DoppSite Demonstration Program
Notes for Installation and Use
ForewordDoppSite Demo Program Installation
DoppSite Demo Program StartUp
Display StartUp ( for a local link test )
Creating a Local Network Link ( LoopBack IP Address )
PicoDopp Bench Tests ( with a simulated DF signal )
Internet Link Creation and Testing
Creating an Internet Link
Stabilizing the IP address
The RemoteDF Site : Onward and Upward
The DF Equipment : Installation and Calibration
GoogleEarth Link Failures
Demo Version vs. Standard Version of the Program /
Foreword
The DoppSite Demo program is a demonstration program, provided ( free ) to promote sales of PicoDopp equipment, which can be found here :
Some people using this program will have little experience with IP addresses, networks, firewalls, etc. If this describes you, it would be wise to get assistance from a friend who is familiar with this kind of technology. I can try to help by e-mail, ( Bob Simmons ) but someone who is really “there” would be MUCH better… and my own knowledge is ( frankly ) prettylimited. With some luck, no such assistance will be required.
This demonstration program is more than a simple “simulator”… it can be used to create working DF networks that actually can hunt a signal… but the DF bearing line “painted” on the GoogleEarth display is limited to a length of 1 mile. The latitude and longitude of the DF station can be user-defined by controls on the OPTIONS screen, so the program can be installed and used at several different DF locations.
Each program can drive several GoogleEarth displays simultaneously, and each GoogleEarth display can simultaneously display the outputs of multiple DF stations, so a working “network” of DF stations can be created and used, with this program.
The standard version of the DoppSiteprogram paints a 20 mile DF bearing line. ( or request a different length when ordering ) To defeat software piracy, the standard version is “customized” with a specific latitude and longitude value, ( specified by the customer when ordering ) which cannot be changed. The standard version of the DoppSite program is available free to those who purchase a PicoDopp DF, or for US$ 99 to others.
DoppSite Demo Program Installation
Download the file “DoppSite_Demo_Install.zip” and put it in a temporary folder on the desktop
Unzip the contents into the same folder :
DD.CAB
setup.exe
SETUP.LST
Double-click the setup.exe file. An install wizard program will start up. Use the default values to answer any questions it asks. Installation takes just a few seconds.
The DoppSite Demo program is now installed on your computer and ready to use. It can be found in the START/PROGRAMS menu, inside the folder DoppSite Demo.
DoppSite Demo ProgramStartUp
Start the DoppSite Demo program. The MAIN screen will appear :
Click the OPTIONS button, a second screen will appear :
Enter the latitude and longitude of the location where the remote DF will be installed. Don’t forget the hemispheres. ( N/S and E/W ) The remaining values on this page can be left unchanged, for now. ( use default values )Click the EXIT button, the OPTIONS screen will disappear.
On the MAIN screen, click the TEST button. The button caption will change and the readout captions on the right side of the screen will change, as shown below :
The REPORTED BEARING value will slowly increment from 000 to 354, in steps of 6 degrees, one step per second. This is the DF bearing value being reported by the website.
Now for the display…
Display StartUp ( for a local link test )
Start up GoogleEarth, on the same computer as the DoppSite Demo program.
Make sure the PLACES and LAYERS boxes are visible in the left sidebar. ( as shown here ) If not, click VIEW on the top menu bar and check SIDEBAR in the list that appears. The sidebar boxes will appear.
Creating a Local Network Link ( LoopBack IP Address )
In the top menu bar of GoogleEarth, click ADD and select NETWORK LINK from the list that appears. A new window will appear.
In NAME, put “DoppSite Demo”. This is the name that will appear in the PLACES list, but really it can be any descriptive name.
In LINK, put the following line, typed EXACTLY as shown : ( copy / paste, if you wish )
Now click the REFRESH tab, and for Time-Based Refresh / When, select PERIODICALLY. This will enable the time selection windows, the default time is 0 hours / 0 minutes / 4 seconds, which means the display will update every 4 seconds. ( this is fine, but change it if you wish )
Now click the OK button ( bottom of window ) to close the window and save the information.
The new link will appear in the PLACES sidebar box. ( shown below, highlighted in blue )
Now “activate” the link by right-clicking it and select REFRESH from the list that will appear. When the list vanishes, double-click ( left mouse button ) the link, and GoogleEarth will “fly” to the DF station display. ( typical display shown below )
The bearing line will rotate slowly clockwise, at a rate of 1 RPM, and the display will refresh every 4 seconds.
Now click the DF station icon ( target symbol ) and the following information should appear :
This “balloon” ( that is the term for it ) is a built-in advertisement for PicoDopp products… it contains a hyperlink that connects to the PicoDopp website, and clicking the hyperlink will “slide in” the website main page, onto the GoogleEarth display. An escape button ( top left corner of the website page ) willclose the website display and restore the GoogleEarth display.
In the standard version of the DoppSite program, this advertisement is removed and the caption CLICK ME is replaced with a time stamp, ( using the computer’s internal clock as a time source ) to indicate when the display was last updated.
If you turn off the TEST feature on the DoppSite DemoMAIN screen, the bearing line will vanish, but the station icon ( target ) will remain. This indicates there are no DF bearings available for reporting / plotting on the display.
In the DoppSite Demo program, you can change the latitude / longitude values on the OPTIONS screen, and the result will be displayed the next time the network link refreshes. ( you might have to look around to find the new plot, if you change the position a good deal… or double-click the link again in the PLACES menu )
PicoDopp Bench Tests ( with a simulated DF signal )
At this point, if you have a PicoDopp DF, you can interface it to the program and use it to drive the GoogleEarth display. You will need to install a test jumper on the PicoDopp MAIN board, running from the audio input to the N antenna control line, to simulate the audio that normally comes from an FM receiver. You can adjust the 12-turn CALIB trimpot ( on the PicoDopp MAIN board ) to generate different DF bearings on the display.
On the DoppSite DemoOPTIONS screen, select a COM port that is free and available for the PicoDopp connection... successive clicks of this button will “step” through 8 possible COM ports, and test each one when it is selected.
If the selected COM port is free and available, the button background color will be light grey. If the COM port is NOT available, ( not installed, or busy ) the button background color will switch to DARK grey.
Once you find a suitable ( available ) COM port, ( and a test jumper is installed on the PicoDopp MAIN board ) you can connect the PicoDopp to the COM port with a DB9 cable and apply power to the PicoDopp.
On the DoppSite Demo MAIN screen, confirm that TEST is turned OFF, then click the DF INPUT button to turn on the DF input.
If everything was done properly, the captions on the right side of the DoppSite DemoMAIN screen will indicate that DF messages are arriving, and the reported DF bearing will be displayed, as shown below :
Futhermore, the GoogleEarth display should plot the DF bearing line, pointing in the proper direction.
Adjusting the CALIB trimpot on the PicoDopp MAIN board will cause the REPORTED BEARING caption to change, and also it will change the direction of the DF bearing line on the GoogleEarth display. ( given a few seconds for the display to update )
If everything behaves the way it is described here, then the COM port input has been tested and confirmed to work properly…you can move on to the next step. Conversely, if the COM port input ( for any reason ) is NOT working, you will see a display like this :
Note that the captions on the right side indicate that the DF is SILENT ( no messages arriving ) and the reported DF bearing is NONE.
If you get this display, you will need to sort out what is wrong… there are several possible causes, all yielding the same symptoms. The RS232 cable might be plugged into the wrong COM port socket on the computer, the TEST jumper is maybe not installed on the PicoDopp MAIN board, possibly pins 2 and 3 on the DB9 are “swapped”, ( null modem connection ) or some other problem.
Internet Link Creation and Testing
This is where things can get tricky… maybe… depends on your circumstances.
The previous network test used an IP address of 127.0.0.1, but this is just a “LoopBack” address that automatically connects to ANY other network program, if that program is running on the SAME computer… basically, this is a “back yard” IP address, which does not really use the internet for passing information.
The next step in the learning / debug process is to create a network link that actually uses the internet to pass information from the DoppSite Demo program to the GoogleEarth display. Both programs can still be installed and running on the same computer, but the IP address will change. ( identification of the new address is described in the next section )
If this test succeeds, you can give the new address to friends, which will enable them to create their own NETWORK LINKs and view the DoppSite Demo output on their own ( remote ) computers, using a GoogleEarth display… another step closer to the goal of a remote DF site.
If your own computer is connected directly to the internet, this test has a good chance of success, using the procedures described in the next section. If however your computer is part of a LAN, ( Local Area Network ) so that a switcher or router is installed between your computer and the internet connection, then the situation becomes more complicated, and the assistance of a friend with network / LAN knowledge probably will be required to sort it out.
If the computer is being used at a business location, and that business employs a network administrator, the assistance of that administrator probably will be required. ( probably their permission also ) Firewalls and anti-virus software might also interfere with the operation of an internet link, so ( again ) some assistance might be required.
The problems break down into two categories… (1) identifying the public IP address of your own individual computer, among the millions of computers connected to the internet, and (2) enabling the use of network port 80, at that address. ( that is the standard port used for website traffic : HTTP messages, used by websites )
If your computer is connected directly to the internet, then identifying the public IP address is easy, and very probably port 80 is already enabled. Possibly some firewall / anti-virus software will interfere also, but that is a “local” problem that should be fairly easy to sort out. Most people don’t install and run public websites on their own private computers… virus software ( naturally ) might be “suspicious” of that kind of activity… but there should be a way to override it.
Creating an Internet Link
The easiest way to identify the internet address of your computer is to start up a web browser,running on the same computer where the DoppSite Demoprogram is installed,and go to this address :
You will get a single line of text display that looks like this :
Current IP Address: 72.194.215.26
( there are several free services out there that report this information )
If your computer is connected directly to the internet, there is a very good chance this is the address you need. On the other hand, if your computer is part of a LAN that has switchers, routers or other computers installed between you and the internet connection, there is a chance this address is actually the address of the computer tied directly to the internet… and therefore NOT your own particular computer. An internet link “test” is required to verify that the address actually works. ( described a few paragraphs later )
If it turns out this address does NOT work, it is time to involve the help of the friend with LAN experience… there are various ways that a LAN can be changed to enable the kind of activity required for this to work…
In any event, the remaining part of this section will assume the address IS correct, so read on…
Using this ( website reported ) internet IP address, you must create a new NETWORK LINK in GoogleEarth, just like the first one… but the new link must use this new address instead of the LoopBack address. You must add an http prefix and filename suffix to this address, when you create the link.
The prefix must be EXACTLY this :
And the suffix must EXACTLY be this :
/DF.kml
So using the example address provided above, the result would EXACTLY be :
no space characters )
After the new link is created, you can test it… Turn off the original network link ( uncheck its checkbox in the PLACES sidebar ) because it will paint at exactly the same location as this new link. ( = confusion ) Right-click the new link and select REFRESH from the list that appears, then watch the display… if the internet address is working OK, the new link will display in a few seconds, just as the local link did.
At this point, the co-operation of a friend at some other location would be very worthwhile to verify that the internet link is working properly. Get your friend on the phone and get them to start up GoogleEarthon their own computer.
In your own GoogleEarth display, right-click the network link and select E-MAIL from the list that appears… your e-mail program will start up, and create a new e-mail ( ready to send ) with a copy of the network link attached to it. Specify the e-mail address of your friend, and send it.
Once your friend gets the e-mail, they can simply drag / drop the attachment into their own GoogleEarth PLACES window, to install it. ( they probably will still need to right-click it and select REFRESH, then double click it to “fly” GoogleEarth to that location )
If everything works properly, ( your friend verifies the display is painting and updating ) this proves the DoppSite Demoprogram truly is internet-reporting DF information to a remote GoogleEarthdisplay. ( move on to the next section of these instructions )
If this doesn’t work, double-check everything you have done and try again… if results are the same, send me an e-mail and we can arrange a phone call, I’ll see what I can do to help you sort it out… ( but my own knowledge of this stuff is pretty thin… ) Better yet, find a local friend who is familiar with LANs, firewalls, switchers, routers, etc. and get them involved… if they know their stuff, they can probably sort it out in an hour, maybe two.
My e-mail address is :
Stabilizing the IP address
The IP address issued to almost all internet users is a “dynamic” address… that basically means a “temporary” address… “temporary” can mean anything from minutes to months… one thing is certain : if your internet connection is interrupted and then restored, ( example : computer is turned off and back on ) then you will have a new IP address assigned to you, when the connection comes back on… and that makes it very hard for remote DF displays to find you.
IP addresses are issued by the companies that provide the internet service… the ISPs… the people who send you a bill each month, in exchange for providing access to the internet. As a rule, the IP address for a regular customer will only change when the internet connection is broken and later restored… If a connection is never broken, the IP address can remain unchanged for months… but there are no guarantees of that.