DK7XE-6 APRSbox



Why an and what is the APRSbox?
I'm doing from time to time presentations about APRS. When doing this you need an working equipment that
The configuration i have chosen is
Current status as of August, 2011

The hardware is ready.
The box is currently running with openWRT  Backfire 10.03.1_RC4
APRX digipeater/I-Gate software is installed and running. Im using version 2.02_r442-1 from kissoz.dk . The version 2.00 available on the Backfire 10.03.1_RC4 repository has a bug.
Some custom scripts are made to set the serial port speeds as needed and to autoconfigure the opentracker if needed automatically by the router (see table below).
The 2x 4Gb flashdrives are mounted and used as additional storage for the customized software.
Status messages from the router as well as all RX/TX beacons from APRX are showing up on the display in real time.
Current test showed that the box is running ~4hr on battery until power is breaking down.
I have installed now a GPS (Navilock NL-302U) and gpsd & ntpd to get correct system time also in case no internet connection is available.
UDEV daemon is running and configured to generate static port names for the OT2 TNC, GPS, etc.

Things still to-do
Pictures


software modifications

In fact i have made only some custom shell scripts and modifications to configuration to enhance the functionality as desired.

 path description remarks
 /etc/config/serial Configuration file for the setserial script.
Defines parameters for the serial ports.
 
 /etc/config/tmpdev Configuration file for the tmpdev script.
Defines the temporary devices that are created at startup.
- OTportA - serial port to connect to open tracker 2 port A (ttyS1).
- OTportB - serial port to connect to open tracker 2 port B (ttyUSB0)
- Display - serial port connection to the dot matrix display (ttyUSB1).
- COM1 - serial port /dev/ttyS0
This is done now with the udev daemon.
package udev and udevtrigger are installed.
What i observed is that the packages do not contain a statup script. Therefore i have created /etc/init.d/udev and call /sbin/udevd --daemon from it (runs as 30 right before usb). Additionally i have to execute a /sbin/udevadm trigger command at startup to get the symlinks available.
 /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules  ruleset for the udev daemon to create the symlinks as described above.
 
 /etc/init.d/setserial  Sets parameters for the serial ports (baudrate, stopbit, parity, handshake,...)
 
 /etc/init.d/tmpdev  Sets the tmp device names to have more meaningful names for the serial ports.
 i left the filename as is but now it executes only a /sbin/udevadm trigger command.
 /etc/init.d/aprx APRX startup script. This is customized to start with a defined configuration file. If no configuration file is used it starts with the default from /etc/aprx.conf
 
 /etc/aprx.conf default config script for APRX.
i have modified the configuration to be a RX-igate with digipeating on RF.
2 custom lines are added starting with "#Display:". This two lines are read out by the aprx startup script and sent to the dotmatrix display to show which config file is actually used.
 Will be initially created when installing the APRX package.
 /home/ mountpoint for '/dev/sda1'
user home directory.
used to store custom scripts.
 4GB USB stick 1
 /backup/ mountpoint for '/dev/sdb1'
stores system file- (in fact all the custom files in that table) and aprx log backups as tar.zip with timestamp.
 4GB USB stick 2
 /home/aprx/config/  directory holding different configuration files for APRX.
 
 /home/aprx/config/config.use  file that holds the name of the APRX configuration file that should be currently used.
 
 /home/bin/  directory holding some additional selfmade shell scripts.
 
 /home/bin/backup_aprx_log  script to backup the current APRX log plus config file used and stores compressed tarball to /backup/aprx/
 executed by cron every day right before reboot.
 /home/bin/backup_system  script to backup all the customized files on a regular base.
 executed by cron once a month.
 /home/bin/display_aprx_log_loop script to output the APRX log to the dotmatrix display.
checks if the log has been changed since the last output to display and sends the changes to the display.
 runs as loop as long as aprx is running.
 packages.installed
 list of all the packages i have installed
 

Configuration OpenTracker2


73' Gerald, DK7XE/OE6DLD