[STICKY] Receiver Range Plots

[agw]

VRS will now automatically calculate the receiver ranges at five different altitude bands (0 - 30,000 feet in 10,000 foot increments, a band for 30,000+ feet and a final band that covers all altitudes). It will only do this for receivers that have a receiver location set for them. It won't do it for merged feeds or for receivers that do not have a receiver location.

The plots can be displayed via the MENU button on the web site. If there is at least one receiver for which VRS is calculating ranges then you should get a "Receiver Range" option. Under that you can select which receivers and which plots you want to show or hide.

The receiver range is reset whenever you start VRS, or when you change server options that affect the plot (e.g. you change the receiver location), or when you use one of the menu options on the server to reset the receiver range plot. It is not stored anywhere, so you need to wait a while before it can give you a reasonable idea of your receiver's range.

Viewing receiver ranges from the Internet

The distances are calculated from the receiver location. It is possible for a web site user to work out the location entered for a receiver in VRS by looking at the receiver range plot, so by default it is not shown to browsers connecting from the Internet. You can configure this in Tools | Options | Web Server, Internet users can see receiver range plots.

The range calculation

The receiver range calculation does not use every message from an aircraft. It waits to see whether an aircraft appears to be sending sensible messages before it takes it into account in the plot. For this reason you may find that the plot will not extend to aircraft when they first appear on the display, nor will it extend to aircraft that have been silent for more than about 30 seconds. The aircraft will have to send a couple of messages a few seconds apart before it will get used.

This means that your range is going to be slightly larger than the range shown by VRS.

[GaryG]

Nice addition Andrew, the chart on a 'real' map looks great and after more planes it should give an excellent picture of where a tree or building needs to be removed. Between the one I see in FlightAware and yours, I will have an excellent way to see reception changes, if any.

GaryG

[jonnycat]

The plots can be displayed via the MENU button on the web site. If there is at least one receiver for which VRS is calculating ranges then you should get a "Receiver Range" option. Under that you can select which receivers and which plots you want to show or hide.

Where is the option supposed to be under the MENU button? I'm not seeing it anywhere.

Pictures are showing up now, though.

[agw]

Where is the option supposed to be under the MENU button? I'm not seeing it anywhere.

It appears at the top level, just above Shortcuts. If you don't have any receivers with receiver locations then it isn't shown - likewise if you're viewing the site over the Internet and the setting to disable receiver range plots for Internet clients isn't set to "Yes" then it isn't shown.

[jonnycat]

Aha, thanks; I didn't specify the receiver location under "Receivers".

[agw]

I suspect that's going to be a common hiccup - up until now you didn't really need to associate a receiver location with a receiver unless you wanted to decode ground traffic

[onegin]

I like this implementation a lot, and here's some feedback to consider:

1) Let the user specify colors? (unless this is already available already and I just don't know about it)
2) I understand the transient nature of the plots (because they are not stored anywhere) - but my computer just restarted due to silly MSFT updates... and I did lose my pretty range picture Is there any way to let the users decide whether or not they want to store this data? Another valuable reason is if I wish to compare the effects of adjusting my antenna setups - png comparisons only go so far, having the ability to load 2 sets of plots side by side would be super sweet

As always, very impressive software (and support) - great job!

[Skibox]

I have 5 Rx connected, all with correct positions but no sign of range plots.

In my locality I have to enter positions with a decimal comma (VRS requires it at input), instead of the english decimal dot. Could this be related to VRS not finding correct positions?

/M

[onegin]

For me the culprit was the internet users setting. Check Tols | Options | Web Server, Internet users can see receiver range plots setting

[Skibox]

For me the culprit was the internet users setting. Check Tols | Options | Web Server, Internet users can see receiver range plots setting

Enabled, but I'm accessing it locally anyways.

/M