Connection of Gpredict to Rotator Controller

Gpredict
1

I’m making a rotator to use with Gpredict, using an ESP32, motor controllers, two stepper motors and 3D printeg gearing.

I’m looking for advice on the best way to connect Gpredict to the rotator. The ESP32 has built in wi-fi. Could I make the rotator connect to my home wi-fi and enter the IP address of the controller straight into the rotator interface preferences in Gpredict, and interpret what ever the software sends? I have no idea what options are open to me here, it looks as though I have to go through Hamlib?

Thanks for your help,

Paul :slight_smile:

2

Yes, you need to implement a subset of the hamlib rotcld protocol, then gpredict will be able to talk to it as if it was the hamlib rotator server.

3

Thanks csete, I am assuming the connection is initiated from Gpredict. I have written a short program that simply listens for a connection on a port and sends the IP address of the connecting machine to Serial when anything tries to connect. If I set the Gpredict rotator settings to the IP address of the ESP32 and set the port accordingly I see nothing on the serial monitor. However, it I telnet the IP address and port, my computers IP address is displayed.

Any ideas?

4

Okay, I have traffic :slight_smile: Turns out there was a space after the IP address in the rotator settings. Maybe this is a bug?

Thanks again,
Paul :slight_smile:

5

Hi Paul,

So after a year where did you end up? I’ve built the mechanics and have it working using rotctld, but I’d like to get the daemon process out of the mix.

Thanks!
Matt