While I wait for Dual-Band Transmitter boards to arrive from OSH Park, I'm continuing to work on the browser user interface. The approach will be similar for both the transmitters and the receivers: both will be controllable using any wifi device that runs a browser.
I'm not an HTML or Javascript programmer, so my efforts at creating a user interface screen are simplistic, and not particularly elegant. But it does pretty much work thus far, and seems to function on all the OS's and browsers I've tried: Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Microsoft Edge. But it has NOT been tested yet on an Android device. If you have an Android device to test it on, please let me know if it seems to be working or not. You can test it by opening a browser on your Android phone or tablet, and entering the following URL:
To compare your Android touch screen experience with how it is supposed to work, navigate to the above URL using your PC and try clicking on some of the buttons and dragging the sliders left and right using mouse actions. Just reply to this email with any results.
The transmitter interface is fairly simple. There are only nine (9) settings required to fully define a transmitter and its behavior (unless I've overlooked something):
1) Behave as the Master or a Clone
2) Accurate time (not part of the interface yet)
3) Event type: Classic, Sprint, or Fox-O
4) Fox ID: MOE, MOI, MOS,... etc.
5) Start date and time for the event
6) Finish date and time for the event
9) Homing beacon frequency
Given all of the information above a transmitter should be able to function completely on its own: turning itself on/off at the right times, sending its transmissions at just the right instant and on the right frequency. Once configured, a spare transmitter can be quickly programmed to replace any of the transmitters in the field by simply changing its fox ID (#4 above) which determines its transmit timing and behavior.
There is still lots of work to be done. And lots of room for improvement on the user interface. If you have any interest in working with HTML and Javascript to improve the user interface please let me know!
Happy New Year!
Charles