Local Aircraft Watch (V. PR3.2)
(Version 3.2 has several updates mainly to the 'Special' aircraft notification)
The main instructions cover all versions of Local Aircraft Watch (Click the link above for update details of V. PR3.2)
Local Aircraft Watch is a program which alerts the user to aircraft entering and leaving a user designated area
(or choose from over 100 UK Airport Pre-programmed locations) and also logs the details.
The program lists the ModeS and Callsign (where transmitted) and also shows the amount of aircraft in the monitored area at any one time, and the total amount of aircraft having entered the area since the program was started.
The following pictures show the program having been started and focusing on Heathrow.
Showing that a total of 37 aircraft had entered the area and that 7 are still within it.
The program also gives you the option of creating an OUTLINE for use with BaseStation as seen on the picture.
Program Information...
Downloading and running the program.....
The download ZIP contains four files..
"Localaircraft.exe" The main program.
"Goodbye.wav" , "Hello.wav" and "Fanfare.wav"
These are the three sound files which audible alert you of aircraft entering and leaving the monitored area.
Lastly, "airportlocations.ini" which hold the information of the 100+ UK airport locations..
Simply download the ZIP file and unzip.
Installing the program.....
With all the files unzipped to the same location run the "localaircraft.exe" program,
this will create a folder called "localaircraftwatch" on the "C:\" drive of your computer ,
it will then MOVE the "airportlocations.ini", "goodbye.wav" , "hello.wav" and "fanfare.wav" files into that folder,
leaving just the "localaircraft.exe" file in your original location.
Also another three files will be created in the folder,
named "ipandport.ini" , "homelocation.ini" and "specials.ini",
these files will initially be empty of data.
Running the program.....
Having run the "localaircraftwatch.exe" you should now have this screen...
Enter the IP Address and Port details for your SBS ,
now click on the 'OUTLINES' path button to navigate to your BaseStation OUTLINES folder.
'Check' the lower box if you want to save these details as default,
Click on "Enter Details".
(this information is then stored in the recently created "ipandport.ini") .
(If you do not 'Check' the lower box you will be asked for the IP , Port and Path details next time you run the program)
Once entered you will get the following screen...
You now have the choice of entering your own Latitude and Longitude or selecting one of the 100+ airport locations from the drop down box on the left, and also the range which you want to monitor.
(selecting a 20 mile range will monitor 10 mile N, S, E and W from the Lat. & Long. entered)
As on the previous screen 'Check' the box if you wish to keep these co-ordinates as your default ones,
this information is stored in the recently created "homelocation.ini".
The next picture shows me having inserted my home Lat. & Long.
and also shows the drop down box for choose of airports.
Click on the "Start Monitoring" button to do just that.
You will then be asked if you wish to create an OUTLINE file for use with BaseStation
to show the area that you are monitoring, simple yes or no answer.
Selecting 'YES' will allow you to name the outline and also give you the option
of whether or not you want the OUTLINE deleted once you finish monitoring the area.
The first of the two pictures above shows the default name of "USERDEFINED20",
this indicates that I enter the Lat. & Long. manually.
Selecting from the airport list has a similar effect, the second picture showing me having selected Birmingham.
The number (20) indicated the range selected.
Clicking on "Save OUT file" will save the outline to the outline path selected earlier.
To view the outline on BaseStation you must re-load the outlines (navigate to SETTINGS > RELOAD > OUTLINES).
We are now monitoring the selected area,
the next two pictures show MODES 4CA6AD( Callsign : BCY5121) entering and leaving.
Note the first picture is showing 1 in the 'Total Aircraft Tracked' and 'Aircraft in Range' box,
whereas the second only shows "Total Aircraft Tracked" as the aircraft has left the area.
Whilst you have the program running it also logs the aircraft details,
the above aircraft created the following log..
The log takes the title of "law" followed by the current date and the current time followed by ".txt"
I started the program on 31st January 2010 at 19:50 and 38 seconds.
I used a user defined Lat. & Long. with a range of 20 miles.
4CA6AD came into the area at 19:50 and 48 seconds at an altitude of 21250 feet
and went out of the area at 19:54 and 31 seconds with an altitude of 26825 feet.
Also shows the Lat. & Long. of the aircraft when entering and leaving the area.
I then stopped the program at 19:55 and 18 seconds.
During any session you can switch the sounds on or off using the appropriate check boxes.
You can replace the "goodbye.wav" , "hello.wav" and "fanfare.wav" files with your own as long as you name them accordingly.
Changing the Monitored Area whilst using Program.....
You can change the monitored area during the program use,
simply click the "Change Area Monitored" button,
(you will be asked to confirm you wish to change)
Selecting "Yes" will place you back to the screen below..
Where you can repeat the steps as before, you may change the monitored area as often as you like.
Changing the area will result in the log looking similar to..
Whilst monitoring the Heathrow area, aircraft were entering but NOT leaving the area these aircraft are noted as "Signal Lost Possibly Landed".
This note is given to any aircraft from which no signal is received for more than 60 seconds SEE V. PR3.2 UPDATE whilst in the monitored area.
The logs are saved to the "C:\localaircraftwatch" folder.
Deleting 'Outlines' when changing monitored area or exiting the program.....
When changing the monitored area or exiting the program
the OUTLINES that were created will be deleted
(providing you selected the 'Delete Outlines' option when selecting your area).
A refresh of BaseStation is again required to reflect this change.
If you choose NOT to use the 'Delete' option then the outlines can be manually deleted by navigating to the Outlines folder.
To ease with the recognition of all outlines created by Local Aircraft Watch the outlines are prefixed with "Z-"
(example Z-Birmingham20miles.out) so should appear at the end of the list.
Default Time Out.
The default time out (when the program stops receiving messages from an aircraft whilst in the monitored area) was 60 seconds, this is now 90 seconds but can now be changed with the use of the slider on the opening screen...
Clicking on the slider will increase or decrease the seconds by 30,
using the LEFT or RIGHT arrow keys on the keyboard will decrease or increase by 10 seconds,
dragging the centre marker will increase or decrease by 1 second.
All other set-up instructions remain the same.
Special alert's.
The program will now also visually alert you to any aircraft entering the monitored area that you have marked as 'Specials'.
Notice that 76CD6A has "SPECIAL" showing in the third column.
By clicking on the modes you will get a message box showing the details you have entered for that particular ModeS..
The method of entering 'Specials' has also changed slightly, you can now add both the ModeS and a Description
When removing aircraft only the ModeS need be entered, the description will automatically be deleted,
to change a description enter the ModeS and NEW description and you press ADD,
you will be asked to confirm the change.
Also on the main screen of the program is a display to tell you how many aircraft from your 'Specials' list have been recorded since starting the program.
All 'specials' are recorded to a file titled "specialcount.ini" which is created in the default directory (c:\localaircraftwatch") and looks similar to this..
(This file continues from session to session)
showing ModeS, Date, Time, Area being monitored and range.
and finally,
Last update is the addition of a button on the main screen which allows you to select and view the logs made by Local Aircraft Watch.
Choose the LOG FILE that you want to view.
This final picture shows the program running in multiple..
My sincere thanks to those who helped test the beta versions.
Local Aircraft Watch (V. PR3.2) released at 20:30 04-02-2010
