All of this sounds similar to problems I've been having. I have not actually flown my Telemetrum 2.0 as yet, since it was erratic on ground testing. It would sometimes work fine, progressing from idle mode lying horizontally, where I'd test the pyro channels using Xmas lights, then to pad mode after being stood up and rebooted. It would give good GPS values after a couple minutes, and I'd feel it's time to launch. Then, on retesting, the AltusMetrum software would hang up indefinitely when I'd try the fire-igniter test, or at some other random point, such as the reboot step. The failed retests were in the same rocket, talking through the same Teledongle to the same Win 6 lap top. BTW, I've not modified the stock antenna on the TM, and am using a 7" wire on the TD.
Suspect my problem was with the white power plug from battery to Telemetrum board. The pyros and the switch lines go to a screw terminal block, but the battery is a plug-in, that's a little loose. Plugging/replugging this connection will restore my malfunctioning Telemetrum to working condition, leading me to think that when current is demanded for the igniter test, and the plug is a little loose, the TM browns out. Thinking about hard-soldering the battery leads to the plug (carefully!) before the next club launch. -Harold Larson -----Original Message----- From: Clay and Carly Dunsworth <[email protected]> To: Altus Metrum <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Sep 22, 2014 12:27 am Subject: Re: [altusmetrum] Telemetrum Issue Steve, I had a problem very similar, well exactly the same, I can only link about 50 feet. Not saying they are exactly accurate, but I think my TM was the culpret because it has the problem in two different rockets. If I removed the tm from the rockets and had it stand alone, I had a very good link. again, like you with no equipment I cant really measure and compare my tm operation. Based on hours of fiddling, I believed it was the antenna or something to do with the antenna. I tried a larger gage that should increase the signal bandwidth a bit, and still didn’t improve link reliability. Another flyer also could not get the flight on their system back when I flew in august. So its not the dongle for me. I am wonding myself if the rf calibration may be an issue. Maybe its off just enough that it still beeps the data, but not quality enough for the data link. Ill, be soldering on an sma and mounting a 7" whip antenna, so we will see if I get a better link, I imagine the whip will be better still. I just rdf my rocket. At this point, I would like to make a pcb to use as a rdf becon in my rockets from now on. The long tones of the tm, can lead to a sore arm... My last recovery was in 8' tall cornfield in KS, and the beeps were hard to find so with lots of space between them you have to move slow, Most of the time on tippy toes stretching my arm as high as I could. Cramps!! -----Original Message----- From: Steven Saner Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 10:09 PM To: Altus Metrum Subject: Re: [altusmetrum] Telemetrum Issue On 09/16/2014 03:05 PM, Keith Packard wrote: > Steven Saner <[email protected]> writes: > >> I was actually sort of hoping that it did indicate an error, because >> last weekend I had a problem with the unit. For some reason I could not >> receive any signal using the teledongle while the unit was on the pad >> unless I was within about 10-20 ft of it. At the flight line it would >> not link up at all. I've never had that happen and everything was in the >> same configuration (and same rocket) that I've flown before. > > Weird. Maybe something got damaged on the board? If you can't sort it > out, we can take a look at it... > > -keith I got a chance to do some testing this afternoon. I used my FT-8800 dual-band mobile radio to help with testing. First I connected my directional antenna that I use with the Telemetrum to the radio and was able to hit a nearby 70cm repeater, so the antenna seems ok. Then I started up the Telemetrum in pad mode about 80 yards away and I was able to pick up the intermittent tone on the radio nice and strong. In fact it would receive the signal with no antenna connected. I then connected the Teledongle to my laptop at the same location and tried to pick up the signal. On occasion it acted like it got some data, but most of the time it did not. This was the behavior that I experienced at the last launch. I tried my normal directional antenna on the Teledongle as well as a small whip antenna. No joy on either of them. If I walked the ground station towards the altimeter, it would finally link up when I got within maybe 50 ft or so. I then switched the altimeter to idle mode and tried to communicate with it in that mode. Again, for the most part it would not. At one point it did bring up the altimeter config screen, but I wasn't able to send a reboot command. When trying to communicate both the red and green LEDs in the Teledongle flash. The USB communication with the Teledongle seems fine. Below are the outputs of the ver command to both the Telemetrum and Teledongle using minicom: > ver manufacturer altusmetrum.org product TeleMetrum-v1.2 serial-number 1002 current-flight 6 log-format 1 software-version 1.4.1 > ver manufacturer altusmetrum.org product TeleDongle-v0.2 serial-number 586 software-version 1.4.1 So, based on all of this, it really seems that the problem is with the Teledongle. I took the cover off and I don't see any visual indication of a problem. I don't really have the test equipment to test it further. Is there anything else that you can think of that I should try? If there is someone reading this that has a Teledongle in the Wichita, KS area that would like to loan me theirs to compare with, that would be cool. Just to do it, I drove down the road with my mobile radio to see how far away I could get and still hear the tone from the Telemetrum. It was hanging only a couple feet up off the ground and at about 1/2 mile I could still hear the steady beep. After that it got sporadic, but I would occasionally hear it up to nearly a mile away. I figure that is probably pretty good. In addition to only being a couple feet off the ground, there was a lot of vegetation in the line of sight as well. Thanks Steve -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steven Saner <[email protected]> KD0IJP Andover, Kansas USA _______________________________________________ altusmetrum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gag.com/mailman/listinfo/altusmetrum _______________________________________________ altusmetrum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gag.com/mailman/listinfo/altusmetrum
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