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LinBPQ APRS Client

Introduction

This is a Mapping and Messaging application to go with the APRS Digi/Igate function of LinBPQ.

QtBPQAPRS is a more modern crossplatform version of this software.

Credits

APRS® is a registered trademark of Bob Bruninga.
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
Mapping from OpenStreetMap
Map Tiles Copyright Thunderforest (http://www.thunderforest.com)

Installation

First install the APRS Symbol file and a base set of map pages. Download into your linbpq directory
http://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Downloads/LinBPQAPRS.zip and unzip.

You should end up with directories BPQARPS and BPQAPRS/OSMTiles.

Download the appropriate BPQAPRS program to your linbpq folder, and set as executable

http://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Downloads/x86BPQAPRS for Intel systems
http://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Downloads/piBPQAPRS for PI.

If you are running programs via an ssh session, I strongly suggest you change your DISPLAY variable to point to the machine that you want the display to appear on. The normal method of tunnelling X over the ssh session will slow the program down considerably. My PC running MobaXTerm for ssh and X is 192.168.1.64, so I run

export DISPLAY=192.168.1.64:0

You may need to install libjpeg and libgtk2 if they are not alreay provided as part of your distrbution

sudo apt-get install libjpeg8
sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-0

Start the program - ./x86BPQAPRS or ./piBPQAPRS

You should get a few lines of text on the console window, and the map amd messaging windows should pop up. The installation file includes map tiles for the first few zoom levels for the world. Other tiles are loaded as needed, and saved for reuse.

Configuration

Configuration settings are stored in file BPQAPRS.cfg, and a defualt file will be created the first time you run BPQAPRS. You should only edit this file when BPQAPRS isn't running. or your changes will be lost when it closes.

You can customise the map size. The default is a 1024 x 1024 image in the 768 x 768 window. This is a reasonable compromise for relatively low spec machines like the PI, but it you are using a large display on an Intel machine you can increase it. On the other hand, if you are using the 340 x 256 Adafruit TFT you can speed up processing by reducing it. To change, edit BPQAPRS.cfg. The settings to change are:

HEIGHTTILES = 4;
WIDTHTILES = 4;

Each tile is 256 x 256 pixels. Width 7 Height 5 should be fine for a large screen and Width 3 Height 2 for the Adafruit TFT.

You can generate a .jpg image of the current APRS Map display at regular intervals. This could be used, for example, to show your local activity on a web site. You can change the creation interval and filename by editinig BPQAPRS.cfg

Basic Operations

Drag map with left mouse button to move. Zoom in and out using mouse wheel or + - keys. You can also use = instead of +

If you double click on a station popup the callsign will be transfered to the Messaging Window TO dropdown list. The call of any station that sends you a message will also be added to the list to simplify replying.

You can close the program either ty typing Ctrl/C on the console window or clicking the close box on the map. Clicking the close box on the Messaging window will have no effect.

Web Server

The Web server is configured in a similar way to the UI-View web server, although there are minor differences. The "Base Directory" for pages and files is folder BPQAPRS/HTML, under your BPQ32 Data Directory. The simplest way to get it working is to take a set of pages, and tailor them to your requirements. A typical set may be downloaded from here. These were provided by Ken KD6PGI, but I have changed them a bit, so any errors are mine, not his.

A list of tokens that can be used with APRS Web pages can be found here.

John Wiseman G8BPQ
January 2015 Updated January 2022