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Plane Plotter version update


Guest Chainsaw

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Guest Chainsaw

Version 5.4.3.9 is on the web site now.

 

http://www.planeplotter.com

 

Updates are free to registered users. You may need to force your browser to refresh to show you the new page. You may need to tell your firewall/security system that the new version is able to access the Internet (if your firewall is version-specific).

 

I will keep this as a sticky for a few days.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Chainsaw

Version 5.4.7 of PlanePlotter is on the web site now.

 

http://www.planeplotter.com

 

The update is free to registered users. You may need to use your browser "Refresh" button to force it to show you the new page. You do not need to uninstall any previous version, simply download and install the new version. Your PlanePlotter settings will be carried forward to the new version. If your firewall is version-specific, and if you want to use the sharing feature or other Internet resources such as maps and satellite images, you will need to allow the new version to access the Internet by using your firewall settings.

 

New features

 

My Sky View (menu View..My sky)

 

This is a new way of visualising traffic around your home location. It presents a perspective view of the sky as seen from the ground, with the aircraft (plus contrails if enabled) displayed against the sky background.

 

This should make it easier to identify contrails by day and strobe lights by night. For reference, the daytime view includes the Sun and Moon and the nighttime view includes the Moon, bright stars and planets. In case you wondered, it switches to the nightime view when the Sun sets.

 

This display is similar to what you could already see using the appropriate viewpoint in Google-Earth, but requires no setting up. It is greatly superior, when it comes to identifying aircraft visually, than arranging a map or chart to show your viewing direction at the top - the merits of which, I could never understand.

 

The sky is always clear blue to comply with the frequent requests for a button in PlanePlotter to make it so. (Thanks to JL for pointing that out).

 

You can switch between a regular chart/outline view and the "My sky" view, using F11. You can also associate the"My sky" view with a Quick button, if you wish.

 

You can drag the sky view left and right, but you cannot look up. The simple Mercator-style projection used for the display distorts at high elevations.

 

To avoid adding yet more processing load to PlanePlotter, the celestial coordinates of the Sun, Moon and planets are calculated only at program startup. Accordingly, if PlanePlotter runs for a long period of time, the plotted position of the Moon, in particular, will become progressively less accurate (it moves about half a degree an hour against the starry background). Restart PlanePlotter if it really matters to you. To forestall comment, the Sun and the Moon are deliberately plotted slightly larger than their actual scale size. This was primarily to make the progressive colour of the sunset detectable. No, it does not plot Moon phases; if you need an exactly representational image to enable you to identify the Moon correctly, well......

 

Click on Alert window

 

If you configure PlanePlotter to display alerts, you can now click on any aircraft that appears in the Alert window and PlanePlotter will switch to the chart, outline or list view to show you the selected aircraft in context.

 

Extra warnings

 

Ground Stations will now see a warning whenever they access the Options..Home Location dialog, reminding them of the importance of the accuracy of their Home Location.

 

Users who are not sharing, will see a warning if they select View..Chart Mlat, since otherwise a blank display will result.

 

Other

 

I have confirmed that the aircraft registration from a local database will always override registrations (or lack of them) received from sharing. This is, of course, subject to the condition that the Options..Directory items are correctly configured.

 

The ever-increasing number of accelerator keys are now listed on a single page in the Help file. Let mw know if I have missed any.

 

The interpretation of fields in the data from an RxControl Mode-S receiver has changed to avoid confusion over the meaning of the "Type" field.

 

Feedback is always welcome.

 

Regards

 

Bev

 

COAA

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Had a read the page, don't fully understand how it works. A couple of questions - are there many users of this program in Australia and is it worth the $25.thank you

Hello Nari, Welcome aboard TAA as a new member and feel free to post any thing you want, and to ask anything, we are the Countrys freindliest Forum, you have come to the right Place.

 

Well Plane Plotter is only for those interested in watching planes track across a map of any part of the world, If you do not have a SBS-S Basestation Radar, then you will pick up other persons tags on the Aircraft that you click on, that tag will tell you the Rego of the AC and its speed, height and direction, most AC show most of those details under the AC itself anyway, showing its own tag, by clicking on the AC, will mearly tell you who it is being transmitted by, for example I am in Perth Western Australia and my tag is rv, it is a cheap way of tracking and watching AC any where in the world, than buying a Basestation which is around $900.00

 

Plane Plotter is well worth the $40 Au to register if you are keen on AC, How many users are in australia, does not matter as the feed comes from some ones SBS Basestation, its transmitted to Scotland, and back to the PP server closest to you, depending on where you live is to whose transmission you will receive, so there you have it, feel free to ask any more Questions.

 

By the way, love your Avitar of the old Viscount, I flew on one here in WA, 2 weeks before it failed in mid air near Pt Hedland and was destroyed many years ago..

 

 

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Thanks john, downloaded the 21 day free trial played around with some of the setting not sure how it works but don't see any ac or tags. Thought the price was $25 not $40. Just interested what it was all but not that keen to spend to much.

 

nari

 

 

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Thanks john, downloaded the 21 day free trial played around with some of the setting not sure how it works but don't see any ac or tags. Thought the price was $25 not $40. Just interested what it was all but not that keen to spend to much. nari

Read the Help file in how to set it up, depends where you live..

 

 

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Guest David C

Nari ...I think the cost is quoted as 25Euro , which is around $40 ... I live under the approach path to SYD , and for me I reckon it's the best $40 I ever spent .. If you have Liveatc .net opened up too , you get to see the aircraft well before they appear overhead on PP, and hear them too on Liveatc.net ... great

 

Dave C

 

 

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Nari ...I think the cost is quoted as 25Euro , which is around $40 ... I live under the approach path to SYD , and for me I reckon it's the best $40 I ever spent .. If you have Liveatc .net opened up too , you get to see the aircraft well before they appear overhead on PP, and hear them too on Liveatc.net ... great Dave C

Yes David C, thats good to use too, if you do not have a good Scanner, here in Perth , there is a 5 second lag with ATClive program, against the real time on the Scanner,

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Chainsaw

Version 5.4.8

 

Version 5.4.8 of PlanePlotter is on the web site now.

 

http://www.planeplotter.com

 

The usual remarks apply: Updates are free to registered users; you may need to operate your browser Refresh button to force it to show you the new page; if your firewall is version specific, you will need to comfort it about the new version; simply download and install it over the old version - your settings will be unaltered.

 

New features

 

The primary and secondary sharing cycles are now in separate threads. This means that a problem with one server will not have adverse repercussions on the other. It *may* also mean that Mlats on slow machines/slow connections work better as the sharing cycle is a separate thread and the incoming raw data for Mlat will not trample the tail of the sharing cycle.

 

You can also change the sharing refresh rate for the secondary server. The primary one (COAA) is fixed at 60 seconds.

 

In the case of RxC and PDG receivers, the message time tag now updates on all message types as long as no position is received for that aircraft. After that, the time tag relates to the last position report.

 

PlanePlotter now has a TCP/IP output option. The data is in the "industry standard" (:-)) 30003 format. This means that PGR and AVR users can run third party applications off the PP TCP/IP port (set to 30003) as if there was an SBS1 or RBv3 present.

 

The TCP/IP port can be set to other port numbers (to avoid conflict with 30003 if you have an SBS1 or ANRBv3) and then you can run one or more instances of PP looking at the primary instance's TCP port to display the data simultaneously in different presentations. To support this new feature, you can set the IP address (Options..Modes-S..Kinetic..IP) and the port number, using the format eg. 192.168.2.106:9750. With the primary instance configured to provide a server on, say port 9750, you can have a number of secondary instances working off that port as if they were running off the receiver.

 

Please, if you use this feature and run multiple instances of PP, please make sure that only one of them is sharing. Running several instances, all of them sharing will get you struck off!

 

For people who get in a complete settings muddle, there is now a Files..Factory default settings option.

 

There are a couple of new OLE/COM methods that the scripting wizards will no doubt exploit. These allow Mlats to be triggered from a script.

 

I have added a feature whereby the AVR receiver can feed its raw data directly into PP via UDP. This probably has limited appeal!

 

Regards

 

Bev

 

COAA

 

 

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Noticed that the Perth feed to http://www.flightradar24.com/? hasn't been showing the last couple of days. :frown: Anybody know why?

Sorry, I do not know if there is an issue , many do not use the FlightRadar, as it is not as good as Plane plotter.

 

I remember you not wanting to spend $40 au to get PP, but recoment you do for a better fight Radar system,

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Chainsaw

Version 5.4.9.1 of PlanePlotter is on the web site now.

 

http://www.planeplotter.com

 

The usual comments apply. You may need to use your browser Refresh option to force it to show you the new page.

 

Updates are free to registered users. If your firewall is version specific, you will have to reassure it about the new version.

 

There are a number of new features and some bug fixes

 

New features

 

Hypersharing

 

Hypersharing is a new feature. Up to now, aircraft that were received by sharing (ie. aircraft that you are not receiving directly yourself) were downloaded from the sharing server once per minute. The new feature allows some aircraft, under some circumstances, to be refreshed as often as once per second. The feature is only available to Master Users and initially, you will see it refresh only the currently designated aircraft, if any. The method requires there to be one or more operational Ground Stations within range of the chosen aircraft. In due course, other aircraft will be added to the hypersharing process. The new option is enabled in the Options..Sharing..Setup dialog.

 

User defined aircraft symbol

 

In addition to the existing option to use your own BMP file in place of the stylised aircraft symbol, you can now define your own aircraft symbol as a polygon based on series of x,y vertices. Unlike a BMP image, your design will be colour coded and oriented in the same way as the default symbol. The Help file gives you full details and includes an example polygon file kindly designed by Dave Reid. Be aware that a highly elaborate symbol outline might add considerably to the processing load when charting a large number of aircraft. If your processing power is marginal, it may be best to eshew this feature.

 

Flag-only aircraft on charts

 

To allow you to select the aircraft that appear in the View..Chart/Outline displays, you can use the flag option as a display filter. Ctrl-F10 toggles the option that displays on the chart only those aircraft that you have flagged with the Options..Flags features.

 

OLE/COM Mlats use minimum UI

 

Mlats triggered by a script via the OLE/COM interface now operate in the same way as Remote Mlats. There is no pop-up progress window, no chart shift and no plotted hyperbolae.

 

Networked traffic

 

Traffic that originates other than from a local receiver, is not intended to be uploaded into the sharing system because to do so, would sabotage the Circles/MyCircles features and potentially invalidate the criterion for an Mlat. A change to the processing of apparently local TCP/IP traffic makes it possible for PlanePlotter to distinguish local and networked traffic if the networking system presents the appropriate fields. This format change has already been incorporated in Roger Tinembart's networking method.

 

Editorial changes etc.

 

The pop-up Mlat progress window now uses a different font and there are minor editorial changes to the content of the window.

 

HFDL reports with unknown registrations now use ".NO-REG", rather than "Unknown" for the registration. This facilitates processing by automated registration systems.

 

The sharer string in View..Aircraft is now colour coded to show which share codes are those of Ground Stations.

 

The Help file has been edited in various places.

 

Bug fixes

 

A number of memory leaks have been identified and fixed.

 

Outline charts derived from a preceding map/chart that was twisted (ie. not having North at the top) previously showed the aircraft symbols at incorrect angles. That bug is now fixed.

 

Shared Mlat aircraft now leave a contrail if they persist long enough to develop one.

 

Regards

 

Bev

 

COAA

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Chainsaw

Version 5.4.9.4 of PlanePlotter on the web site.

 

http://www.planeplotter.com

 

It has no new features but, thanks to tireless testing by several kind souls, it appears to to have fixed the main stability issue in the last version.

 

The stability problem affected a relatively small number of users but I would recommend upgrading to the new version as it incorporates several, more robust, data quality tests. These are likely to become essential when hypersharing moves up a gear.

 

Regards

 

Bev

 

COAA

 

 

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Guest Chainsaw

Version 5.5.1.1 is on the web site now.

 

http://www.planeplotter.com

 

The usual comments apply. Updates are free to registered users. Install the new version over the old one; there is no need to uninstall the old one. If your browser is prone to cache things, you may need to invoke Refresh or even Ctrl-Refresh to force it to show the new page. If your firewall is version specific, you will need to reassure it about the new version.

 

Full details of the changes are to be found in the Help file but here is a brief synopsis.

 

Version 5.5.0

 

Aurora SSRx support (in beta)

 

Hypershare only appropriate data

 

Incoming Hypershare sets '??' for share code

 

Add "interested" and "user tag" fields to View..Aircraft

 

Add edit button to Airrep dialog to update Reg, Type, Interetsed, User

 

Update SQB database with edits (if enabled)

 

Add Interested, UserTag fields to SQB database if not present

 

Ctrl-right click on Aircraft View opens Airrep dialog

 

Sort Aircraft View by interested and user tag fields

 

View or Chart Interested/Not interested fields

 

Google Earth labels mirror chart labels

 

Improve location decoding in PGR/AVR/RxC

 

Fix bug in range rings sizing

 

Fix bug in PGR/AVR/RxC not indicating "local" traffic

 

Version 5.5.1.1

 

Trim/edit excessive SQB fields, rather than ignore them

 

Fetch route information for PGR/AVR/RxC reception

 

OLE/COM access to "Interested" and "UserTag" fields

 

I hope the introduction of "Interested" and "UserTag" and the change from "ignore" to "truncate" for excessively long fields, will mollify those who found the previous version so contentious.

 

The ability to edit the relevant fields in the SQB database from within PP, is an entirely new feature.

 

There are many changes in this version. It is impossible to test all combinations of circumstances so don't be surprised if there are infelicities. You may regard the whole thing as a beta version.

 

Bev

 

COAA

 

 

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Guest Chainsaw

Version 5.5.1.2 fixes some infelicities and adds a couple of features.

 

Bug fixes

 

Fixed bug whereby edits to SQB did not always stick

 

Fixed bug whereby acft not in SQB would be added but default to "Interested"

 

New features

 

Add Neither/Interested/Not interested to Alert options

 

Add UserTag to Alert text match options

 

The alert options allow you to be much more specific about which aircraft are going to generate an alert. The use of either of these, allows you to generate an alert on an unlimited number of specific aircraft (prevously limited to 50) by using the Edit option (which should always work now) to tag the aircraft of interested.

 

Regards

 

Bev

 

COAA

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest Chainsaw

Version 5.5.2 of PlanePlotter is on the web site now.

 

http://www.planeplotter.com

 

Introduction

 

You may need to use your browser Refresh button to show the new page.

 

As usual, upgrades are free to registered users.

 

Install the new version over the old one.

 

Your existing settings will be carried forward.

 

Make sure that PP Is not running when you install the new version.

 

If your firewall is version dependent, you will have to tell it that the new version is allowed to access the Internet.

 

Bug fixes and cosmetics

 

There are several bug fixes and enhancements for recent receiver types.

 

Registration lookups have been increased for some receiver types.

 

A minor bug in Mlat processing has been fixed. Note that as a result, the number of hyper curves in an Mlat result may appear to be less but the quality of the result will be better.

 

Route names dereived from a local database can now be up to 16 characters. They will appear that length in the View..Aircraft list and in the Airrep dialog but only the first 9 characters will be passed to the sharign system.

 

The duration of the "Highlight" feature has been restored. It shrank to almost nothing when the refresh rate increased to every second. It is now 8 seconds and shrinks away during that time.

 

A bug which resulted in editing the wrong aircraft if you are slow to click Edit in the Airrep dialog, has been fixed.

 

Help..About now shows a less cryptic version of the reg no and the share code.

 

NoniMapView support

 

Support is introduced for NoniMapView. This handy Java utility can be downloaded from

 

http://aeguerre.free.fr/Public/Windows/NoniMapView/EN/

 

It enables you to prepare PP compatible map/image files using Google satellite, road or terrain images, OpenStreetMap, Yahoo Satellite and roads, Virtual Earth satellites and roads. Unlike the limited features in PP itself, NoniMapView can generate maps of any size and with any level of precision, using more types of background.

 

Brief introduction to using NoniMapView with PP:

 

Download the Java app from http://aeguerre.free.fr/Public/Windows/NoniMapView/EN/ and run it.

 

Choose the required layer in the Main Display pulldown.

 

Drag the map about and use the mousewheel or the Display slider to zoom in or out to show your area of interest.

 

Click on Select Area and drag the cursor to define the area that you want to download as a map.

 

Select the resolution with the Download slider. It does not have to be the same as the Display slider but it is good place to start with. Watch the Size window to make sure you are not making a monster. Note that it is very easy accidentally to start a multi gigabyte download and huge images will not load into PP unless you have sufficient memory.

 

Click Start.

 

You will see a file dialog. Choose a suitable name and save it in the chart directory that you have defined in PP.

 

Here's the nice bit: Noni saves both a JPG and a calibration .map file in the selected directory. The map file is compatible with PP .clb files. This version of PP will now open the new JPG file and pick up the .map file automatically, to provide the necessary calibration information. Simply select Files..Open new chart in PP and choose the file that you just created.

 

Regards

 

Bev

 

COAA

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
Guest Chainsaw

PlanePlotter version 5.5.2.9 is on the web site now.

 

http://www.planeplotter.com

 

Upgrades are free to registrered users.

 

You may need to use your browser's Refresh option to show you the new web page.

 

If your firewall is version-specific, you will have to reassure it about PlanePlotter's credentials.

 

You do not need to uninstall the previous version; your settings will be retained.

 

Thanks to all those who have suggested new features or drawn attention to shortcomings.

 

New features

 

The Edit box now allows you to edit the route information for a given flight number, as well as being able to edit the registration and type details for the specific aircraft.

 

The highlighting feature (used via the OLE/COM interface by scripts), now appears over the MySky view as well as on the regular chart view.

 

You can now specify a maximum number of aircraft within PP using a string with the format "A250" in the "Delete after" box in Options..Chart..Options. The example shown will cause PP to keep the number of active aircraft at or below 250 by deleting the oldest aircraft. If you insert a conventional decimal number in the "Delete after" box, then the aircraft limit will be cancelled and aircraft will only be deleted when their most recent report is older than the given number of minutes.

 

On installation, you can now specify, in advance, the directories (folders) used for chart files, log files and image files. They will default to your existing settings if you are installing over an earlier version.

 

The Help file section on Multilateration has been edited and the system Start Menu now includes links to the Mlat tutorial and to the data flow diagram.

 

Networked data can now be shared to the secondary server. It remains blocked for sharing to the main server to avoid upsetting the Circles/MyCircles feature and the choice of GSs in Mlats.

 

If the display is showing MySky during an Mlat, it will no longer switch to the chart display at completion. This should make it easier if you are using MySKy to identify an Mlatted aircraft.

 

Bug fixes

 

The progressive drift which occurred on repeated opening of Quick charts, is fixed.

 

File names now appear in the title bar with their original capitalisation, rather than being converted to lower case. This might make them easier to read.

 

Google-Earth support KML files are installed to the app directory (NFF).

 

Regards

 

Bev

 

COAA

 

 

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