Hi Radu,

That reading you are seeing must be from the factory in China because my unit is not connected to WiFi. The problem I just found was that my WiFi key is 4 characters longer than is allowed on the Model D. I’ll have to change my key.

The connector was soldered after it was installed.

That’s going to complicate things, then.

Because I had some excellent results with the small antenna, and considering it for the next design update, in order to get rid of the external plastic holder, or at least replace it for something more comapct.

Oh, I see. Perhaps I’ll try both then. Either way, given the amazing shipping times and limited shipping options from China, it will be at least 2-4 weeks until I can try anything. In the meantime, could you please provide instructions for disassembly, so that I can have a go at mounting the small antenna inside the model D? In particular, disconnecting and reconnecting the screen; as well identifying any items that are particularly fragile or for which special care must be taken.

I have somehow managed to reassemble it such that the GPS is working quite well but the cover is loose, so I’m not expecting that to last.

Did it still have power? I didn’t consider that long sync sessions will waste all battery, this is on the list for the new firmware too.

It had been connected to power for nearly 24 hours at that point, as I didn’t go out anywhere on Sunday. I almost always sync offline data when charging now, regardless. When I couldn’t wake it up, the power button also didn’t work, which led me to the belief that it had frozen/locked-up – I had to press the reset button and after that the power button was able to be used to power it up.

Ok, connecting to power isn’t related; so that leaves:

• it regains GPS lock (after having previously lost it, or losing it as/whilst it connects to wireless)
• it connects to wireless (after not being connected)
• the screen is on (possible factor)

There is a field of improvement in the recognition of “offline” state.
Whenever the connection to the WiFi router is given, but the data is not possible to be put on the server (on my device it occurs every day or second day – still do not know why), Model D does not recognize it itself as “being offline”. Thus it does not collect data into the buffer for the purpose of putting it through “sync” command later on. Sadly whenever I check the device’s state on the webpage in the morning (it’s a curiosity that the disconnection to the uradmonitor.com page occurs always shortly after 4:00 am), it is shown as “online”. The correct status “offline” is shown after I come from work and check the data again. Here I can see, that no data has been put onto the server since 4:40PM)

I love having the capability to monitor all of these items, and really support the work @radhoo is doing.
From that support, some feedback from the two devices I have.

Good news is that the European and American airport security and the airplane staff did not even blink when I brought one with me. Although the airport security may have been distracted by the drone I brought too 😉

Build quality really isn’t what I’d expect from such a relatively pricy device: the screws were rusting at delivery, at least one of the devices had the beginnings of rust on the tube and the shielding internally, both lost the cap on the GPS antenna (double sided tape seems to have solved that), both have creaking touch screen enclosures that don’t quite align the screen, one of the switch plastic was just damaged.

The device works well for me, but there are some details I’d like improved:

• Having a mode that does not sound the geiger events, but does sound alarms at high values: for everyday running I don’t want to here the normal background radiation, I do want to know when something is going wrong.
• Responsiveness of the user interface is low. It seems to be a combination of the CPU being too busy with other tasks (disabling modules helps), very specific timing of what constitutes a tap, and sometimes it would not detect the release of the tap. Due to how the enclosure of the touch screen is done, it is not always easy to use the extreme values of the SSID/key entry. I ended up using a iPad Pro stylus for most of ths.
• I would love to have an (ordered?) list of SSID+keys to connect to. I have signed it up for my phone, but iPhones won’t connect to a WLAN and provide an access point. So I’d love to have the capability to list both my home, work, and mobile WLANs and the device connecting to whichever is available.
• I would like a night mode that disables all the LEDs (GPS, ‘data’ and charging), so I can have the device in my (hotel) room.
• It would be nice if the bottom is entirely flat, so that the device can be stood upright. I now use a gorilla pod with a clamp for this.
• I can’t get offline results to really show well.
• The device starts to beep constantly sometimes when connected to USB power sources (including the airplane charge port). I’m not sure what that means?
• I would like that holding the power on button for a while, turns the device off. Preferably hardware based in case the software misbehaves. Not everyone has a needle with them to push the reset button 😉
• I would like the location information of the sensor to be somewhat obfuscated ideally.

In other words, how can I look into the past data without the map returning quickly to the current location of the device?

That’s easy – deselect the “Automated refresh” box 🙂

I can eliminate GPS status as being a contributor to the issue I’ve been having with the SD card going offline; so that leaves:

• it connects to wireless (after not being connected)
• the screen is on (possible factor)
• being on the Settings screen (possible factor)

I’ve had five different types of GPS antennas (plus a random antenna that one of the sellers included) sitting on my desk for a few days now, see attached, but still no details about how to take the model-D apart without damaging the screen/cable or possibly sensitive components; @radhoo can you please supply this information?

–edit–
I guess the forum just drops images that are too large, without warning…
It also seems that referencing someone using @ no longer links to them.
While I’m on it, why is quoted text so large? And is it possible to enable some sort of post preview? The text editor for posting it pretty ordinary, so it can be a surprise as to what the resulting post might look like.

As contrasting feedback on the GPS sensitivity: I haven’t had difficulty with it getting a GPS fix inside, 10-30cm from a window. This holds for my house, several hotel rooms, 3 transatlantic flights, several car trips. But I have not been tracking just how fast this happens (I typically enable the device and let it do its job).

Hello,

I finally received the Model D ordered in 2015. After many logistics issues it was delivered this week.

When on the uradmonitor.com map, my unit is still referenced in China.

The RTC clock seems giving the chinese time. Interesting but I prefer the CEST one 😉

The GPS is locating the device properly and it is well online.

unit id : 64000005

any clue ?

thanks in advance for your help.

best regards,

Jef