Venus ITech X1C3 Support

[jove...@gmail.com]

Hi All,

Has anyone tried using WoAD with the X1C3 (https://www.venus-itech.com/product/x1c3-aprs-tracker/)? It's marketed for APRS but it exposes a full KISS TNC over both USB and Bluetooth. I've used it successfully with APRSDroid in both ways. However, I can't get it to work with WoAD.

I can set up a packet session and select the X1C3 Bluetooth device. However, when I start the session, nothing happens. I only see "session started" in the WoAD logs, and it never attempts to key the radio. I know the phone is connecting because the Bluetooth light on the X1C3 stops blinking (the light has the same behavior on APRSDroid). When I manually stop the session in WoAD, the light resumes blinking.

I'm using the default TNC parameters and selecting "Generic" as the manufacturer of the TNC.

Thanks!

Justin AB3E

[Andrew Walker]

Hi Justin,

I'm not familiar with the device and didn't find the online documentation particularly illuminating.

You might want to export the WoAD session settings that you're using and send them to the group.

If WoAD doesn't recognize the X1C3 device when its connected via USB, if you send the USB VID and PID for the X1C3 I can check whether WoAD supports it.

All the best,

Andrew

VA7YAA

[jove...@gmail.com]

Hi Andrew,

Yes the documentation isn't great. This person has helpfully translated much of it into a format that's easier to understand:

https://github.com/Mihara/x1c3tool/blob/main/manual/manual.md

As for the ids, lsusb on my linux box gives:

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1a86:7523 QinHeng Electronics CH340 serial converter

WoAD seems to recognize it when it's connected via USB (it also seems to recognize it via Bluetooth), it's just that nothing happens when I start the session. It says session started in the logs, but that's it until I stop it manually. I've attached an export of the settings when I configured it to use USB.

Unrelated, but I had to change the export location to "App-specific external" in order to see the file. When I tried "shared" and made a new folder in the root directory, it exported a 0 length file. I'm guessing the internal setting is only visible if you have root on the device. Also, I'm doing all this on a Pixel 6a running Android 13.

Thanks!

Justin AB3E

[jove...@gmail.com]

All -

I went through some troubleshooting steps in a separate thread with Andrew and ultimately determined that this device doesn't support anything other than APRS packets unfortunately. This tracks with things I've seen online about similar devices that are made by Venus ITech. Andrew - thank you again for all your help!

-Justin AB3E