Radio Mobile for Windows

James Perkins
Thu, 23 Sep 2010

South County Subchapter

www.socoares.org

Clackamas ARES
www.clackamasares.org
 What is Radio Mobile?
● VHF/UHF propagation mapping software
● Free for personal use
● Downloads terrain data from Internet
● Manages database of Units and Networks
● Models radio wave propagation, including
obstacles, fresnel zones, and ground cover
● Visualizes resulting signal strength on maps

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 Questions
● Why is it hard for Allan down in the valley
to talk to Highland Butte but easy for
James?
● If Mike, James, and John David had the
only stations on the air, what parts of the
county could they reach?
● Where could we place a relay so Bagby
Hot Springs could pass messages to Glen
Avon bridge?
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 Questions 2
● Where do I physically need to be in reach
of Sunday night Nets?
● How come my packet station can hear
Lincoln City and Kalama but I can't get TV
signals?
● Should I use the UHF intertie low on this
side of the butte or the VHF higher up on
the other to best hit the repeater?
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 What is Radio Mobile? 2
● A tool for planning, for siting
● Identify costs to benefits to different
– Frequencies
– Antenna heights
– Locations
● Makes really pretty maps (to a radio geek)

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 Hardware Needed
● X86 PC (real hardware or emulated)
● Moderate performance
● Nice graphics for looking at maps
● Broadband Internet connection (map data)
● Color Printer (nice to have)
● Netbooks not recommended
– tiny display and slow processor
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 Software Needed
● Windows OS
– Or WINE on Fedora Linux
yum install wine wine-openal
● Download and install Zip utility
– ex. http://www.7-zip.org/

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 Radio Mobile Website
Go to the website
http://www.cplus.org/rmw/english1.html
● See "About..." link for overview
● Read at "Download..." link to familiarize
yourself with the next steps
Note this helpful tutorial:
http://www.pizon.org/radio-mobile-tutorial/index.html

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 Install Visual Basic
At http://www.cplus.org/rmw/download/download.php?S=1
● Step 1: Click to download vbrun60sp6.exe
– It downloads VB6.0-KB290887-X86.exe
● Run that
– It will ask where to put the results
– Desktop is fine, it extracts vbrun60sp6.exe
● Run vbrun60sp6.exe
– May see some complaints, but it's installed 9
 Download Radio Mobile
At http://www.cplus.org/rmw/download/download.php?S=1
Download linked files from steps:
● Step 3: rmwcore.zip
● Step 4: rmw1079eng.zip (English language)
● Step 8: wmap.zip

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 Create directory, extract files
● From Windows Explorer/File Manager
– create folder c:\rmw
● Use 7-zip to open each .zip file
– extract to c:\rmw

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Create Map Storage Directories
● Create folder c:\geodata
● Inside c:\geodata, create folders:
expedia, google, gtopo30, landcover,
landsat, mapquest, openstreetmap,
srtm1, srtm3, terraserver, toporama,
virtualearth, yimg

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 Configure Elevation Data
● Run c:\rmw\rmweng.exe
● Open menu Options -> Internet
● Click SRTM
● Check "Download from Internet if a file is not
found on local path and keep a local copy "
● Set Local files path to c:\geodata\srtm1

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 Configure Elevation Data
Select Internet ftp directory:
● SRTM - 1 arcsecond - Site 3

1 arcsecond represents medium grain detail

● For large-scale maps, use 3 arcsecond
● For small-scale maps, use 1/3 arcsecond

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Configure Other Map Storage
● Set up other maps like SRTM:
Land cover (landcover)
Landsat (landsat)
OpenStreetMap (openstreetmap)
Terraserver (terraserver)
Toporama (toporama)
Virtual Earth (virtualearth)
Google Map (google)
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Yahoo Map (yimg)
Networks, Systems, and Units
Somewhat independent things:
● Networks - organize Units and Systems
together
● Systems - common antenna, transceiver
configurations
● Units - specific radio station data

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 Networks
Networks define the following:
● Band/Frequency (e.g. VHF or UHF)
● Terrain model (ex. Contintental temperate)
● Topology (Voice vs. Data network)
● Membership (which Units are in Network)
● Systems (default transmit power, antenna)
● Style (what to color ok/fair/bad)
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 Using Networks
Go to File -> Networks Properties...
● Go through each tab
● Don't worry about Units yet
● Notice at the top:
– Networks are easy to copy and modify
● Set up a VHF net

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 Units
In short, a station: location and height
● Units belong to one or more Networks
● Name (e.g. KN1X, W7ODY, KD7ZDO-10)
● Elevation (don't worry, initialize later)
● Location (Lat/Lon (best) or place using
map cursor)
● Style icon for unit (graphic, color)
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 Finding Latitude/Longitudes
● Find addresses for callsigns:
http://www.qrz.com
● Convert street address to Lat/Long
coordinates:
http://stevemorse.org/jcal/latlon.php
● Find repeaters near location (plotted on a
map, gives Lat/Long):
http://k5ehx.net/repeaters/qrepeater.php
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 Using Units
Go to File -> Unit Properties...
● Go through each tab
● Create a few

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 Maps
● Rectangular area of Earth's surface
● Pulls in data from the Internet
– At each point, height and terrain cover
● Variety of styles to display data
● Can overlay Units in a Network
● Can overlay propagation patterns

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 Using Maps
Go to File -> Map Properties...
● Set a center location Lat/Lon or via world
map
● Click [x] Adust units elevation
– initializes units altitude data for you
– Remember units have an antenna height
above average terrain too
● Set picture size in pixel width x height
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● Set height (in km) to scale area covered
 Using Maps 2
● Configure elevation data
– Change None to SRTM
– C:\geodata\srtm1
● Click Extract, it will download and go
● Subsequent maps will offer to overwrite or
to merge data with previous map data, or
throw it away

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Show Network of Units on Map
Putting it all together:
● Create a Network
● Create some Units in the Network
● Create a map where the Units are
Show the units on the map
● View -> Show Networks

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 Visualize Link Propagation
... between Two Stations

Go to Tools -> Radio Link

● Select the Tx and Rx units
● Adjust antenna height and power or use
system defaults
● Swap Tx and Rx stations
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 Visualize Station Coverage
Go to Tools -> Radio Coverage -> Single Polar
● Select center station Unit
● Select typical mobile Unit
● Select Network (freq and system info)
● Adjust display parameters
● Adjust iteration parameters
● Draw it on your map
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– Merge it into your map or discard it
 Visualize Network Coverage
● Where on the map can cooperating
stations pass a message to/from?
Said another way:
● Sum of all Single Polar plots for each
cooperating station in the list

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 Visualize Network Coverage 2
Go to Tools -> Radio Coverage -> Combined Cartesian
● Select typical mobile Unit
● Select Network (freq and system info)
● Select each Unit that is cooperating
● Click Draw, get coffee

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 Pictures
...the result of generating Maps
You may turn on:
● Topographical altitude lines
● City names
● Merge pictures with other pictures
– e.g. maps for altitude, propagation, roads
– Edit -> Merge Pictures
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 Other Fun Stuff
The Bretz Flood...
● Create map centered on Portland
● Edit -> Flood, set 100 meters, and go

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 Conclusion
● What you need to start
● Download, Installation, Configuration
● Explanation of major features
● Key Uses of Radio Mobile
Download these slides from:
http://www.loowit.net/~james/hamradio/radiomobile

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