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Operator.md

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Hi!

Many thanks for joining the galmon.eu project as an observer and station operator!

Here are some ground rules to follow once you have locally tested your galmon station:

  • Please ask bert@hubertnet.nl or ahu on IRC or @PowerDNS_Bert for a station ID and receiver hostname.
  • Please do not randomly pick a station ID!! Project data quality and integrity depends on your cooperation.
  • The rule is: one station ID per receiver. Do not under any circumstances use the same ID on multiple receivers, even if you think it should be fine. We have 2^64 IDs available, just ask for more IDs.
  • Even if you think it should be fine to reuse the same ID, for example because your observer page on galmon.eu will look nicer, DO NOT DO IT! It messes up our algorithms which track the clock of your receiver.
  • Please set the --owner and --remark fields - they help with administration. These fields will show up on https://galmon.eu/observers.html
  • Ublox8 based receivers support (GPS AND Galileo) + (BeiDou OR GLONASS). They can't process all four systems at the same time. GPS and Galileo share a slot. BeiDou or GLONASS share a second slot. See here for some more information.
  • If you want to know if you should add BeiDou or GLONASS, you can either use your own preference or ask us what we are missing in your region.

Downtime

The project is grateful for every bit you can provide. Don't feel bad about downtime either because your family needs the power plug for Christmas decorations (this happened) or for whatever reason.

A good way to increase uptime is to use the Systemd file to ensure automatic startup on reboots. Some stations with bad power, bad hardware or bad cables have had great success enabling the Raspberry Pi watchdog.

(need instruction here how to do that for various Raspberries, it differs)

Upgrades

From time to time we upgrade the ubxtool receiver software. Old data also works but typically if you upgrade, the value to the network increases.

Improving reception

A good view of the sky can help tremendously, although as noted, we are happy with every bit we receive. It helps to put your receiver on a "ground plate" which is a fancy word for a piece of metal (or mesh even).

In addition, if you are in a northerly region, your view to the south is most important. Conversely, if you are in the south, more action will be to the north.