PlanePlotter 6.4.8.7 Released

[Triple7]

A bit late - sorry.

From Bev:

Hi,

PlanePlotter version 6.4.8.7 is on the web site today.
http://www.planeplotter.com#download

---Usual boilerplate---
Updates are free to registered users.
You may need to exercise your browser Refresh function to force it to show you the new version of the PlanePlotter web page. If you post a message complaining that the web site is still pointing to an earlier version, you pay a forfeit!
You can install the new version over the old one but you *must* close/exit PlanePlotter before installing the new one. Your settings will be preserved. Nic's installer will warn you if PlanePlotter is still running when you try to install the new version.
If you have a version-specific firewall (eg Zone Alarm), you may have to reassure it that the new version is permitted to access the Internet. Be aware that an increasing number of security systems treat any new file as a threat without any justification except that it is new. Please don't write to me about it; write to your security system provider and ask them to make their program smarter.
-----------

New in Version 6.4.8.5 - minor update

Fix bug whereby South Korea HFDL station was not correctly handled

New in Version 6.4.8.6

Beamfinder - important new fix method

This release adds a significant new feature to the Beamfinder portfolio.

Previously, the three Beamfinder methods for locating an aircraft that was not transmitting position, used triangulation on the intersection of two or more radials from several radar sites whose transmission characteristic were known.

In this release, Beamfinder Plus, the one that uses Mode-A pings, can now determine position using both the azimuth of a radial and the range from the radar site, in a technique much more akin to the normal way that radar works. 
This provides additional location information, and therefore in principle, better accuracy, but it has the important advantage that it is now possible to locate a 'position-less' aircraft using only a single radar site. 
Previously, all three Beamfinder methods required information (coordinates, pulse rate, roatation rate) for multiple radar sites covering your area.  This meant that in areas of the globe where radar sites are rather sparse, the technique could not be used.
Now, this improved Beamfinder Plus method can work with just one radar site.  In addition to being simpler to configure, it means that it can be used in very many more areas of the world where there is only one radar site covering the area.

Note that Beamfinder Plus uses measurement of the interval between consecutive Mode-A pulses.  Currently, it appears that only the Kinetic SBS family, the Mode-S Beast and the Radarcape provide this data with sufficient message density.  As far as I know, the AirSpy/ADSBSpy combination does not report Mode-A pulses and receivers based on the RTL dongle, generally do not provided sufficient message density for the measurement to work.

Because configuring and using the Beamfinder Plus feature is fairly complex, I have created a (very amateur) tutorial video of the process of identifying the location of a suitable local radar site and using it to locate aircraft within the coverage area.  You can watch the tutorial video on YouTube at : "https://youtu.be/mBACVT0VOJ0"

There is now a choice of the original Beamfinder triangulation method or the new 'radar' method under "Options..Beamfinder fix".  You can select either or both.  If you have only one radar site identified in your area, only the 'radar' method is sensible to enable.

New condex noun

I have added a new noun to the conditional expression volabulary.  "designated" or "des" denotes that an aircraft has been designated (eg. double clicked on the map display).  A condex "des=1" would restrict the map or chart dispay to show only the single aircraft that has been designated.  This is particulary useful if you are studying a specific aircraft in a crowded area where it may be difficult to distinguish it from surrounding aircraft.  As with other condexes (condices?) you can turn it on an off with the asterisk (*) key.

Simpler aircraft designation

Previously, although you could designate an aircaft on a chart with a double click and on the aircraft list with a single click if it did not have a position, there was no way to designate an aircraft in the View..Aircraft window (or in the "a" window), it if already had a position, without PP switching to the chart view and centring on the aircraft you selected.

Now, in the View..Aicraft window (or the "a" window), if you hold down the Shift key and left click on an aircraft with position, it will become the designated aircraft but will not change the view.

New in Version 6.4.8.7

Scripts..Fetch PAC tracks

Similar to the existing Fetch NAT tracks option, this new option fetches the current Pacific region standard tracks as a GPX file that you can enable with Options..Chart..GPX overlays..Select GPX file to plot.

Beamfinder pulse rates

Previously the number of simultaneous different pulse rates that the Beamfinder features could handle, was 16.  This has now been increased to 32 to accommodate the increasingly common situation where some radar sites use multiple different intervals between pulses.

Enjoy
Bev
COAA

[Keef]

I just downloaded and ran the installer and it seems to have trashed my PP setup.

I got a load of error dialog boxes:

---------------------------
Error
---------------------------
C:\Virtual Radar\PlanePlotter\PlanePlotter\unins000.exe

An error occurred while trying to create a file in the destination directory:

The system cannot find the file specified.

Click Retry to try again, Ignore to skip this file (not recommended), or Abort to cancel installation.
---------------------------
Abort   Retry   Ignore   
---------------------------

---------------------------
Error
---------------------------
C:\Virtual Radar\PlanePlotter\PlanePlotter\PlanePlotter.chm

An error occurred while trying to create a file in the destination directory:

The system cannot find the file specified.

Click Retry to try again, Ignore to skip this file (not recommended), or Abort to cancel installation.
---------------------------
Abort   Retry   Ignore   
---------------------------

---------------------------
Error
---------------------------
C:\Virtual Radar\PlanePlotter\PlanePlotter\PlaneGadget.chm

An error occurred while trying to create a file in the destination directory:

The system cannot find the file specified.

---------------------------
Error
---------------------------
C:\Virtual Radar\PlanePlotter\PlanePlotter\PlanePlotter.exe

An error occurred while trying to create a file in the destination directory:

The system cannot find the file specified.

Click Retry to try again, Ignore to skip this file (not recommended), or Abort to cancel installation.
---------------------------
Abort   Retry   Ignore   
---------------------------

---------------------------
Error
---------------------------
C:\Virtual Radar\PlanePlotter\PlanePlotter\google_aircraft.kml

An error occurred while trying to create a file in the destination directory:

The system cannot find the file specified.

Click Retry to try again, Ignore to skip this file (not recommended), or Abort to cancel installation.
---------------------------
Abort   Retry   Ignore   
---------------------------


Click Retry to try again, Ignore to skip this file (not recommended), or Abort to cancel installation.
---------------------------
Abort   Retry   Ignore   
---------------------------

And so it goes on...

Now when I try to run PP I get this error:

---------------------------
PlanePlotter
---------------------------
Failed to create empty document.
---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------

Any ideas?

I can do a fresh install but I'd like to know if anyone has any ideas what might have gone wrong.

Cheers,

Keef.

[Keef]

Seems I was wrong about it being a PP issue, sorry about that.

It was just the first problem I noticed.

I then had further problems, I tried a restart and then things went from bad to worse.

It turns out I had enabled (or Microsoft had enabled for me?) 'Controlled Folder Access' under 'Windows Defender' - 'Ransomware Protection'.

That setting was making my PP and Basestation directories read only.

So, apologies again for blaming the PP installer, it was entirely innocent of any blame.

I realised the problem was files/folder access so found the answer after a bit of Googling for that type of problem with Win 10 here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-files/all-folders-are-marked-read-only/52bf7fdc-e580-41b4-9a4b-f1d000bf096f

The specific reply is:

'open windows defender>virus and protection settings>scroll down to folder control access and turn OFF and leave OFF. it is useless and causes these types of issues.'

I wouldn't go so far as to say the feature is useless but it did give me this problem.

Cheers,

Keef.