Posts by HB9EKO

  • Suggesting test segment on QO100

    Hi Geert,


    when I want to test something then I use a spot close to the upper beacon, around 10.489.980 or so, there is hardly any traffic there.


    Especially when changing settings, hardware or trying to optimize the setup, since most paople's QO-100 setup is somehow experimental, there's an obvious requirement for testing, since monitoring the UL TRX is not aleays what you hear on DL. I don't understand why people have problems with other people testing. Nobody is forced to listen to somebody else's test signals. There is enough space on the transponder for eveybody.


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • SGlabs Transverter: Questions and Answers

    I started with a SG Lab transverter and a 75cm dish. It was enough for SSB QSOs (I saw my signal approx. 5-6 dB below beacon level), but not very efficient in breaking pile-ups. Upgrade to a 1m dish got me a couple of DB extra.


    I upgraded with a SG lab PA, but in order not to exceed the beacon level, I had to reduce the output power of the PA. Depends on what you intend, you may not need a PA.


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • SG-Labs 20 W PA V.3

    The VOX is always active. As long as you just use SSB, it's not necessary to do anything with the PTT.


    However, at CW speeds higher than 15 WPM or so, my setup tends to "eat" the first dot (no dashes), i.e. either the PA's or the transverter's VOX doesn't react fast enough. If you plan to use CW more than occasionally, I'd recommend to wire the PTT.


    73 Jens

  • RX Problem with Pluto

    Hi Enzo,

    I have locked my LNB to a GPSDO. When I switch everything on and the GPSDO has not been running for a week or so, I have a similar effect for a few seconds before the GPSDO is locked to the satellites. (The waterfall looks similar) Thus, to me it looks like an unstable reference frequency.


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • QO100 setup help

    Hello,


    Quote

    any tested models for buck converters as I am afraid of high noise or is that something not concern?

    I use a cheap Chinese buck converter to supply my SG-Lab PA

    https://www.aliexpress.com/ite…042311.0.0.27424c4dUd5DT4


    No issue with noise from the DC-DC converter, at least not in the DL receive frequency range.issues with noise so far. Output voltage, and thus output power of the PA can easily be adjusted.


    My setup: I have my SG-lab transverter, PA and DX-Patrol bias tee in a outdoor enclosure close to the dish, all on a common power supply. From that box, 15m RF cable to a RTL-SDR stick (for DL) and FT-817 (for UL), 8m cable to the 12V power supply,


    73 Jens, HB9EKO

  • UL/DL Frequency synchronisation GQRX with FT-817 CAT control on Linux

    Quote from HB9EKO

    Now GQRX as master and the FT-817 as slave for the sync is still on the wishlist. So the next step is probably understanding the code of this tool...

    Easier than expected. I found out that without modifying anything in the code, I can simply swap the CAT information of RX and TX, as well as the start frequency entries. This makes the FT-817 follow the RX frequency of GQRX. Done some cosmetics by replacing "TX" with "Master" and "RX" with "Follower" and changed the default entries accordingly. Now the tool does what I expect it to do, The "Follower" follows the "Master" regardless what is TX and what is RX.


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • UL/DL Frequency synchronisation GQRX with FT-817 CAT control on Linux

    Hi,


    as promised, I would like to provide an update:


    Quote from HB9EKO

    Now I just have to find the time to continue .... / Jetzt muss ich nur noch die Zeit finden, weiter daran zu arbeiten....


    i finally found some time to follow up on this subject.


    In a first attempt, I tried to run Satcontrol on my Shack PC instead of a Raspberry Pi. Unfortunately, I did not manage to run it on my Kubuntu 20.04. Python 2 is not available by default for this Distri, and my attempts to install Python 2 with instructions from the web did not result in Satcontrol and Python 2 cooperating with each other. Porting it from Python 2 to Python 3 turned out to be something major, so I put this on hold for the moment.


    I spent a rainy weekend learning some python basics and understanding how I could code what I want, but then I realized it will take me much more time to learn how to use libraries to create a GUI for the programme and hamlib to read and write the frequencies from GQRX and the FT-817. So I put this on hold, too.


    Shortly before ordering the mentioned issue of Funkamateur, I found a tool called "QTrackUplink" : https://github.com/jbvoelker/QTrackUplink and decided to give it a try. After spending a couple of hours setting up QT Creator and understanding how to use it, I managed to compile the source code on my PC and got it working.


    This is almost what I was looking for. I can tune UL and DL with a basic offset. After that, the RX frequency in GQRX follows the TX frequency when I change it at the FT-817.


    I'm happy with this for the time being. Now GQRX as master and the FT-817 as slave for the sync is still on the wishlist. So the next step is probably understanding the code of this tool...


    73 Jens, HB9EKO

  • UL/DL Frequency synchronisation GQRX with FT-817 CAT control on Linux

    Quote from DL3DCW

    The Python program you can download here: http://www.satcontrol.de/files/satcontrol.zip


    Maybe that on your system some additional packages need to be installed. On the complete Raspberry image everything is already prepared.

    Thanks a lot, I will give it a try



    Quote from DB1PA

    Hallo Jens, ergänzende Informationen:

    • Für den DL wird ein rtl-Dongle verwendet; ich verwende einen mit TXCO.
    • Für den UL wird über einen USB/Seriell-Wandler ein geeigneter Transceiver angesteuert. Einzige Bedingung: der Transceiver muß in dem Programm rigctld (aus der Hamlib) gelistet sein.

    Besten Dank, dann weiss ich, dass sich bei Bedarf eine Heftbestellung lohnt.


    Now I just have to find the time to continue .... / Jetzt muss ich nur noch die Zeit finden, weiter daran zu arbeiten....



    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • UL/DL Frequency synchronisation GQRX with FT-817 CAT control on Linux

    Hi there,


    thank you for your replies / Danke für Eure Antworten.


    It looks to me like there is no "out of the box" solution for my specific setup, but I got some good inputs that might help me to get towards what I'm looking for, provided I find the time.


    Es schaut so aus, als ob es keine fertige Lösung für mein spezielles Setup gäbe, aber mit Euren Hinweisen habe ich ein paar gute Ansatzpunkte wie ich weitermachen kann, wenn ich die nötige Zeit dafür finde.


    Quote from PA3ANG

    Not really adressing your questions, but i wrote some small Python program to 'organise' the CAT control of the FT-817. See https://github.com/pa3ang/QO-1…ster/qo-100-controller.py for more info.


    Maybe this helps you in some direction.


    vy 73 de Johan, PA3ANG

    Hi Johan,

    This looks similar to what I'm looking for, I would have to modify this script to read the RX frequency from GQRX rather than a FT-817.

    I have limited programming skills, since I wrote my last programs decades ago in Turbo Pascal. In the "External applications" section of https://gqrx.dk, I found some tools like gqrx-hamlib that also go into that direction, however I failed to get it running on my machine so far.
    Maybe it's a sign that I should invest the time and learn some python and/or go deeper into details with my Linux setup? :/



    Quote from DB1PA

    in Heft 12/19 der Zeitschrift "Funkamateur" ist genau dieses Problem behandelt worden von DG7BBP unter dem Titel "Sende-Empfangs-Synchronisierung per Software beim QO-100-Betrieb".


    Dieses Lösung läuft bei mir auf einem RaspberryPi 3 stabil.


    vy73 de Hermann-Josef

    Hallo Hermann,

    kannst Du mir ein paar Details nennen? Setzt diese Lösung ebenfalls einen RTL-SDR Stick für den DL und einen externen TRX für den UL voraus? Wenn ich damit weiter komme würde ich das Heft bestellen.



    Quote from DL3DCW

    Maybe this will work for you: SAT Controller SDR Nano


    Hi Frank,

    I am sure it would work, but since my PC in the shack is already connected to the FT-817 and gqrx is perfectly working, I would like to avoid setting up a separate hardware only for SAT control.

    I would appreciate if I could use the software/sourcecode. However, reading other related threads in this forum, I understand that Satcontrol is only available as a RasPI image and not generically for installation on any Linux machine. You certainly have your reasons for distributing the solution only in this way.



    Thanks for all the hints, I will update this thread when I make some progress. / Danke für all die Hinweise, ich werde diesen Thread aktualisieren, wenn ich Fortschritte mache.


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • UL/DL Frequency synchronisation GQRX with FT-817 CAT control on Linux

    Hi there,


    has anybody successfully managed to synchronise the UL and DL frequencies of a RTS-SDR and a FT-817 with Hamlib on Linux?

    On the RX side with my RTL-SDR, I can use GQRX or CubicSDR which are both fine.


    It gets tricky when I try to hook the software up with my FT-817 CAT control:

    In GQRX, there are some python scripts available which are supposed to link GQRX with hamlib. I did not manage to install them on my machine running Kubuntu 20.04, since they require an older version of QT.


    CubicSDR also looks quite nice and it has some TRX control functions included. However, they seem to be made to use CubicSDR for a panadapter with a TRX. Proper documentation does not seem to exist, and when playing a bit with the respective functions, I did not manage to set my TX frequency on 70cm to anything without CubicSDR setting the same 70cm frequency on the RTLSDR-stick :-(


    Has anybody got an idea how to approach this subject with either GQRX or CubicSDR??


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • Please post your SOTA activity here!

    Hi Nick,


    being active in SOTA myself, I know very well how it feels like to struggle for the 4 QSOs. I will watch out for your activations to chase you. I don't have a portable setup for QO-100, but will gladly chase you if I'm at home during your activations. Having said that, this is more likely on the weekends or after work, even on the days when I can do home office, i can't always be QRV.


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • SDR Receivers - Difference in Performance between cheap and sophisticated?

    Quote from DB8TF

    A cheap Newgen.RTL.2832SDR and the way more expensive SDRplay RSPdx are showing no difference in SNR on the NB&WB.

    Checked that some weeks ago.

    Thanks a lot, that's what I was interested in.



    Quote from DJ0VL

    With regards to the SNR. the crucial factor is the size of the dish and - to a smaller amount - the noisefigure of the LNB. The output of the LNB is way above the reception threshold of all SDRs. Goonhilly WebSDR runs a 1.3m dish.


    Thanks Jean, that makes the audible difference plausible. Looks like an increase of dish size is the best option, if feasible.


    Quote from sv8qg

    by the way SDRconsole is a fantastic sortware and the audio is better compared with the classic receiver-converter approach.


    Hi Alex, thanks for the info. I am running GQRX native on Linux, and SDRconsole in a Windows VM. I have not encountered major difference in audio quality between the two programmes. (maybe I should try to play with filter settings). So it looks like it's not worth investing in a downconverter. I was considering a conversion to 28 or 50 MHz in order to make use of the DSP filtering capabilities of my FT-891, but rather stick to what I've got.




    Thanks for all the info, and hope to talk to you on the sat soon.


    73 Jens, HB9EKO

  • SDR Receivers - Difference in Performance between cheap and sophisticated?

    Hi there,


    I have optimised my QO-100 setup to a degree where I am happy with it for the time being. My signal with 2W into a 70cm dish is about 6dB below beacon level and fine fo QSOs in CW and SSB.


    While I'm enjoying QSOs with that setup, I'm already thinking ahead for the next possible improvements: The S/N of my setup with a cheap Chinese RTL-SDR stick is obviously not as good as the various WEB SDRs, i.e. signals which are barely audible in my setup are better on the WEB SDRs. While my possibilities to increase the dish size are a bit limited, I wonder whether there are other possible improvements.


    In order to get a feeling if it's worth investing in that part of the RX chain: Has anybody made a performance comparison between different SDR receivers? Is it worth investing in a more sophisticated SDR RX, to have a better reception than the Chinese RTL-SDR clone? Are there other SDR X with a significantly better performance? How does the RTL-SDR perform in comparison with a downconverter and a conventional HF or VHF RX?


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • Coax Cable

    Hi Luc,


    the cable will always be a compromise between attenuation and minimum bending radius of the cable, i.e. the cable type depends on your possible mechanical setup.


    I use Aircell 5 which has a minimum bending radius of 25 mm (for bending once, i.e. a fixed dinstallation) but an attenuation of 0.5 dB/m ( less than 3dB for your setup).

    If you can manage to install a cable with a bending radius of 40mm, then Ecoflex10 would have approx. half the attenuation of Aircell 5.

    If you go for a even thicker cable, let's say Ecoflex15, you could get the attenuation down to 0.16 dB/m, but the minimum bending radius is 70mm, which is pretty unhandy.


    What s your exact setup? Do you really need to have that length of cable between PA and POTY, or could you place the PA closer to the antenna and run a longer cable between the PA and the TRX/Transverter? If the output of the TRX/transverter exceeds the minimum required input power of the PA, it might be better to put the cable loss in your link budget there.


    I have connected my feed to a transverter with 0.5m of Aircell 5, and then run 5m RG58 from my 70cm TRX to the transverter. Thus I have most of the output power at the antenna, RF cable diameter is 5mm everywhere, the cables are cheap and flexible for my semi-permanent setup.


    73 Jens HB9EKO

  • console crashes

    Quote from G0MJW

    It should be OK, even though it is quite an old CPU from around 2012, without hyper-threading but with 4 cores. Had it been an early i3 with dual cores and limited performance it may have struggled. Especially if you had been looking in a wide bandwidth (some MHz) with a high res screen to update. There should be a CPU and GPU load indication at the bottom of the screen, as long as it's well below 100% you are not limited by CPU.


    Pluto bandwidth rates with USB are not great and console does tend to crash if the connection to the SDR fails on it. USB lead, USB power, all things to check. If its more stable at 900kHz try 750kHz, 550kHz etc. That will help work out what is causing the crashes. There is also a logfile under tools. Another thing that causes crashes is where the Pluto reboots because it detects incorrectly that the power to it has changed. This is very common if you have an external antenna connected which is grounded. There is a mod to fix this.


    Mike

    Hi Mike,


    as I mentioned, I use a mobile i3 CPU even a generation earlier, and it's definitely not the limiting factor.


    I can confirm that the USB connection does cause crashes of SDR console. My Chinese RTL-SDR stick is a bit wobbly in the USB port in the laptop, and I have to be careful not to touch it accidentally. It helped to use a short USB extension cable to get the SDR stock out of the way.


    73 Jens, HB9EKO

  • console crashes

    On an old laptop (i3 2310m, 8GB RAM), I have approx. 40% CPU load. (BW 1 MHz) when running SDR console without anything else.


    73 Jens HB9EKO