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1/31/2018 12:21 pm  #1


Expedition and XGate Integration?

Nick, in a thread about downloading yellow brick tracking you mentioned something about integration between Expedition and XGate, with an Iridium Go data connection:

http://expedition.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=411

Nick wrote:

One solution is to use XGate. This lets Exp use Iridium Go and also gives you the various XGate benefits.

Can you give a bit more detail about how this works? I see there is a an XGate option in Expedition at Settings > Internet > Connection...

I have used Xgate a fair bit for email over an iridium handset, and a little bit with the Go.

For Xgate to do anything over the iridium handset or the GO, it has to initiate a dial-up data connection  - are you saying that expedition will somehow communicate with XGate and start that connection if i choose Xgate as the connection type?






 

 

1/31/2018 12:32 pm  #2


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

Yes, you can tell Exp to use XGate with that setting. Really, that is all that is involved.

​That said, I know some people haven't found XGate to be the ideal solution

 

1/31/2018 1:59 pm  #3


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

As usual I am probably missing something here, but anything that impacts on our satphone bills, the owner will love.  We have an FBB250 and fire it up when out of 3G/4G data range.  Its use is entirely for data, mostly grib files, YB tracking via Expedition, and onshore weather station reports.  It is not generally used for voice, and never for email.  For this I have tried to use XWeb as a compression software.
I can make XWeb work OK with 3G/4G, I have not succeeded with satphone, but I think that will be a proxy IP address issue i.e. fixable with enough mental toil.
My question is, how else do people use XWeb/XGate for data compression?  And happy to hear this is the wrong question.!

 

1/31/2018 3:04 pm  #4


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

Nick wrote:

Yes, you can tell Exp to use XGate with that setting. Really, that is all that is involved.

​That said, I know some people haven't found XGate to be the ideal solution

I am not having any luck with it 

when i try a Yellow Brick update, it says "XGate dialup failed"
when i try a Saildocs GFS download.., nothing happens, and i can't cancel the request - i had to restart expedition

is it only for yellow brick downloads, or should other data sources work

i am pretty experienced with Iridium data connections generally.., and i know that files have to be tiny - typically under 100kb
the problem here is that no connection is being made.

when i select the xgate connection.., it asks for a password, so i entered my xgate pasword. the ip # box on the left side grays out and nothing can be entered there.
on the other side of that box it automatically selects "through a proxy", and auto fills the ip # with 199 48 129 114, and autofills port as 3128

any suggestions to get it working?

     Thread Starter
 

1/31/2018 3:21 pm  #5


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

DuncanR wrote:

As usual I am probably missing something here, but anything that impacts on our satphone bills, the owner will love.  We have an FBB250 and fire it up when out of 3G/4G data range.  Its use is entirely for data, mostly grib files, YB tracking via Expedition, and onshore weather station reports.  It is not generally used for voice, and never for email.  For this I have tried to use XWeb as a compression software.
I can make XWeb work OK with 3G/4G, I have not succeeded with satphone, but I think that will be a proxy IP address issue i.e. fixable with enough mental toil.
My question is, how else do people use XWeb/XGate for data compression?  And happy to hear this is the wrong question.!

I have used XGate for many years.., and even another similar french product before GMN existed...

I do not use XWeb

But, if you have FBB 250, XGate is not worth the trouble, at least i don't think it is. When i use FBB (even FBB 150) or VSAT , I don't bother with it.

XGate is an excellent solution for people using either an Iridium handset or an Iridium Go as a data connection.

With those very slow data connections, you basically have to use email for everything - gribs, position reports, weather images, and so on. You can not (or should not) browse web sites, or use any type of http connection.

What Xgate offers is a low-bandwidth optimized email service with an email account on their domain, a simple email client, and a dialer to initiate a dial-up connection, which is what you get when you use what is basically a phone modem. you should not use your regular email account or email client over an iriidum handset or Go. There are several benefits to Xgate email. one is that "regular" email has a lot of data overhead - there is a lot going back and forth besides your message and attachments. Xgate email has almost no overhead. Another thing it offers is that it restarts failed downloads where they left off - so you don't have to download the same data again when your iridium data connection drops out.

definitely some people do use XGate with an FBB connection - but i don't...

In an upcoming race, i will be on a boat with only a Go for a data connection - no FBB or VSAT.., so i _need_ low bandwidth email.

For you with FBB 250 - there is no reason not to use email.., and you could just use regular email, although you may want to get an account just for offshore an make sure no body sends huge attachments. For me in that situation, I don't use XWeb - i am just careful with websites i go to.
 

     Thread Starter
 

1/31/2018 4:50 pm  #6


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

us
Thanks for this masterful explanation of the XGate issue.  I know I am accustomed to high end systems (and owners!), so yours is a great explanation of how The Other Half Lives.  Why would you not use XWeb for compression for web pages?

 

1/31/2018 5:03 pm  #7


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

DuncanR wrote:

us
Thanks for this masterful explanation of the XGate issue.  I know I am accustomed to high end systems (and owners!), so yours is a great explanation of how The Other Half Lives.  Why would you not use XWeb for compression for web pages?

because i don't do any web browsing over the iridium handset or Go - they are not suited to it.., and anything i need, i can get as an email attachment - GRIB's, weather fax images, position updates.., everything.., and that's the best way to do it.

the handset and the Go both have an actual data speed of 2.4kb/sec - that's incredibly slow..., even if you are old enough to remember dial-up modems for home internet.., you probably never had one slower than 56kb/sec.

you will see claims that compression yields speeds of 9.6kb/sec for these devices, but much of what we download is already compressed - GRIB's often use jpeg compression - so really you won't be getting better than 2.4kb/sec, and often less...

FBB or VSAT is definitely the way to go, and that's what i usually have..., but not for this race. FBB/VSAT data is cheaper than iridium per MB.., but you will use a lot more, so you will spend more.., but really.., compared to the other costs of an offshore race, FBB data is trivial, and it makes the navigator's job so much easier that it's well worth the cost. 

     Thread Starter
 

2/16/2018 5:58 am  #8


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

I have been using Xgate together with the RedPort Optimizer for quite a while now. This combination makes sense even on a Fleet Broadband One/150/250. As you are paying per Megabyte, the RedPort Optimizer is actually a firewall which prevents Windows from downloading any other stuff than the files you want. I would say this thing cuts your airtime bill by 85%. Also you don't need to install any drivers for your satellite system.
Did just recently the RORC Transatlantic Race with an Iridium Handheld and XGate with Optimizer. Expedition support was superb - I could download the GRIBS directly from the program and could avoid the email composition. The one-click download for the YellowBrick data was the highlight every four hours - takes 21sec for downloading the data for whole fleet with Iridum handset (rather 600bit/sec as advertised 2400...)

 

2/22/2018 7:35 pm  #9


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

Hi All!

I would love to have this figured out, as it seems that many are having similar issues.  I have used Iridium Go! and SaiMail together to request gribs through the sail mail interface and saildocs requests, and then successfully taken them over to Expedition for import.  I still have not been successful in importing the YB expedition text file from saildocs into expedition, and end up having to put the positions in manually.  I tried XGate in lots of configuration, and have successfully set it up for email, but have not had the luck of direct integration to Expedition.  I get many of the same errors described above.  Is the Iridium Go just too limited?  Has anyone got this set up to work reliably?

Can anyone provide me with a properly formatted YB-Expedition text file and give me some direction on how to import that information.

Thanks very much!

 

 

2/11/2019 11:48 am  #10


Re: Expedition and XGate Integration?

Using YB and iGo works, but its a bit of laborious effortthere might be an easier way):1) In Airmail, open the email from YB, cut ONLY the raw schedule data, and paste into NotePad. Save the notepad file to folder PositionReport (assuming boatid.csv is kept here) as RawScheds.txt 2) open the RawScheds.txt file with excel. Excel will have a text import wizzard and you want to select ‘delimited’ and ‘comma seperated’ when prompted - then finish. 3) the files should now be loaded in excel and be formatted in normal clean tables 4) save the files in CSV format(comma seperated files). The sched file should be scheds.csv & boat file as boatid.csv   One time only: "5) Within Expedition, go to SAIL menu/TRACKING. Make sure the format is EXPEDITION in the upper right.6) Click import and then load boatid.csv (only the FIRST time for each race)7) click 'edit boats' and chose some boat (ideally yours) as the reference boat"  8) Click IMPORT and then load scheds.csv

 

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