splat-scripts

Scripts to run the Splat! radio terrain mapping tool.

Dependencies

This was built and tested on Debian Jessie (8.0) with the following versions:

ii  splat          1.4.0-2      amd64        analyze point-to-point terrestria
ii  imagemagick    8:6.8.9.9-5  amd64        image manipulation programs -- bi
ii  optipng        0.7.5-1      amd64        advanced PNG (Portable Network Gr
ii  wget           1.16-1       amd64        retrieves files from the web

Configuration

Edit the shell scripts to set the paths for the SDF elevation files and the political borders file.

To download and convert the SRTM data use the get-datafiles*.sh scripts. Go get some coffee while this runs, it will take a while. After it is completed, you should be able to run the example profile as below.

Usage

$ ./splat-radio.sh example.cfg

$ cat example.cfg
NAME="example"
CALL="KQ2H"
LAT="40.7484931946"
LON="-73.9856567383"
HTAGL="373m"
ERP="250"
FREQMHZ="449.2250"

Parameters are as follows:

• NAME: used to uniquely name files
• CALL: will be labeled onto the map
• LAT: latitude, decimal degrees
• LON: longitude, decimal degrees (East is positive)
• HTAGL: height above ground level -- without units the default is in feet; use a "m" suffix for meters
• ERP: effective radiated power in Watts -- be sure you take feedline loss and antenna gain into account; enter ERP="0" to produce path loss plots
• FREQMHZ: frequency in MHz

Output

Full resolution here

Height above average terrain, in feet

Prediction and propagation notes

These predictions are configured to estimate a simplex contact, with a receiver station at 2 meters (6 feet), similar to a mobile station. This is not a valid prediction for access to repeater stations on towers. This of course can be changed by editing the splat-radio.sh script.

The model does not take reflections and multipath into account.

Defaults were chosen for things like ground permeativity and other parameters. Adjust as needed if your situation warrants it.