pythonProp

pythonProp is a collection of Python scripts designed to plot VOACAP output files.  The package currently contains two scripts (voaP2Plot and voaAreaPlot) and an early version of a python/gtk application to generate VOAAREA plots (voaArea).

Both of the scripts make use of the matplotlib library - voaAreaPlot also requires the basemap toolkit (see the installation section below for instructions on how to install these on Fedora and Ubuntu.)

Feel free to modify the scripts to suit your own needs, I only ask that if you make a change, or incorporate a feature that you feel would benefit other users, that you let me know so I can include it here.

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This python/gtk application runs voacap 'area' plots.  The application is still under active development and so far does not permit antenna or system variables to be changed.

Start the application with the command 'voaArea'.  The program writes to the file ~/itshfbc/areadata/pyArea.xxx

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This script plots the output of a Point-to-Point prediction. Signal to Noise (SNR), Reliability (REL), Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) or Received Signal Strength (S DBW) may be plotted.  The above plot is a Point-to-Point circuit reliability prdiction for the path between Riaydh (Saudi Arabia) and Aberystwyth (Wales).  The lower axis (time) has been shifted +3 hours using the '-z' argument to display in Saudi local time and the plot overlayed with the UK HF bandplan.

This script updates the earlier 'mufPlot' which is no longer actively maintained.

Refer to the man page for details.

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This script plots the output of VOAARea predictions (.VGx files). Signal to Noise (SNR), Reliability (REL) or Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) may be plotted. Original versions of the script accepted 'cylindrical' or 'equidistant' input files. However, this proved to be unreliable, this version only accepts lat/lon (cylindrical) input data. To produce cylindical data files, the projection type flag in the input file's GRIDSIZE card must be set to '1', i.e.

See the man page for details.

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The latest version of the scripts is v0.3 and may be down loaded here.

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The scripts require the matplotlb library and basemap toolkit.  These may be installed from source or from packaged binaries, according to your distribution

Fedora (F9):  Both the matplotlib library and basemap toolkit may be installed directly from the Fedora repos with the following command;

Ubuntu (8.04):  The matplotlib library may be installed with apt-get using the following command;

The basemap toolkit is not in any of the repos (that I know of) so needs to be installed from source.  Download the source files from here (this procedure has been tested using version 0.9.9.1 of the toolkit.)  Once downloaded, follow the instructions to compile and install the toolkit (including the required 'geos' package)

Other Platforms:  If anyone has advice on how to install these libraries on other platforms, please let me know how so that I can post instructions here.

All Platforms: Once the matplotlib libraries are installed on your system, download the pythonProp package from the above link and use the following commands to install the scripts;

The installer places the python scripts in /usr/local/share/pythonProp and shell script 'wrappers' in /usr/local/bin.

Upgrading From Earlier Versions: Earlier distributions placed the mufPlot, voaAreaPlot.py and voafile.py in /usr/local/bin. It's probably wise to delete these older files.

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Sincere thanks to Jari Perkiömäki (OH6BG), Alex Hill (G7KSE) and Lowell (KC7DX) for bug testing, support and suggestions.

Thanks also to the folks at NodeThirtyThree for the templates.

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