bg7tbl gpsdo master reference

[K1FPV]

Looks cool Masta! By the way, I'm using Lady Heather 5.0 with my BG7TBL GPSDO's and works great. Unfortunately, it won't detect the Datum StarLoc II. I'll have to try to set the thing to look for it. I know reading, if it doesn't detect a receiver, try to give it a boot in the a** . The funny thing is Lady Heather 3.10 did work with it, just not all functions.

Bill
K1FPV

[texaspyro]

Unfortunately, it won't detect the Datum StarLoc II. I'll have to try to set the thing to look for it. I know reading, if it doesn't detect a receiver, try to give it a boot in the a** . The funny thing is Lady Heather 3.10 did work with it, just not all functions.

I tried 3.10 with my Starloc II and it does nothing...  If the Starloc II sees the packet initialization command that a Thunderbolt expects,  it crawls into a corner and sulks and sends nothing.  If you have a Starloc II you have to tell Heather that (/rxd command line option) so she can whisper the correct sweet nothings into its ear to get it started.  Maybe some firmware difference between my Craploc II and your Craploc II or you were actually connecting to John's internet connected Tbolt?

[K1FPV]

Well, I've temporarily put my Starcrap II aside and have been playing with my BG7TBL receiver. With 5.0, I can't seem to get it to display anything but Central Standard Time. I've tried multiple of commands to make it show UTC but no matter what I use, CST is all it displays. 

[cdev]

have you told it your time zone is UTC - (or whatever else you want?)


If you are using the Lady Heather program thats in the heather.cfg file


The best documentation for the commands and .cfg file options is in the heather.cpp source.

[cdev]

So, I have been trying out Lady Heather with two Venus receivers.

Neither have 1PPS currently connected. When I use venus binary mode they both appear to display time one second off and show NO UTC OFFSET permanently. I read something on time-nuts some time ago about a firmware bug.  the "leap second upcoming" bug .  That is probably what is happening.

Other than that which is likely my hardware, it's an interesting looking program that I hope to make better use of in the future when I have a GPSDO.

The newer of my two receivers is raw data capable and does have the position pinning, elevation mask, etc. settings available and also 1PPS out. (but its USB so not so useful for timing unless its broken out) It does use a TCXO but the kind that just looks like a standard SMT oscillator, and I suspect it manages it itself in its own firmware.

Its very inexpensive considering how good it is.

[texaspyro]

When I use venus binary mode they both appear to display time one second off and show NO UTC OFFSET permanently.

Does the screen say "Venus receiver" near the middle of top lines of the screen?  Or "NMEA receiver"?

Did you start Heather with the /rxv command?  That is needed to get the receiver into Venus binary mode (actually binary mixed with NMEA) unless the receiver has timing firmware (then your firmware sends the $PSTI message that identifies it as a Venus device).

Once Heather identifies the device as a Venus receiver,  try writing a log file for a few seconds.  WLW command to start,  WLS to stop.   There will be comments at the start of the log file that have all device/firmware ID info.

After power on, it can take a long time for the UTC offset to come it.  The receiver has to download the almanac (15+ minutes) for that to come in.

[cdev]

Yes, its correctly recognizing both as Venus (Skytraq) receivers correctly.


This is the firmware revision from my s1315F Which is an approximately 2012 Venus 6 also flash based Skytraq chip with raw data output. Very accurate GPS-only- No Glonass or Galileo.


#  <name>Venus receiver</name>
#   Unit type:     Venus GPS receiver
#   Kernel:        0001.04.110
#   ODM:           Ver:  0001.08.23
#   Rev:           Rev:  0011.05.12
#
#


So, trying a /tsx value of "500" now my ntp-set system clock and the Heather clock display appear to be changing approximately at a similar time but I am still getting the "No UTC OFFSET" alert and the main clock is still displaying in yellow.




Under "operation mode" it  says PPS OFF..  and Normal and under that it says "No status avail"


Its tracking 9 satellites or more and the position fix seems accurate enough except that the altitude seems to be truncating the altitude to the nearest meter, also altitude seems off by a significant amount, however the amount keeps changing (?) why - maybe has to do with "geoide" its using?


Quote from: texaspyro on Today at 18:22:01

>

[texaspyro]

Ok,  your Venus 6 probably does not support the timing messages.  Heather's code wants  a Venus 8 for maximum Venusian goodness.   Start Heather with /rxv=17 (/rxv=18 next year)  or use the /uo=17 command line option.

You might want to try a Navspark (mini or standard sized one).  Mini's are free + $10 shipping or 6 for $36.  The standard sized one is around $20.   Or maybe Nick Sayer's Venus-8 timing receiver for $40... it's Adafruit pinout compatible.  He sells them on Tindie.  The Venus-8 timing receivers claim an accuracy of <10 ns.  They all need an external antenna with a way to get it to a U.FL connector.

Also try a PE keyboard command and see if that turns PPS on.

[cdev]

That fixed it!


One cool thing about the Venus receivers is their very fast update rate of 20 hz, so perhaps with 115,200 serial port speed and 20 Hz update the binary messages will be "close enough" - The Venus seems happier (more satellites tracked) with 20 Hz update rate than 1.


Here is what it returns now tsx=48.90  max hits 17 points:592 avg 50.92  sdv: 3.26


Definitely going to get another GPS for timing since they are so cheap, and use it on my Raspberry Pi. Would you recommend the Venus? $40  - I think I would rather use a Navispark to support the project. I already have RTK GPS (but rarely get to play around with it these days) however I do need a precise reliable expandable time source.

[texaspyro]

The Venus seems like a decent timing receiver.   Timing receivers cost 4-10 times what a normal receiver costs...  but are just a firmware change.  Ublox sets a one-time programmable fuse at the factory to disable loading timing firmware on a non-timing module (but apparently there are devices out there that can be upgraded to timing devices).

Heather supports changing the update rate on some receivers.  The "!n" keyboard command.  If the baud rate can't support the data flow funky things can happen.  Usually dropped messages, time stamp skips, etc.  Also you can get into a condition where processing the serial data doesn't leave any time for Heather to check the keyboard... so no way to set the nav rate back to a lower value.  On my system that happens at 20 Hz.  If that happens you have to force-quit Heather and use the /nr=1 command line option to go back to 1 Hz without using the keyboard.

[K1FPV]

have you told it your time zone is UTC - (or whatever else you want?)


If you are using the Lady Heather program thats in the heather.cfg file


The best documentation for the commands and .cfg file options is in the heather.cpp source.

Yes, I tell it that I want UTC and it still for some reason won't come off of Central time! 

[texaspyro]

Yes, I tell it that I want UTC and it still for some reason won't come off of Central time! 

Several GPS receivers can be configured to provide the time in either UTC or GPS time.  The TG and TU commands tell the receiver to operate on UTC or GPS time.  If the receiver can't send GPS times but you use TG (or /tg) to configure the receiver to send GPS time,  Heather can adjust  receiver time messages to fake them sending GPS time... this requires that Heather knows the GPS-UTC leapsecond offset.


The TZ (or /tz) command tells Heather what time zone or astronomical time scale to display that receiver time in.  It takes the receiver provided time and converts it to the time zone that you want displayed.

There are several "special" time zone names that will display the time for that time scale (regardless of whether the receiver is providing UTC or GPS time).  Two of those special time zones are "UTC" and "GPS".

To display the clocks in UTC time set the time zone to "UTC" like TZ=UTC or /tz=UTC

[cdev]

Is Lady Heather rounding off the altitude?

[texaspyro]

Is Lady Heather rounding off the altitude?

Nope,  Lady Heather is pretty much garbage-in  garbage-out.   It shows what it gets.  Thunderbolts give like 7 decimal digits.  Others give it rounded to an integer.  No way is 7 digits of precision true...

[dr.diesel]

texaspyro

Thanks again for such a great program and even more thanks for the Linux support!  Glad to see you active here on EEVblog.

[panman]

This too is my first post on the forum. I've been following the eevblog saga of the BG7TBL for the last few months with hopes of purchasing one when the infamous "bug" is resolved. I notice Amateurtelecom received a unit with a new data code, 2016-05-31, which was dutifully cataloged in the thread. I've been Google searching this new version for several days on any reference as it relates to the bug. So far nothing has surfaced. If it's fixed, I'll order it. I'm reluctant to query an Ebay reseller as I'm not sure I'd get an accurate answer. If anyone has objective evidence one way or another as to the bugs remediation I, and likely others, would appreciate a post. I realize it may take some time. Thanks again for a new found valuable resource (eevblog that is).

Has anyone been able to confirm this? Thanks all and a really great site!

[K1FPV]

I bought mine with this eBayer ( 201377jie ) as he showed a picture of the latest receiver with the 2016-05-31 date on it. I suspect if you buy one with the latest date on it, the seller has them in stock to post the picture in his ad.

[Fennec]

@texaspyro

Please can you post the commandline you use to start LadyHeather?  I am to stupid for that or I have connection issues.
(BG7TBL) from 2016

Thank you

[texaspyro]

@texaspyro

Please can you post the commandline you use to start LadyHeather?  I am to stupid for that or I have connection issues.
(BG7TBL) from 2016

Sorry, but there are soooo many different BG7TBL models out there, I have no idea which one you have.  Or what operating system you are running.

[K1FPV]

@texaspyro

Please can you post the commandline you use to start LadyHeather?  I am to stupid for that or I have connection issues.
(BG7TBL) from 2016

Thank you
« Last Edit: Yesterday at 05:05:28 PM by Fennec »


This is the one I use for Lady Heather in the northeast USA. It works great here with both my BG7TBL GPSDOs.  [ "C:\Program Files (x86)\Heather 5.0\heather.exe" /8 /tz=-5EST ]

[K1FPV]

I forgot to mention in the last post, the 8 is for my COM 8 which is the Com port I have it on with my Windows 10 machine.

[Fennec]

Hi,

thank you for your help. My TTL adapter seems to be ded. I measure crap only.

[0xpanacea]

Hello all, Can someone dump the config file for their unit from U-blox U-center. I accidentally hit File -> GGNS and may have wiped it but i'm not sure  . Thanks

[Fennec]

Which U-Blox modul you have? In my bg7bl from mid 2016 is a LEA-7 and I have no clue if it is compatible with other versions.

There is a standard config file in your u-center folder called flash.txt.

[0xpanacea]

I haven't opened mine up yet so i'm not sure what chip i have exactly but U-center tells me that my product id is 01A7 . I just noticed that it's using the chip oscillator instead of the 10Mhz TXCO. That's why i thought i wiped the config. I will open it up after i get back from work.