APRS X1C5 Portable Gate

APRS X1C5 Portable Gate way U/V TRACK IGATE with WIFI Bluetooth GPS 400D IPS LCD is a Chinese clone of the Venus X1C5 Pro - APRS Tracking for Amateur Radio. May also go by other names or variants such as Davitu Motor Driver.

X1C5 Pro is a handheld Automatic Position Reporting System using built-in GPS via Radio link/WiFi/Bluetooth to report position over internet or to APRS devices.

Features

• Support fixed station FIXED, sports SPORT, 2 site modes
• Support complete TRACK tracker, support intelligent, timing, PTT linkage, queue beacon
• Support beacon additional information, mileage, satellite number, voltage, temperature, air pressure, etc.
• Support mileage calculation, support accumulated mileage or automatically clearance
• Support for automatic icons (TRACK smart mode)
• Support GPS power saving mode (TRACK PTT linkage mode, TRACK timing mode)

• Integrated 2.0+4.0 dual mode Bluetooth,

• Support Bluetooth output KISS hex, UI, GPWPL, KISS ASC, GS232B and other protocols
• Support Bluetooth output GPS data (GPRMC+GPGGA), support mixed output
• Support Bluetooth KISS data bidirectional transparent transmission

Supports full DIGI relay function, support custom relay name, support relay remote turn-off function, remote control peripheral sensor input and relay output module, Built-in advanced CMX programming algorithm, Built-in transmit level, receive level adjuster (-10.5dB -0dB), Built-in high performance GPS\Beidou\GLONASS multimode hybrid positioning module, Built-in advanced algorithm to support rich data analysis

Supports heading, north position, relative motion position calculation, APRS distance, elevation target calculation, G5500 aircraft, vessel and other tracking control

• Companion PC setup software (Chinese, English) (requires .NET 4.0)
• UHF or VHF options, 1W RF output

Support battery USB direct charging, comprehensive GPS interface, beacon list interface, real-time beacon interface, beacon record analysis interface Built-in temperature\pressure auxiliary sensor (temperature & air pressure values for reference only)

Supports off-network use, no network, direct mutual positioning, liuyun, APRSdroid, LOCUS, Ovi and other APP and supports user independent firmware upgrade.

Operating

Program the tracker with the software. The software is Microsoft Windows only requiring .NET 4.

Software settings

1. Power on the tracker.
2. Connect the USB cable between tracker and computer.
3. Install USB driver – CH341 chip and find the correct COM port.
4. Use APRS 51Series Setup(version number).exe to program the tracker.

click to enlarge image

Review

A full review of this device is in progress. Initially the requirement of Windows only programming software that is suspicious in nature, as are all of these Chinese utilities, makes it problematic for Mac and Linux users.

Troubleshooting

Conflicts with BRLTTY when connected to Linux host

BRLTTY, a program that "provides access to the Linux/Unix console (when in text mode) for a blind person using a refreshable braille display" conflicts with the USB-serial converter chip in the X1C5.

Keep in mind that this device is not supported in Linux, however, if you are working on communicating with it in Linux for experimentation you will have to disable BRLTTY on your linux machine.

The BRLTTY service is launched by the brltty.path service.

sudo apt remove brltty