Hi All,

Does anyone know how often the QRP Labs Balloon tracking page is updated with fresh data?  I'm testing U4B "AE0IH_T1" currently in the back yard under solar power.  WSPR.net shows propagation, but I haven't had an update on the QRP labs tracking page since about 16 hours ago.  I'm trying the TELE command again, trying to send two number sequences as well, but I think from an earlier thread that the telemetry for 3d and 4th transmissions still needs debugging.  I understand that the map won't show my plot until I move the transmitter away from my QTH or change to a different callsign.  Thanks for any insights you can provide.

Cheers,
Mike AE0IH

Update:

It looks like the QRP Labs tracking page updated just now with data from about 30 minutes ago.  Not sure about the process.  I did read in an earlier thread that the server updates about every two minutes.  Battery voltage, temperature, altitude all look good.  I see that Dave VE3KCL is able to send TELES and TELEN telemetry to the site and have it register.  I haven't been able to see mine yet but will take a closer look at Dave's code for the garden dipole.

73,
Mike AE0IH

Mike:

The latest firmware for U4B does not support WSPR transmission for 3rd or 4th frames with telemetry. It's been broken since May 2022. Dave VE3KCL can transmit 3rd or 4th WSPR frames with a previous rev of the U4B firmware (according to previous chats we had). However, those previous revs don't support the 'counter' function.

Hi Mike 
I had a look on wsprnet and it appears that your normal telemetry is Qx1xxx on minute 8 but I do not see any telen decoded on minute 0 which is where it should be. Unfortunately the latest firmware appears to send the telen but it cannot be decoded by wsprnet for some reason. This appears to be a bug with the latest U4B firmware that I am sure Hans has on his extensive to do list.
In the meantime I will look into at a few old Basic calls using telen and see if they could work with the new firmware as a possible workaround
Dave VE3KCL

Dave and Steve,

Thank you very much for your responses.  I'm sure Hans has his hands full with his extensive to - do list.  The solution will be worth the wait.  In the meantime, Dave, I appreciate any work-around ideas you may have.  The ability to send and monitor telemetry is what sold me on the U4B, among the many other innovations it incorporates.  Fantastic piece of kit.

73,
Mike AE0IH

Hi Mike 
I was not able to find a suitable solution to replace the special telemetry with old system calls.
What we did in the old days (haha) is send JT9 with 13 characters or digits of information which you still could do if the results you wanted were in the ascent stage of the flight .
Depending on the winds I usually can hear the balloon for 2 or 3 hours from the home station after launch.
You could send 2 separate Jt9 transmissions in the same slot as special telemetry but would have to decode the results manually.
You would also have to find hams who could listen to JT9 further downwind and send you the results 
Much harder to do than special telemetry, but you could send a JT9  of the following...... GAMMA128787 which others might decode and forward to you. or some combination of temperature and count as I suspect the count could change with temperature.
Dave VE3KCL

Is there a write up anywhere that explains how to translate the U4B second transmission like the website is doing?

Check out the bottom of this page:
S-4 (VE3KCL) (qrp-labs.com)

On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 12:19 PM, Steve Z wrote:

Check out the bottom of this page:

Had a look at this, but it looks like it might be older. It does not translate the channels, for example channel 068 uses '0X3XXX' which the sheet says is channel 3. I think the minute of transmission also comes into play, 068 transmits at '04'. 

channels explained here https://groups.io/g/picoballoon/topic/the_u4b_600_channel_decoding/97718974?p=,,,50,0,0,0::recentpostdate/sticky,,,50,2,0,97718974,previd%3D9223372036854775807,nextid%3D1677938749499496283&previd=9223372036854775807&nextid=1677938749499496283

On Sun, Mar 19, 2023 at 05:20 PM, VE3KCL wrote:

channels explained here

Thanks! That's what I was looking for!