[Flexradio] Amp
I want to hook an Ameritron 811 (600 watt) amp up to my SDR1000: anything caveats? Richard-KE5DLQ
[Flexradio] AVG Display Mode- request for change
I just concluded two days of performance testing on the SDR1000 and found an undesirable feature in the display 'AVG' mode. It appears that the buffer that contains the previous average doesn't get cleared when average is turned off and then on again. I set the time averaging in the setup form to to make signal measurements at -136dBm. When turning averaging on I found that the averaging resumed from a former average. The only way to start fresh is to toggle On/Standby. Thanks, k2ox
[Flexradio] SDR-100WPA Kit Assembly Instructions
Greetings to the group Is there a target date for completion of the SDR-100WPA Kit Assembly Instructions? As was noted earlier on this board, the revised version dated Dec 29, 2005 was incomplete. 73 Greg/VE3YTZ
[Flexradio] Possible Glitch in PowerSDR1.4.5Beta11.
Hi folks, I think there might be a minor bug - or else its my setup! When Beta 11 is loaded and run "as is" allowing it to create its own database - no problem. When it is loaded and an attempt made to run with its database file overwritten with my database from Beta 8, it stalls halfway through loading with a message that "transparent display colours are not supported". This database used colours from the colour palette in early issues, not the "bog standard" colours. With all previous issues of PowerSDR, there has been no problem with the colours from the palette. To overcome the problem, I reselected basic colours from the boxes, saved the selections into the "old" .mdb file, and overwrote this file into Beta 11, which then worked fine. Comments?? Peter, G3LWT Acer1714 Notebook, 3.4GHzP4, 1GB, NVIDIA G-Force FX Go5200/5700,XP Home, Firebox
Re: [Flexradio] AM - variations in unmodulated carrier level
Mike, If you look at the code that creates the AM signal, it is something like the following: Sample = 0.5 + 0.5 * mic_signal; The first 0.5 is the carrier and the second part is the modulation produced by the microphone. If the variation is coming from anywhere you can track with software, it would have to be the incoming microphone signal. The rest is all constant. How is your grounding setup? I have heard that ground loops can cause power fluctuations in AM. Eric Wachsmann FlexRadio Systems -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] radio.biz] On Behalf Of Mike WA8BXN Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 9:29 PM To: FlexRadio List Subject: [Flexradio] AM - variations in unmodulated carrier level Making progress in transmitting AM here. I have noticed that there is a fluctuation in the power in an unmodulated AM carrier, noticeable both on the computer power output display and on an external analog watt meter. Maybe a 5% variation at most with a frequency of a couple cycles per second roughly as it varies. I see this even with the microphone input shorted (using a delta sound card) feeding the rig into a dummy load. I don't notice such variations in tune, CW or NFM modes. Any idea what is going on? 73 - Mike WA8BXN ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz
Re: [Flexradio] Amp
Richard and Larry and others Tony - KB9YIG developed the original Univrsal Controller Board (UCB) but currently he is producing kits for the SoftRock40, which is another REALLY neat thing. I am researching boards and enclosures for the Xylo-Phreaks which should do nicely for the UCB also. Wally M0ZAZ is also producing a small project to protect the SDR from amps and other transients. You can build it yourself or wait It just keeps getting better! Eric -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Larry Loen Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 10:05 AM To: Richard Stouffer Cc: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Amp Richard Stouffer wrote: I want to hook an Ameritron 811 (600 watt) amp up to my SDR1000: anything caveats? Richard-KE5DLQ Yes, buffer the T/R relay. In Belize, we hooked up the SDR 1000 to an Ameritron amp, directly, and we burned out a bit of the T/R circuitry. Fixable, I gather (AA4SW's rig), but it put us in a pickle for our DXpedition and power. Check the manuals carefully and make sure you aren't feeding too much current to the SDR for the T/R arrangement. If the current is low enough, you might be able to hook it up directly, but I'm not going to trust it in any case. If, by chance, you do the T/R relay by hand, you're very probably fine. I just hooked up an Ameritron 500M and I'm doing the relay by hand (apparently, the previous owner did too). Works fine. Does for my Harris amp, too, but that's a whole different animal. Also, do the obvious and make sure you have enough DC power. Depending on the metering, it isn't immediately obvious if you don't have enough power. There's two Universal Controller Boards coming soon and I believe both will address this issue. So, if you want to get going right away and yet wait on these boards, hand keying the T/R will work. That's what I'm doing for now. Larry WO0Z ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz
Re: [Flexradio] Artificial ground
Hey Bob -- Wonder if you really need it. All the artificial ground is, is a series LC and a relative current indicator. Hard to believe you couldn't put one together out of your junkbox in a few minutes. 73 Frank AB2KT Bob Tracy wrote: Anyone have any experience with the MFJ-931 Artificial Ground?
[Flexradio] Anyone taken a shot at OP-ED?
Folks I was just wonderin if anyone has taken a shot at Whats Next in QST Jan 2006 P. 91? Also enjoyed P 98 and reading the 75 years ago Gosh that keeps getting closer ! When I start remembering the stuff at the left of the page I am a goner! (smile) Course there is always the pic on the left hand side of P 88 which gives me encouragement! Truckin! Eric
Re: [Flexradio] Amp
Richard and Larry and others [lots of neat stuff deleted] Yes, and I'm having increasing trouble finding out about this stuff. This reflector has its limits. We don't seem to have, anymore, a really organized, really one-and-only permanent place to go to find out about this stuff, Tony's especially. When the flex forum went down (for a while) then things got a bit lost and confused. Whether this is just old age or something else, I find it difficult to go to any forum but this one and this one is not for permanent kinds of information. Is it on the revived flex site? The hamsdr one (which I sometimes can't navigate well, especially for projects that have no current orders allowed)? Flex radio friends? And so on. I'm really at sea these days, especially when it comes to ordering stuff, and it's about time I came clean and admitted it. Larry
[Flexradio] AF Change in CW
I just tried to use CW with the AF set at 2. On the first key the AF shot up to 99. I was using Rev 11. I switched back to Rev 9 and the AF went to 99 also. I checked everything I could think of in the setup and on the CW manager with no clues jumping out at me. I have not seen this before. Any suggestions? Thanks, Richard- KE5DLQ
Re: [Flexradio] Artificial ground
I've got one. It works OK. I installed 2-4 radials that were 1/4 wavelength on the lowest frequency I was working when I had unbalanced antennas. True, it is just an LC circuit, but it is convenient for establishing a counterpoise. I eventually went to balanced antennas where a RF ground was not really necessary. If you want mine, e-mail me off list. You can have it for a steal. -Tim --- Tim Ellison ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) Integrated Technical Services ( http://www.itsco.com ) -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bob Tracy Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 5:43 PM To: FlexRadio Reflector Subject: [Flexradio] Artificial ground Hi, Anyone have any experience with the MFJ-931 Artificial Ground? I'm at wits end in this 2nd story shack trying to get rid of the RFI in my SDR-1000 and I'm ready to try anything up to and including witchcraft. Anyone got one for sale? Bob, K5KDN ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz
Re: [Flexradio] AF Change in CW
Richard, We implemented a TX AF setting somewhere in the middle of all of those previews. You can find the control for this on the Setup Form - Transmit Tab. You can either set the value there on the form, or you can simply modify the value while in transmit and the value will be saved. Eric Wachsmann FlexRadio Systems -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard Stouffer Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 6:31 PM To: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: [Flexradio] AF Change in CW I just tried to use CW with the AF set at 2. On the first key the AF shot up to 99. I was using Rev 11. I switched back to Rev 9 and the AF went to 99 also. I checked everything I could think of in the setup and on the CW manager with no clues jumping out at me. I have not seen this before. Any suggestions? Thanks, Richard- KE5DLQ
[Flexradio] Preview Versions - Peak Power bug?
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this bug yet - I was playing with Preview 11 and noticed that, in transmit, the Peak Power Reading meter reads *much* too high. Preview 9 also reads much too high, too, when I tried that version. Version 1.4.4 however, gives me a peak power reading of just over 100 watts, which I've independently confirmed with my oscilloscope. Preview 11's Peak Power display, though, hits 220 watts, and I *know* the PA's not generating this much power (again, verified w/scope). I poked around the code a bit, and noticed that the Preview versions have a min calculation (in sdr.c) that limits the reading to be, at most, 2.2 (i.e. 220 watts) if the peak calculation is larger than this value. If I remove this 'min' restriction, the Peak Power reading zooms wy up. In fact, if I look at the variable uni.meter.tx.val (in do_tx_meter), it can hit values of 400 or more. Whereas this variable only reaches about 1.0 (i.e. 100 watts) in version 1.4.4. Given that the remaining calculations (after this point) in Preview 11 mimic those in 1.4.4, I'm thinking that uni.meter.tx.val in Preview 11 should max out at around 1.0, too, rather than 500x (or so) this value. The peak calculations in do_tx_meter look reasonable to me, so I'm guessing that the problem appears earlier than this routine, with the result that the data used in these calculations is much larger (by orders of magnitude) than it should be. (Or perhaps the data is supposed to be much larger, and a scaling factor needs to be applied?) Unfortunately, I'm a hardware guy, not software, and given that I'm unfamiliar with the code, with the tools, and with much of the coding nomenclature (through my own ignorance), I'm fast approaching my limits at finding the root of this problem... 73, - Jeff, WA6AHL P.S. By the way - I noticed that uni.meter.tx.val also is very large when the meter is in ALC mode, but I don't know if this is as it should be, or not.
Re: [Flexradio] Artificial ground
I've heard good reports about them, but have never used one personally. I'm in kind of a similar situation because of the design of my house (kind of split level on the side of a hill). My shack window is 8' above ground, but I use an entry panel in the window that is a copper plate with coax bulkhead feedthru barrels mounted in a wood frame that the window sash closes onto rather than the normal sill. The panel is connected to my ground system via a length of 6 wide 0.030 thick copper strap. The strap is bolted to the entry panel and silver soldered to the 3 Ga. bonding cable that ties my 3 ground rods together (there's also about 150' of 12 Ga. radials also silver soldered to the 3 Ga. bonding cable and run out into the yard burried about 3 deep). On the inside short piece of the same 6 strap connects to a 2 wide 0.125 thick copper ground buss that runs down the wall behind the desk. All equipment is bonded to the ground bar with either 1 or 3/8 wide braid. Seems to work. Bill AD5OL Bob Tracy [EMAIL PROTECTED] 01/10/06 04:42PM Hi, Anyone have any experience with the MFJ-931 Artificial Ground? I'm at wits end in this 2nd story shack trying to get rid of the RFI in my SDR-1000 and I'm ready to try anything up to and including witchcraft. Anyone got one for sale? Bob, K5KDN ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz
