Where is the latest documentation on the PSWS Magnetometer?

Mark Braunstein

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Apr 19, 2026, 7:38:08 PM (3 days ago) Apr 19

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I'm in the process of assembling and testing the TAPR magnetometer kit (Rev E boards).

In email discussions with Dave Witten KD0EAG, the documentation related to the Raspberry Pi software ( "Configuring the Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 for use with the
runMag utility and the TangerineSDR ‘Pear’ boards", revision 0.0.5 on the GitHub site) is not the latest version. I noticed that certain command switches shown in the documentation do not exist in the actual software on GitHub.

Can anyone point me to the latest document? I need to figure out how to change from the default I2C addresses to those which show up when using the i2cdetect command.

73,

Mark Braunstein WA4KFZ

ghby...@k9trv.org

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Apr 20, 2026, 7:49:53 AM (3 days ago) Apr 20

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Dear Mark,

Perhaps it is the latest software that you need. I would consult Dave Witten, who created the board, and maintains the software.

73

George K9TRV
TAPR Store Manager

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Dr. Nathaniel A. Frissell Ph.D.

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Apr 20, 2026, 9:39:20 AM (3 days ago) Apr 20

to ham...@googlegroups.com, David Witten

Hi Mark,

Yes, the best first person to talk to about this is Dave Witten KD0EAG, as he wrote the software. If he is unavailable for some reason, I know that others (including me) can help get you up and running!

73 de Nathaniel W2NAF

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Subject: RE: [HamSCI] Where is the latest documentation on the PSWS Magnetometer?

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Gary Mikitin, AF8A

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Apr 20, 2026, 12:35:31 PM (2 days ago) Apr 20

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Mark - You mention version 0.0.5 of the documentation . I see a version 1.0 of the sw documentation on the HamSCI website:

https://hamsci.org/mag_software

I am curious to hear the final details, as I too have a set of Rev E boards on my workbench, waiting to acquire various other pieces parts.

Note also that on this page, https://hamsci.org/mag_install, there is a new STL file for mounting the remote board in a 2 inch pipe. Later today I will be adding another STL file, a board mounting solution for 1.5 inch pipe.

73 de Gary, AF8A

Mark Braunstein

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Apr 20, 2026, 1:49:15 PM (2 days ago) Apr 20

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Gary,

The version 1.0 documentation is similar to to older 0.0.5 documentation. The issue is that some of the referenced command lines don't work because the switches do not exist. For example, there are no "I" or "U" switch parameters.

The parameters shown when running ./runMag -h are:

Parameters:

-a : List known SBC I2C bus numbers. [ use with -b ]
-A : Set NOS (0x0A) register value. [ Don't use unless you know what you are doing ]
-B <reg mask> : Do built in self test (BIST). [ Not implemented ]
-b <bus as integer> : I2C bus number as integer.
-C : Read back cycle count registers before sampling.
-c <count> : Set cycle counts as integer. [ default 200 decimal]
-D <rate> : Set magnetometer sample rate. [ TMRC reg 96 hex default ].
-E : Show cycle count/gain/sensitivity relationship.
-f <filename> : Read configuration from file (JSON). [ Not implemented ]
-F <filename> : Write configuration to file (JSON). [ Not implemented ]
-g <mode> : Device sampling mode. [ POLL=0 (default), CONTINUOUS=1 ]
-H : Hide raw measurments.
-j : Format output as JSON.
-k : Create and roll log files. [ 00:00 UTC default ]
-L <addr as integer> : Local temperature address. [ default 19 hex ]
-l : Read local temperature only.
-M <addr as integer> : Magnetometer address. [ default 20 hex ]
-m : Read magnetometer only.
-O <filename> : Output file path. [ Must be valid path with write permissions ]
-P : Show Parameters.
-q : Quiet mode. [ partial ]
-v i : Verbose output.
-R <addr as integer> : Remote temperature address. [ default 18 hex ]
-r : Read remote temperature only.
-s : Return single reading. [ Do one measurement loop only ]
-S : Site prefix string for log files. [ 32 char max. Do not use /'"* etc. Try callsign! ]
-T : Raw timestamp in milliseconds. [ default: UTC string ]
-V : Display software version and exit.
-Z : Show total field. [ sqrt((x*x) + (y*y) + (z*z)) ]
-h or -? : Display this help.

I am at "square one" trying to perform the initial checkout of the runMag software. My goal is to first perform a short-term test before committing to the long-term configuration. At this point, I can see (when using i2cdetect -y 1) two device addresses: 0x23 and 0x1f. I assume 0x23 is the magnetometer and 0x1f is the temperature sensor on the remote board. What I'm not able to do is get the runMag software to recognize these two i2c addresses. I don't see a method of changing the address parameters in the runMag software directly, so I'm assuming there is a configuration file "somewhere" that needs to be changed.

Another comment: the webpage indicates that you need to identify "your callsign" in one command while other commands mention "SITEID" as a parameter. What is the guidance on these parameters? My callsign is associated with my home address, but the sensor will be located at my mountain cabin.

73,

Mark Braunstein WA4KFZ

David Witten

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Apr 20, 2026, 2:01:34 PM (2 days ago) Apr 20

to Dr. Nathaniel A. Frissell Ph.D., ham...@googlegroups.com

Here is the documentation for the current, greatly preferred magnetometer software mag-usb:

https://mag-usb.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Getting-Started.html

Most or all of the old documentation for the OLD program seems to be zipped up at:

https://github.com/wittend/rm3100-magdata/tree/main/docs

I don't remember doing that, but perhaps I made something better.

This is sufficiently out of date and compromised by changes that I really would need to recreate from scratch.

The attached is probably the outdated PDF you have (or worse).

Configuring the Raspberry PI 3 or 4 for the Magnetometer Support Boards (MSBs).pdf

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ghby...@k9trv.org

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Apr 20, 2026, 2:56:30 PM (2 days ago) Apr 20

to ham...@googlegroups.com, Dr. Nathaniel A. Frissell Ph.D.

Dave,

What is the link to the ‘mag-usb’ software repository. Is it indeed https://github.com/wittend/mag-usb?

Gary and I would like to get the links on our respective websites pointing at the best sources of information!

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hamsci/CABJ3BVMBNeQeEE5gaGCOiVqn8XCSVr6wYQKp3RURbxVi5DF59Q%40mail.gmail.com.

Mark Braunstein

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Apr 20, 2026, 4:59:36 PM (2 days ago) Apr 20

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Dave,

Yes, the attached PDF was the outdated version.

Question: where would I find the "mag-USB" software?

You'll have to bare with me folks; I'm a RF hardware guy not a software guy. Or, as I like to say, "I'm just a sinewave guy living in a square wave world... "

73,

Mark Braunstein WA4KFZ