Remote operating and Node Red

David Decoons, wo2x

It shouldn’t be difficult to do. The hardest part is finding out what format to send data, then parse the data returned. For example, with the KPA1500 I send a string of commands "msg.payload = "^BN;^WS;^TM;^FS;^OS;^VI;^FC;^ON;^FL;^AN;"↵ return msg;" Each command ^BN, ^WS, etc is querying the amp every second. For Elecraft the command is ^ folloed by two capital letters and a semi colon. The amp will return a string with values for each command sent. For the wattmeter it is ^WS to interrogate the peak power out (important to use peak value vs instant power). The amp returns a one buffer with the results for each command sent. This is sent from the amp every second. I convert the buffer to a string using function "msg.payload = msg.payload.toString('utf8');↵ return msg;" Then I have a string of imformation with the results for each starting with ^ so I split based on ^ I then use a switch node with each line containing one of the two letters for the commands I sent. Line 1 in the switch is Contains BN. Line two is Contains WS, etc. Now I have distinct outputs for status of each command I sent. The wattmeter happens to be line 6 of my switch node (Contains WS) and I have that connected to a function node. Now I need to parse the info from the string which is WS1462. I want it in a whole number so I use a function msg.payload = parseInt(msg.payload.substr(2,4)) return msg; This sets the msg.payload out to 1462. It starts at the third character ( first character starts at zero) and uses the four numbers starting at the third character of the string. Now I have a dashboard meter icon to display the power in horizontal bar graph format. This is assuming that peak power out was 1462 watts at time it polled the amp. I also use peak output since I am taking a “snapshot “ of the power out every second. I took the time to explain my KPA1500 wattmeter portion of the flow so you can get an idea on how to create flows to send and receive commands. During the building of the flow I use the debug node along each step so I can see how the data is being manipulated. First thing you need to do is establish communications to the meter. Once that is done it is just a matter of sending commands and parsing the info returned. I suggest try with a basic command to the meter and go from there. Give it a shot. It is rewarding when you get the first flow working. We’re here to help you along the way. The more flows, the more data the Pi is processing. I am not sure if anyone has come close to starting to max out the cpu or ram on a Pi 3b+. I built mine on a Pi 4b+ with 4 GB ram. Future proofed it. Sorry for the long post but wanted to give you a peek inside my thinking. Tomorrow morning I will upload my flows to Github. Got tied up today with family comittments. You can then download my KPA1500 and Flex Radio flows to get a better idea on command structure. For anyone else thinking of building a Pi with Node Red - it is a lot of fun and a good learning experience. I learned it and wrote most of my flows laying in a hospital bed or on the couch when my leg was immobilized for 10 weeks. There are people on here who are willing to share ideas and flows. Give it a try! 73 Dave wo2x

Santiago Mejia HI8O

Gotta give it to Dave!!! He fixed the flow sending data to HF Auto and Green Heron Antenna Switch. They are both working great. Now I can benefit for both auto hardware without needing FRStack in the middle. Santiago

David Decoons, wo2x

Thanks! I do not have either the HF Auto or Green Heron Everywhere but I liked the challenge to make it work. I am creating a Github account now to upload my flows. I will be working with Alan to add functionality to the SteppIR flow. Stay tuned! Dave wo2x

Mike-VA3MW

Hey all, in case you missed it on the broadcast on Friday this community is going to be terminated at the end of the month unfortunately it is 100% out of our control.We are working on options but they will take time and then there will be a gap of no community.This is the reason I highly recommended the other day that you take your code and post it on github so that we have a track of it and others can reference it we wantMike

Johan _ SE3X

Community Will be terminated? Will disapear? What THE ****???

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Santiago Mejia HI8O

If you read what Michael is saying (and was addressed last Friday) is that the outsourced company that handled the community platform is going out and it will take time to properly come up with the alternative. FRS knows that the community is a huge part of the company and it’s success. I’ll say we give them the benefit of the doubt and hope this won’t be long. Santiago

KD0RC

Hi Mike, I did miss this.  I would suggest that it be displayed on a banner like new versions of software are.  A note about what is being done about it would be welcome as well.  Will the existing threads be imported into whatever replaces this forum?
73,
Len, KD0RC

Mike-VA3MW

KD0RC

We all want fast, but going fast and getting a **** platform is not in anyone's best interest. I would rather wait a little to be sure the new service meets the community's needs and can be sustained into the foreseeable future. 73, Len, KD0RC

Santiago Mejia HI8O

Michael, hello. Now I'm moving to temperature and humidity in my remote site.

I understand that you have multiple LM75 sensors connected to a single point in your Raspi..is that correct? How were you able to do it? Do you jumper wires?

Santiago

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Hi Dave:   I would be interested in seeing the flow to learn how to query the radio without using FRstacks in the middle.   Did you post a link to where you uploaded the flow on GitHub?

73

Neal
N6YFM

Mike-VA3MW

I finally found them.  

On the boards I had, there are 3 jumpers:  A0 A1 and A2.

I hope this helps.

73

David Decoons, wo2x

Alan

Santiago Mejia HI8O

This shall be one of the last posts on this community. So far I have not been able to make the nodes to trigger anything with the OWM flow. I am looking into getting an email or message, a light on the dashboard and also to turn off webswitch (that are on a separate flow). Still looking on ways to do it. Will post to facebook if I find anything.

73,

Santiago

Alan

Santiago

I sent a Weather with Trigger Flow to your QRZ.com e-mail address.

We can Team View if you need more help

Alan
a.alan.blind@gmail.com
WA9WUD
         

Santiago Mejia HI8O

Hi everybody. Happy to see the community is up and running. So far I´m liking what I´m seeing.

73, de Santiago

David Decoons, wo2x

Yes. Good to see the community back!

Dave wo2x

John Chmielewski

Is anyone using Node Red with a pc running windows 10? I am thinking of using this combination. Keep in mind that I don't know a Rasberry Pi from strawberry jam. Any help would be great. Thanks.

John N2XD

Alan

Here is a link to the Node-Red Web site:

https://nodered.org

I do not see an option to install Node-Red on Windows.

Its not hard to set up a Raspberry Pi. Dave, WO2X has written detailed instructions, you can download here:

https://groups.io/g/nodered-hamradio/files/How%20To%20Guide%20Node%20Red%20and%20FRStack%20on%20Pi.pdf

Loading FR Stack is optional, so if you want to build a pi, only with Node-Red, complete the steps for:

• Download and Install Raspberry Pi OS
• Boot and Configure Pi
• Install Node Red on RPi
• Install x11vnc: (Only needed for Pi4 arm64 installs

Run all the steps if you want to include FRStack on your install, more advance for a beginner but is recommended for a full set up Flex Radio Flows already built .

Node-Red runs on the Raspberry Pi, however, you access Node-Red via any type of web browser, including whatever you use on Windows.

Alan WA9WUD

David Decoons, wo2x

Yes, the WiKi on the groups.io site Alan mentioned has step by step instructions to load the Pi operating system, Node Red and optional ASPNet and FRStack. I am going to update a couple of things on the WiKi later.

Dave wo2x

N5YT

I currently have mine on Windows.

https://nodered.org/docs/getting-started/windows

PCRover

I have used node-red on Windows in the past with good results. Just follow the online installation procedure and it should work fine.

thomasmschaefer

Hello - I have been cheating a bit to get started and trying to load some the flows pasted into messages here. Not many import successfully though. I get errors as such as SyntaxError: JSON Parse error: Unterminated string or missing }. I can debug these but I wonder if there could be a formatting issue when the messages were converted to the new site.

Put another way, is there a repository of all these wonderful flows kept anywhere one can download and learn from?

Tom NY4I

David Decoons, wo2x

Hi Tom,

yes. We have a group on groups.io. The file section has flows from different users, myself included.

https://groups.io/g/nodered-hamradio

73

dave wo2x

thomasmschaefer

Hi Dave - My posts about installing it on my Pi show I know where that is. :) While I saw a few flows in the files section on groups.io, I did not see as many as were posted in the messages here. Thanks

thomasmschaefer

I should have said I saw some flows in here (from Mike for example) that are not in the files section over there. But I see a nice assortment of flows on groups.io.

I'm curious if anyone else has the issue of importing flows that are posted here in messages. Maybe there is some formatting error happening.

WX7Y

Thomas, are you Copying the TEXT then in NODE RED in the upper right corner where the 3 line are select Import then in the text window hit CTRL V to past the full body of the text in the window then hit import in the flow.

If this is a new installation you may have to add several Pallets under the "manage Pallets" section to get the flows to run then edit them for your local information.