2019-09-01, 11:30 PM
It technically supports both gps and compass for route following, but opencpn does not produce apb route messages with compass headings.
So if pypilot receives APB with magnetic heading, it will use that and switch to compass mode, but opencpn does not produce it.
OpenCPN (or the autopilot route plugin) could be enhanced to produce this as an option, but it's not so simple as adding declination to the true course needed since the compass is not perfectly accurate.
What is the purpose of using compass mode to follow a gps route?
pypilot will soon have a wind pilot which does not rely on the compass at all. In this case, "gps" mode computes the difference between wind and gps, and follows a wind angle which is slowly adjusted to hold a given gps course.
So if pypilot receives APB with magnetic heading, it will use that and switch to compass mode, but opencpn does not produce it.
OpenCPN (or the autopilot route plugin) could be enhanced to produce this as an option, but it's not so simple as adding declination to the true course needed since the compass is not perfectly accurate.
What is the purpose of using compass mode to follow a gps route?
pypilot will soon have a wind pilot which does not rely on the compass at all. In this case, "gps" mode computes the difference between wind and gps, and follows a wind angle which is slowly adjusted to hold a given gps course.