Hi all
After pulling my hair out for a few weeks trying to get the operator flags and side views working correctly ie came across this forum and scrapped my OP folder and Sill Folder and started a fresh with the Downloads from this site and I am so HAPPY well done guys and I will make a Donation after I get paid nest week.
GREAT WORK AND THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Welcome.
We have at least one happy member ;D
Hello, newbie to here as well as to the ADS-B world in general. I know this is an older topic, but hopefully this reply will bump it. I just got Virtual Radar up and running yesterday and am struggling the same as the OP to get the missing silhouettes and operator flags filled in. I have been picking through the gallery and downloading the individual .bmp's as I find them missing in my list and placing them in the same folder that the configurator is set up and pointing to that has the .bmp's that ARE populating. They just won't populate. I was wondering if there is a 'refresh' or something that I am missing to get the new ones to populate in my map list? OP is making me wonder if I should just try and set up a new folder and download a complete .zip file from here instead and re-direct to that new folder in the configurator instead of messing around with piece mealing with individual .bmp's. Any guidance or suggestions? Thanks.
Welcome.
Are you also editing the local database to show a corresponding OperatorFlag code?
I assume you have VRS mapped to a Basestation.sqb file?
Thanks for the reply. I only have whatever came with the download of the program. I followed this video to install and get it up and running. https://youtu.be/oND7QvnLgw8
I just looked in the configurator under options where I have the paths set for the flags and silhouettes and the line for database does not have anything in it, is that what you are talking about? I will attach a screenshot of what I have. Perhaps that video wasn't complete enough and I am missing something then?
This may help:
https://www.virtualradarserver.co.uk/Documentation/DatabaseWriter/Default.aspx
??? Yeah...he didn't mention that at all. Thank you for pointing me to that! I will start working on it and see if I can get this thing working correctly.
Edit to add. I have that plug-in installed and configured using the default database filename. Will this begin to look up those missing silhouettes and flags/logos and update the database as time goes on, or is it up to me to still manually add those to that database like I was trying to do previously?
You'll have to edit the database to add personalisation - reg, type, operator etc. This includes the OperatorFlag code.
This may help with the latter:
https://radarspotting.com/forum/index.php?action=tportal;sa=download;dl=item43
Thank you for helping me out and pointing me in the right direction with this. I am new to all of this, ADS-B included, and it can get overwhelming at times with all of the aspects of getting everything to work that I am not used to. I will look through that .pdf right now and seeing what I can learn.
If once you have read what Anmer has suggested, you may want to skip some of the personalisation - 2 members have pre-populated databases which work with there respective contributions.
S92 drivers pre-populated DB - https://radarspotting.com/forum/index.php?action=tportal;sa=download;dl=cat52
Or mine - https://github.com/rikgale/VRSData/blob/main/BaseStation.zip (will require unzipping)
Both will work with our respective downloads available on the forum.
Or you can tread your own path, as many do. Either way is fun. Enjoy the hobby.
Thank you for that information. I would rather do pre-populated if that will make things easier and keep the database more up to date and accurate. I am currently reading through the beginning of the .pdf and trying to figure out how to access base station reporter, or download it, but not having much luck. Does your .zip include that? The .pdf mentions the SBS-1 box receiver (the SBS-1) comes with the application software (Basestation), but I am not using a SBS-1 receiver and the provided link for barebones tutorial that is "essential reading" is not a valid and active link. Not sure if that had a way to get to the base station reporter program. I am also confused if 'base station reporter" and "base station" are actually the same thing or two distinct different programs.
What receiver are you using?
The Basestation CD download is in the Software section and includes Reporter.
I do have open in another tab, Basestation_184 CD if that is the one you are referring to, but it makes no mention in the description of including base station reporter. That was part of my confusion as to if they are actually the same thing or not.
I am using a RTL-SDR Blog V3 with a Raspberry Pi 3B and a DIY spider antenna. So, no default provided software such as Base Station or Base Station Reporter. Will this whole process not work with my receiver? I would hate to be wasting ya'lls time if not.
Quote from: tchawk on March 24, 2023, 04:08:51 PM
I do have open in another tab, Basestation_184 CD if that is the one you are referring to, but it makes no mention in the description of including base station reporter. That was part of my confusion as to if they are actually the same thing or not.
The CD file has both the Basestation and Reporter apps. And a Reference Manual to cover both.
You can use ModeSMixer2 to present receiver data to Basestation. I used to have an SBS-1 receiver but now have ModeSMixer2 acting as middleware between my RPi and Basestation running on a PC.
Or, and I'm away so can't test, just carry on with VRS mapped to a Basestation.sqb database.
Ok, I'll get that CD file downloaded and installed and see how well it plays with what I have going on here. I have the VRS on my Windows 10 desktop and just have it directed towards the IP address of my Pi and things seems to be working just fine as far as plane tracking etc, and it has a lot of silhouettes and logos populated, just has a lot still missing. The odd thing is I never installed the database writer plugin, so never had the database.sql going on. Actually the database section was blank in the configurator. I had just created a folder for each the silhouettes and the logos during initial install, downloaded a zip file from on this forum (don't recall which ones) to have the individual silhouettes and logos in them and then directed the configurator to those folders. I assumed that is where my list was populating from, so again, assumed that if I put more bitmaps in the folders with the others, it would add them into my list to fill in the blank spots I have. But it doesn't appear to be doing so.
Uh-oh... ???
Got it fixed so far. Have that .dll file downloaded and placed in the Windows directory and BaseStation begins to load, but now the wife wants to leave for some errands, so will have to get back to fighting this process in a bit.
Well, after all of that, it doesn't detect any aircraft activity during the setup test. I have tried using the default port it had of 10001 as well as the port that I am using that does work with VRS of 30003 and I have tried all three options of receiver but nada. All 3 choices include Kenetic pucks of one option or another which I don't have, so I feel that that is probably why. This has been a helluva struggle just to try to update bitmaps..lol
Exhibit A of my issues. I have both of these flights with the same aircraft, same airline and same callsign airline designation and I hover over both the airline logo that is a showing up and the one where it 'should' be, and they both say DAL: Delta Airlines. Why is that one not showing up but the other is? Makes no sense.
It looks like it is time to move onto the ModeSmixer program you mentioned and try to figure out how to get that installed and going on the Pi.
Quote from: tchawk on March 24, 2023, 09:27:50 PM
Makes no sense.
Seems like that but it does make sense.
The logo is displayed by attaching it to a specific aircraft.
An ADS-B message is transmitted by an aircraft with a unique ICAO ID, often referred to as a hex code. The message includes a flight ID but nothing about the aircraft owner, type, registration etc. We have to add that data to the local database, the Basestation.sqb file. And if we want a logo to show, we have to add data to the OperratorFlag column.
I would recommend reading some of the Guides we have here.
QuoteAn ADS-B message is transmitted by an aircraft with a unique ICAO ID, often referred to as a hex code.
I had understood most of that previously, as I had been using www.live-military-mode-s.eu to interpret the ICAO/hex codes of some of the military flights near me that don't present that full information while using my tar1090 maps.
As far as VRS and BaseStation.sqb/ logo integration, I am still learning that. I do have a BaseStation.sqb file within the VRS file system and I have the Database field within the VRS configurator (see attachments) pointed towards that, I just need to access that .sqb file to modify the OperatorFlag Column within it, which as you pointed out previously, I need BaseStation Reporter to do. I now have that installed on my PC as well. It just won't "talk" to my Pi, (appears to be the 10001(Kinetic)/30003(ADSB-Pi) interpretation mismatch thing) so I am now at the point of needing to get the ModeSmixer2 program you suggested earlier installed on my Pi and going in order to do that, and in turn learn the process of using BaseStation Reporter to update the BaseStation.sqb file.
It's a lot of learning, and I get that. It's been also a lot of searching and sifting through antiquated/outdated information that is geared towards the SBS-1 and what not (and that I do not have), and most of that information is at least 10 years old and includes links that are no longer valid. The whole...follow this link to Bones' Tutorial that is embedded in the Operator_Logo .pdf you referred me to, that is "essential reading" comes to mind. That link is from 2009 and is not even a working valid link anymore. Some(most?) things appear to need a modern update, especially if it is considered "essential reading" and is provided as a resource for those of us learning. I even tried to go direct to Kinetic (http://www.kinetic.co.uk/) and that site doesn't even load. I haven't looked into it, but I get the distinct impression that Kinetic and their hardware/software and anything involved in this is long obsolete. This whole research/learning process and the websites seen during it the last two days has been a flashback to the mid 2000's..lol. I am trying to learn this, but it's been a bit of a hurdle for someone that is new to it. I sorta feel like I am trying to learn to jury rig and hack old defunct things to work with new functional things. I do appreciate your patience with me as I learn though, as difficult as it has been.
As you say, some of the information on SBS has become obsolete over the years but a lot of the information is still available, much of it on this site. For example, the Kinetic Basestation software has recently been added after the recent demise of the kinetic.co.uk website. FYI, the Bones Tutorial is still available at http://woodair.net/SBS/Article/Barebones.htm (http://woodair.net/SBS/Article/Barebones.htm) and although some of the links within it no longer work, the information is still very useful.
Howard
Thank you for the updated link. Perhaps the powers that be can update the .pdf with that new link.
I am finding a little bit here and there to get to where I have so far, along with information that Anmer has provided to me within these posts. I just have to sift a bit more since I don't utilize the SBS receivers. I can't even utilize BaseStation at this point since it can't communicate properly with my Pi without ModeSMixer2 installed on my Pi (which I am working on), so will get to learning BaseStation, BaseStation Reporter and their functions once I can actually use it/them.