[MLB-WIRELESS] Tool for checking LOS between nodes

Daurnimator quae at daurnimator.com
Fri Jan 6 09:57:39 AEDT 2017


I did a full re-import of the data (that usually clears the issue up)
Should have links there too now.


On 5 January 2017 at 19:01, Morgan Reed <morgan.s.reed at gmail.com> wrote:
> Seems to be behaving sensibly today, did you do anything or did it sort
> itself out?
>
> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 10:49 PM, Daurnimator <quae at daurnimator.com> wrote:
>>
>> Yeah I found the site sometimes breaks like that.
>> I re-imported the tower data: that seemed to fix it (possibly only
>> temporarily?).
>>
>> On 2 January 2017 at 19:28, Morgan Reed <morgan.s.reed at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > One oddity I'm noticing, I've got a lot of nodes on which the profile
>> > looks
>> > 100% clear (nothing at all in the Fresnel zone), but the connection is
>> > shown
>> > as <100% (and in several cases 0%, so fully obstructed).
>> >
>> > Is it looking at something in addition to what's shown in the profile?
>> >
>> > On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 6:14 PM, Morgan Reed <morgan.s.reed at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> That's WAY nicer than what I found elsewhere on their site, thanks.
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 5:52 PM, Daurnimator <quae at daurnimator.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> We also have a shared 'wisp' account for http://wisp.heywhatsthat.com/
>> >>>
>> >>> I'll email you some creds off-list.
>> >>>
>> >>> On 2 January 2017 at 17:49, Morgan Reed <morgan.s.reed at gmail.com>
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>> > Ah, I presume you mean this;
>> >>> > http://www.heywhatsthat.com/profiler.html
>> >>> >
>> >>> > I feel less bad about how ugly my tool is now ;)
>> >>> >
>> >>> > On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 5:14 PM, Morgan Reed
>> >>> > <morgan.s.reed at gmail.com>
>> >>> > wrote:
>> >>> >>
>> >>> >> Rummaged around the website a bit only thing I've found is broken
>> >>> >> links,
>> >>> >> care to point me in the right direction?
>> >>> >>
>> >>> >> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 5:09 PM, Morgan Reed
>> >>> >> <morgan.s.reed at gmail.com>
>> >>> >> wrote:
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>> Would've been nice if I'd have found that yesterday...
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 5:04 PM, Mitch Kelly
>> >>> >>> <mitchkelly24 at gmail.com>
>> >>> >>> wrote:
>> >>> >>>>
>> >>> >>>> The hey what's that path profiler does all of that and more
>> >>> >>>> including
>> >>> >>>> frequency and fresnel zone
>> >>> >>>>
>> >>> >>>> On 2 Jan 2017 2:02 PM, "Morgan Reed" <morgan.s.reed at gmail.com>
>> >>> >>>> wrote:
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> Hi All,
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>>        I was a MW member some many (10+) years ago, but never
>> >>> >>>>> actually
>> >>> >>>>> got around to doing anything about setting up a node (Partially
>> >>> >>>>> lack of
>> >>> >>>>> funds, but mostly because there wasn't anything in LOS from that
>> >>> >>>>> place.)
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> Many years on, the other day I was reminded by the DuxTel
>> >>> >>>>> website
>> >>> >>>>> that
>> >>> >>>>> MW exists. Figured I'd stick my head back in, though I'm not
>> >>> >>>>> sure
>> >>> >>>>> how much
>> >>> >>>>> activity there is in the community these days (the Website and
>> >>> >>>>> Mailing List
>> >>> >>>>> archives seem to suggest it's a bit of a ghost town).
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> In anticipation of perhaps finally setting up a node I did some
>> >>> >>>>> rummaging around to try to determine what nodes were within LOS
>> >>> >>>>> from my
>> >>> >>>>> current location, after an initial aborted attempt with Google
>> >>> >>>>> Earth
>> >>> >>>>> (seriously, who the hell implements a pathing function which
>> >>> >>>>> DOESN'T snap to
>> >>> >>>>> markers, oh and the elevation profile of a path ignores the
>> >>> >>>>> elevation of the
>> >>> >>>>> coordinates provided...), I spent a bit of time cooking this up
>> >>> >>>>> today;
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> https://tools.darkglade.com/mwLos/
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> It's pretty ugly and the code is horrible (I might fix it one
>> >>> >>>>> day),
>> >>> >>>>> but
>> >>> >>>>> it pretty much works.
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> The only nodes it loads automagically are the ones in the
>> >>> >>>>> Geelong
>> >>> >>>>> region because that's where I live (if somebody wants to give me
>> >>> >>>>> a
>> >>> >>>>> full list
>> >>> >>>>> of the active nodes, ideally in this format
>> >>> >>>>> https://tools.darkglade.com/mwLos/nodes.json (or access to a
>> >>> >>>>> database that
>> >>> >>>>> has the data in it) I'll happily stuff that in the back).
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> The chart down the bottom shows LOS (red), actual ground level
>> >>> >>>>> elevation (blue), the two green traces are the ground level
>> >>> >>>>> elevation lifted
>> >>> >>>>> 4m (nominal height of a single storey building) and 7m (nominal
>> >>> >>>>> height of a
>> >>> >>>>> double-storey building) so you can tell more or less if you
>> >>> >>>>> actually have
>> >>> >>>>> LOS over surrounding buildings (at least if you're not
>> >>> >>>>> surrounded
>> >>> >>>>> by
>> >>> >>>>> highrises).
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> I arbitrarily picked two nodes in Geelong city for the initial
>> >>> >>>>> start/end point, but if you plug your lat/long/alt (height of
>> >>> >>>>> your
>> >>> >>>>> antenna
>> >>> >>>>> above ground) into the "Start" fields and hit "Update" you can
>> >>> >>>>> then
>> >>> >>>>> click
>> >>> >>>>> around the other nodes to see the terrain profile between you
>> >>> >>>>> and
>> >>> >>>>> them. The
>> >>> >>>>> "End" fields will allow you to plot to arbitrary coordinates if
>> >>> >>>>> you
>> >>> >>>>> want to
>> >>> >>>>> see something that's not already on the map.
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> One warning though, it won't be terribly accurate over long
>> >>> >>>>> distances,
>> >>> >>>>> as the Elevation API is limited to 512 points per request, as
>> >>> >>>>> such
>> >>> >>>>> long
>> >>> >>>>> distances may be problematic (should be pretty good to ~5km
>> >>> >>>>> though), if I
>> >>> >>>>> can be bothered (and assuming there's a decent path splitting
>> >>> >>>>> algorithm
>> >>> >>>>> available in the APIs) I might fix that by breaking the paths
>> >>> >>>>> down
>> >>> >>>>> into
>> >>> >>>>> smaller chunks and querying them separately.
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> Figured it might be useful for other people.
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> Morgan
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> >>>>> Melbwireless mailing list
>> >>> >>>>> Melbwireless at lists.wireless.org.au
>> >>> >>>>> https://lists.wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/melbwireless
>> >>> >>>>>
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>>
>> >>> >>> --
>> >>> >>> "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
>> >>> >>> temporary
>> >>> >>> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
>> >>> >>> -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
>> >>> >>
>> >>> >>
>> >>> >>
>> >>> >>
>> >>> >> --
>> >>> >> "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
>> >>> >> temporary
>> >>> >> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
>> >>> >> -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> > --
>> >>> > "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
>> >>> > temporary
>> >>> > safety
>> >>> > deserve neither liberty nor safety."
>> >>> > -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
>> >>> >
>> >>> > _______________________________________________
>> >>> > Melbwireless mailing list
>> >>> > Melbwireless at lists.wireless.org.au
>> >>> > https://lists.wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/melbwireless
>> >>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
>> >> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
>> >> -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
>> > safety
>> > deserve neither liberty nor safety."
>> > -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
>
>
>
>
> --
> "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
> deserve neither liberty nor safety."
> -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759


More information about the Melbwireless mailing list