Meteobridge PRO red losing connection with ISS. **solved**
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:38 pm
Hello I would very much appreciate advice. Since October 2017 I have been running a Meteobridge PRO Red with a Vantage Vue ISS, Davis solar repeater 7627 at a location 100 miles from home in my holiday lodge. From November to March there is no mains electricity so the Meteobridge pro red is powered by a 120W solar panel which charges a 100Ah 12v Gel deep cycle battery through a 10A buck boost MPPT charge controller. The Meteobridge Pro Red is then powered by a 12V to 5V USB converter. The Meteobridge connects to the Internet via a USB Huawei 3G dongle with SIM card.
The system has run perfectly until last week when breaks in data started in the various networks the MBPR transmits to... WU, Windy, PWS, WOW, Windfinder and Windguru. During these breaks in transmission, I was still able to log into the MBPR via web browser which excludes any problem with the cellular network.
The breaks in transmission occurred randomly through the day and night which was not the pattern I expected to see if the ISS or Repeater batteries were flat. (In that case I would not expect breaks in daylight hours but would expect them after nightfall.)
Intermittent breaks in the transmission to Windguru during the day and night of Sunday 3rd December. There is now no data being transmitted.
This morning I drove down to the weather station with a spare Vue ISS and Console. When I arrived I could see that the Vue console I keep at the lodge was receiving a signal direct from the ISS and the console graph function showed no breaks. ( have this console set to retransmit using a different ID to the ISS and the repeater. This means if the repeater fails I can switch the MBPR to receive from the console).
I used the spare console to check the signal strength. Outside at the repeater the signal from the ISS was -72db. Inside the lodge beside the MBPR the signal from the outside repeater was -66db. (The signal beside the MBPR from the retransmitting console was -41db. This Vue console was getting a signal direct from the ISS at -90db.)
My second Vue console was able to display ISS data direct from the ISS, via the repeater and via the retransmitting console.
The MBPR was not able to receive data from the repeater, retransmitting console or direct from the ISS. I made sure I adjusted the channel ID and sensitivity when switching between source stations.
The weather nets page showed green ticks at each of the nets so presumably the MBPR is still able to communicate with them.
From the above I suspected a problem with the RF reception of the MBPR so I checked the antenna was tight. I checked the charge controller data screens and they showed that the solar panel was able to provide more than the power consumption of the MBPR over the previous few days. With the charge controller disconnected the battery showed 12.7 volts which is normal. I disconnected the power supply to the MBPR to reboot it. While disconnected I checked the USB supply voltage which was normal at 5.2V.
The MBPR is now at version: Meteobridge 5.7 (Dec 4 2023, build 15127), FW 1.4
The ISS is transmitting on Channel 4. The repeater is set to channel 4. As the repeater signal at the MBPR is -66db I set the sensitivity to -75db on the primary station page. I have run out of ideas but have tested the ISS, repeater and MBPR power supply and connection to the internet. I think I have set up the MBPR correctly to receive the signal so if any one has any suggestions as to what I may have missed, I would be most grateful. Thank you.
No ISS sensors showing up.
Recent logs
The system has run perfectly until last week when breaks in data started in the various networks the MBPR transmits to... WU, Windy, PWS, WOW, Windfinder and Windguru. During these breaks in transmission, I was still able to log into the MBPR via web browser which excludes any problem with the cellular network.
The breaks in transmission occurred randomly through the day and night which was not the pattern I expected to see if the ISS or Repeater batteries were flat. (In that case I would not expect breaks in daylight hours but would expect them after nightfall.)
Intermittent breaks in the transmission to Windguru during the day and night of Sunday 3rd December. There is now no data being transmitted.
This morning I drove down to the weather station with a spare Vue ISS and Console. When I arrived I could see that the Vue console I keep at the lodge was receiving a signal direct from the ISS and the console graph function showed no breaks. ( have this console set to retransmit using a different ID to the ISS and the repeater. This means if the repeater fails I can switch the MBPR to receive from the console).
I used the spare console to check the signal strength. Outside at the repeater the signal from the ISS was -72db. Inside the lodge beside the MBPR the signal from the outside repeater was -66db. (The signal beside the MBPR from the retransmitting console was -41db. This Vue console was getting a signal direct from the ISS at -90db.)
My second Vue console was able to display ISS data direct from the ISS, via the repeater and via the retransmitting console.
The MBPR was not able to receive data from the repeater, retransmitting console or direct from the ISS. I made sure I adjusted the channel ID and sensitivity when switching between source stations.
The weather nets page showed green ticks at each of the nets so presumably the MBPR is still able to communicate with them.
From the above I suspected a problem with the RF reception of the MBPR so I checked the antenna was tight. I checked the charge controller data screens and they showed that the solar panel was able to provide more than the power consumption of the MBPR over the previous few days. With the charge controller disconnected the battery showed 12.7 volts which is normal. I disconnected the power supply to the MBPR to reboot it. While disconnected I checked the USB supply voltage which was normal at 5.2V.
The MBPR is now at version: Meteobridge 5.7 (Dec 4 2023, build 15127), FW 1.4
The ISS is transmitting on Channel 4. The repeater is set to channel 4. As the repeater signal at the MBPR is -66db I set the sensitivity to -75db on the primary station page. I have run out of ideas but have tested the ISS, repeater and MBPR power supply and connection to the internet. I think I have set up the MBPR correctly to receive the signal so if any one has any suggestions as to what I may have missed, I would be most grateful. Thank you.
No ISS sensors showing up.
Recent logs