Azimuth and Elevation are displayed. Click a satellite to see it's ground cover, bearing, elevation and 2 hour flight path. As seen in the topic this is a Beta (probably more like alpha) stage project so while it's functional I have a lot to do (including fixing the somewhat incorrect elevations). I'd love to hear your comments, drop me a line...NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-63327750911250782009-04-08T14:47:00.001-07:002009-04-08T14:49:22.697-07:00Small OutageEarlier this morning we suffered a small outage on one of our load balancing servers. Everything should be back to normal now. I also reconfigured our satellite Keplerian file updater to run automatically so the satellite views should be up to date from now on.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-62559844307207969332009-04-05T22:29:00.000-07:002009-04-06T15:52:15.683-07:00Station Path Colors<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog.oaprs.net/images/content/pathcolors.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 338px; height: 200px;" src="http://blog.oaprs.net/images/content/pathcolors.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I recently did an event where I had several trackers out in a park area for hours on end. As you can imagine the tracks were long and since the people with the trackers were on foot the track lines got pretty difficult to tell the begining, ending and direction each person took. As a result, I've changed the code to start color coding station track lines by sequence. Basically the track will be split up in order by about 6 different colors: (end) red, yellow, green, blue and black (start).<br /><br />After making this change it seemed a lot easier to determine where an individual went, hopefully this change will benefit you all in the same way. For short paths, not all colors will be displayed.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-29461615480005003712009-04-01T15:36:00.000-07:002009-04-01T15:40:47.213-07:00More on Digipath LinesYou may notice now when you track a single station that other stations in the area or a little further away will also be displayed. These "other" stations are all of the digipeaters the single tracked station has been heard by in the timeframe you've set for the track. Typically when a station is moving you can hover your mouse over one of their directional icons in their track and digipath lines will be displayed for that particular packet that was sent and show the digipeaters involved in getting that packet to APRS-IS.<br /><br />There was a bug reported about digipath lines intersecting objects a digipeater has created rather than the actual digipeater that the packet report used to get to APRS-IS, this has been resolved. Thanks go for N7FMH for reporting this error.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-29651406735108989062009-03-30T22:32:00.000-07:002009-03-31T10:38:24.022-07:00Digi Path LinesIf you hover your mouse over a station the map will now show you a [red] line that traces all of the hops from that stations digi path up to and including the point where it was iGated onto APRS-IS. The catch is you may have to zoom out a little for the polyline to display. It appears that Google Maps has had a history of trouble with polylines displaying at all zoom levels when they go for long distance. And average digi path can span 200 miles which causes this bug to show itself.<br /><br />Since the digi paths will hop to stations not currently in your displayed view, when you zoom out, wait a couple of a seconds for the map to refresh and the digi that the polyline fell on should appear.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-80197177962133500752009-03-29T11:41:00.000-07:002009-03-30T13:40:29.917-07:00MICE Parser Fix and Load BalancingIt was brought to my attention that altitude in some MIC-E packets wasn't getting parsed correctly and as a result I went through the code and fixed the bug. Future MIC-E packets with altitude data should now display correctly on the map and in Google Earth. It seems that some devices send MIC-E data with the "telemetry" flag at the end and then don't send the actual expected telemetry data.<br /><br />I've noticed that we've gotten increasing interest to the site so there has been a lot of extra load on the server which has caused some slow downs. I recently added a new server so now the site is sharing the load between two machines instead of one which should improve performance significantly. I also have a third dual processor machine that is almost ready to go, so in the next couple of months it will be up and running to further help balance out the load of incoming requests.<br /><br />The iPhone app is still in progress and I'm trying to get it out by the end of the year. There are several different features it will support along with some non-aprs related tools so it's taking a bit longer to finish up.NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-4085933830113705312008-11-10T17:20:00.000-08:002008-11-10T17:21:43.350-08:00Network Back Up<span style="font-family: arial;">Woohoo! Our network connection I believe has been restored. Everything should be back up and running again, thank you for your patience and enjoy!</span>NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4294491892412826044.post-58377658364869461892008-11-06T19:04:00.000-08:002008-11-06T19:16:53.825-08:00Network Problems / Delays<span style="font-family:arial;">We recently had a large storm come through last weekend and it has caused problems with our Internet connection. This has unfortunately caused some major slowdowns and timeouts and a general source of instability. Our line is being worked on so please be patient, we should be back up to 100% soon.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Also note we have assumed the EMAIL APRS message alias since Keith Sprouls email server is currently down.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">To send an email from APRS send an APRS message to "EMAIL" with the destination email address, space and your message following.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Example Message Field:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">NV6G>APRS::EMAIL :email@address.com Hello! How are you today?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">More information can be found </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.aprs-is.net/Email.aspx">here</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span>NV6Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02893084755972232912noreply@blogger.com0