weechat-radio:$ Range test map

How to run a test

1. Car station

   A laptop running WeeChat Radio with a USB GPS set in setup ([gps] port), on the same frequency as the station you test against.

2. Start

   Type /rangetest CALL, where CALL is the fixed station (your home gateway). It sends CALL a short private probe every 30 s; /rangetest CALL 60 sets another gap (15–600 s). The fixed station needs no change: its normal receipt carries the SNR it heard you at.

3. Drive

   Each probe shows a line such as range test probe 12 to CALL: both ways, they heard us at -3 dB, we heard them at 6 dB.

4. Stop and map

   /rangetest off. The log is in the WeeChat Radio folder on your Desktop (or the files folder on a Pi) as range-test-CALL-date.csv, with a .kml for Google Earth next to it. Drop the CSV above.

How the shading works

• Coverage areaThe map around the far station is cut into 36 slices of 10°. In each slice the edge is the furthest point that worked both ways, as long as at least 70% of the probes closer in also worked, so one lucky hilltop does not stretch it. A slice you never drove stays empty: no guessing.
• Route detailAlong your route, 150 m squares show the distance-weighted score of the probes within 500 m. Both ways scores 1 with a 10 dB margin, down to about 0.7 at the decode edge; heard them only 0.4; nothing 0. Green from 0.67, amber from 0.34, red below.
• ReplayPlays the drive back in time order, 120, 500 or 2000 times faster than real time, with a white car marker. Stops longer than 2 minutes are skipped. The shading builds up as it goes.
• Where the far station isPlaced from the grid square its receipts carry, which can be a kilometre or two out. Use move far station and click the map to put it exactly. A probe is not retried, so one red square can be a collision; a wide red patch is real.