Android Observation and screen recorder

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ksaves2

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Hey, For fun I decided to add a second ROM (operating system) to a Nexus 7 2013 a couple of days ago. I use a Cyanogenmod version 12.1 and just put in 13: https://www.cyanogenmod.org/
I can dual boot the device now. I've bricked the device several times in the past but have the adb utility in an Ubuntu linux labtop that will resurrect a gorked/bricked device.

To cut to the chase, I found a utility in CM13 that I'm going to find useful for tracking or using with Altos Droid. It's a video recorder that will record whatever is going on in the screen. Not a screenshot but
a real time recorder.
I tried it out and it works. I have 32Gb on the device for memory so this will come in handy to record the screen while tracking a rocket.

Now if there was a utility for Windoze that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I'd be happy for my APRS tracking. Anyone know of any?

Kurt
 
Kurt, a utility to record the screen in Windows, or the aprs?

If screen recording in Windows, or other platforms try https://obsproject.com/

Hi Mark,

A utility to video record of what is going on in the screen of the tablet. I just remembered it will take processing power and if the native tracking app takes alot of processing horsepower it might not be feasible on a tablet.

I can use APRSIS 32 on windows to track APRS flights and have it hacked to work with the NMEA trackers like the EggFinder with two instances running. It should work with the Missileworks GPS tracker also.

The best tracker on a plain map is Xastir for APRS and a Ham rocket flier gave me a script that allows it to be used with NMEA Eggfinder devices. It leaves a nice breadcrumb trail with altitudes bearing and horizontal groundspeed next to a rocket icon.
Sort of like what is seen on a radar screen with encoding transponders with air traffice control.

Problem is it takes a laptop as I haven't found any cheap linux tablets yet. I did get it to work on a Next Thing Pocket Chip: https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip but omigosh that screen is small and it takes a mouse to be able to control easily. No touch screen!
Takes a long time for the map to come up but in ground testing it seems like it's workable. I'd have to do a test flight to see if the CPU can keep up with the data plotting.

In my early days of Beeline GPS tracking I hauled a laptop out to the launchsite and used Xastir to do Beeline APRS/GPS tracking. Problem was it took too long to setup that early arrangement with a laptop, TNC-X and ham handi-talkie. Didn't leave
me much time to fly rockets. More often then not, I use a handheld Garmin 60Cs or CsX and a Kenwood D72A as it's so easy to setup and carry on ones person for APRS tracking liftoff to landing. Still use it and I contend it's
the best handheld, real time mapping tracking solution out there. One positive cable connection to the Garmin and that's it. Real time navigation solution in the hand.

I haven't flown the EggFinders with GPS Rocket Locator for awhile. Last time I flew the EggFinders a couple of weeks ago, I spent most of my time with an APRSIS 32 setup but had my Nexus 7 sitting there with a second EggFinder LCD bonded to it.
Some other fliers were monitoring it and it really didn't catch too many positions. I believe if they were holding the EggFinder LCD up in the air, the reception of positions would have been better.
I did use the GPS Rocket Locator with my Nexus 7 2013 at the MWP the launch before the last one. It didn't have map caching at the time so I was staring at a blank screen with two dots and a line. Rocket flew sight unseen and landed 1.66 miles away from
me using an EggFinder TRS. I was able to locate the rocket easily enough after a long walk. I'm going to revert back to the Android Nexus 7 as my primary recovery hardware with the EggFinder LCD and use a patch antenna to see if I can boost the decoding of the EggFinder positions for real time plotting on Android. Suffice it to say, I've never lost a GPS tracked rocket with either APRS or NMEA period. The EggFinders work at finding the rockets though don't count
on 100% Rf data capture. The descent under main is when the decoding of positions really shines and that's enough to get one within the ground footprint of the tracker. If one wants a larger ground footprint, screw in a
900Mhz Yagi antenna to the EggFinder LCD after the rocket touches down. It really increases the ground range. Don't do it for flight though as a 900Mhz Yagi is too narrow a beam to keep pointed at an out of sight rocket.
I lost one Beeline GPS due to apogee failure and ballistic descent in a DD rocket. Rocket had metallic paint and no packets received at a distance. Landowner found the guts and I got the motor casing back along with a nice
ballistic flight record from the Parrot altimeter. Yeah the Parrot survived but I had to change out the battery and put a new buzzer on the board. I'm waiting for a beater rocket to fly it again. Kurt
 
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