Re: [AmateurRadioBuilders] RP Pico 2
There is now a 8/16bit parallel?library available for the RA8876 displays and accompanying lib for the capacitive touchscreen controller. Was toying with the idea of a twin teensy setup, one dedicated to the display and one for the DSP work, data xfer between the?two would be over ethernet as it offers high speed and the 16bit connection consumes a lot of the pins on the teensy connected to the display.
Might be a good way to get around memory limitations and you could still use a pico pi connected to the DSP teensy to handle the I/O stuff and provide WiFi connectivity which in turn opens up all sorts of possibilities for integration with online API's.Now that we have decent code build to work with I might try to do some testing over the next while to see if I can get this setup to work. Already have the display working with a parallel?connection just need to determine how well firing the waterfall array data across the ethernet works and it doesn't mess up the audio on the DSP teensy. It will be an interesting experiment!
You didn't read what I said. Each "page" (your term, not mine) is a segment of the display and only that gets updated.
Jack, W8TEE
On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 12:13:08 PM EST, jerry-KF6VB < jerry@...> wrote:
On 2025-02-28 08:46, jjpurdum via wrote:
> I think the Teensy could work with only 3 function calls to the Pico
> (or whatever??) processor for each page:
*** It should be more granular than that.? If a new S-meter reading
comes in,
the Pico shouldn't have to update the entire display.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry,KF6VB
--
Jack, W8TEE
|
Thats what line feed chokes are specifically made for. ?One on each end of the feedline. ?
Dr.?William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner ¨C Operator Villa Grand Piton - J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: www.VillaGrandPiton.com
email:??bill@... ?
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On Feb 28, 2025, at 5:59?PM, Larry Acklin via groups.io <acklin@...> wrote:
? I used to have issues with my FT901 like that, CW would stick in transmit- RF in the shack. A ferrite slug with 6 wraps of the shielded?CW key lead after it left the external keyer fixed it.?
My EFHW starts at 30 ft and slopes to 10, counterpoise drops to 6 ft and runs along roughly the same route. 40, 20, 15, 10 all acceptable SWR. 49:1 balun feeds coax to the radio.?
Larry KB3CUF? Hello all,
? ? I was trying out my station with a second antenna - an 65-foot End
Fed Half Wave.? I had built it to the kilowatt level, with a big toroid
core on the matching transformer.? Instead of a counterpoise, I used an
8-foot ground rod - the kind they sell to ground your house.
Probably needs a counterpoise also...
? ?The far end of the antenna is supported by a monster oak tree on my
property.? Got it up there with a slingshot.
? ? I hooked up a spare MFJ998RT autotuner to the EFHW and thence to my
station through
a 40-foot length of Davis Buryflex RG/8.
? ? It worked fine on the base T41 - decent SWR on 40, 20 & 15M.? And it
actually worked
on 80 - although the autotuner was clearly struggling.
? ?HOWEVER, when I turned on my KW amp, I pushed the PTT, and the power
immediately rose to 950W or so out...without me talking.? And somebody
on the frequency said "what's that noise?".
? ?I figure that RF is getting back into the T41.
? ?Probably need to stick a counterpoise on the EFHW, and maybe a common
mode choke.
? ?My main antenna does not give me any such problems;? it's a trap
vertical up the hill,
and it has an excellent ground - an Ufer ground, consisting of 80 feet
of thick copper wire embedded in a 10 by 70' concrete slab.
? ?I'm trying the EFHW to see if it's any quieter than my vertical.? So
far, it's about the same.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry, KF6VB
|
try 1:1 between your tuner and the T41. Best regards,
Jack Mann W1QZ
I used to have issues with my FT901 like that, CW would stick in transmit- RF in the shack. A ferrite slug with 6 wraps of the shielded?CW key lead after it left the external keyer fixed it.?
My EFHW starts at 30 ft and slopes to 10, counterpoise drops to 6 ft and runs along roughly the same route. 40, 20, 15, 10 all acceptable SWR. 49:1 balun feeds coax to the radio.?
Larry KB3CUF?
Hello all,
? ? I was trying out my station with a second antenna - an 65-foot End
Fed Half Wave.? I had built it to the kilowatt level, with a big toroid
core on the matching transformer.? Instead of a counterpoise, I used an
8-foot ground rod - the kind they sell to ground your house.
Probably needs a counterpoise also...
? ?The far end of the antenna is supported by a monster oak tree on my
property.? Got it up there with a slingshot.
? ? I hooked up a spare MFJ998RT autotuner to the EFHW and thence to my
station through
a 40-foot length of Davis Buryflex RG/8.
? ? It worked fine on the base T41 - decent SWR on 40, 20 & 15M.? And it
actually worked
on 80 - although the autotuner was clearly struggling.
? ?HOWEVER, when I turned on my KW amp, I pushed the PTT, and the power
immediately rose to 950W or so out...without me talking.? And somebody
on the frequency said "what's that noise?".
? ?I figure that RF is getting back into the T41.
? ?Probably need to stick a counterpoise on the EFHW, and maybe a common
mode choke.
? ?My main antenna does not give me any such problems;? it's a trap
vertical up the hill,
and it has an excellent ground - an Ufer ground, consisting of 80 feet
of thick copper wire embedded in a 10 by 70' concrete slab.
? ?I'm trying the EFHW to see if it's any quieter than my vertical.? So
far, it's about the same.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry, KF6VB
|
I used to have issues with my FT901 like that, CW would stick in transmit- RF in the shack. A ferrite slug with 6 wraps of the shielded?CW key lead after it left the external keyer fixed it.?
My EFHW starts at 30 ft and slopes to 10, counterpoise drops to 6 ft and runs along roughly the same route. 40, 20, 15, 10 all acceptable SWR. 49:1 balun feeds coax to the radio.?
Larry KB3CUF?
Hello all,
? ? I was trying out my station with a second antenna - an 65-foot End
Fed Half Wave.? I had built it to the kilowatt level, with a big toroid
core on the matching transformer.? Instead of a counterpoise, I used an
8-foot ground rod - the kind they sell to ground your house.
Probably needs a counterpoise also...
? ?The far end of the antenna is supported by a monster oak tree on my
property.? Got it up there with a slingshot.
? ? I hooked up a spare MFJ998RT autotuner to the EFHW and thence to my
station through
a 40-foot length of Davis Buryflex RG/8.
? ? It worked fine on the base T41 - decent SWR on 40, 20 & 15M.? And it
actually worked
on 80 - although the autotuner was clearly struggling.
? ?HOWEVER, when I turned on my KW amp, I pushed the PTT, and the power
immediately rose to 950W or so out...without me talking.? And somebody
on the frequency said "what's that noise?".
? ?I figure that RF is getting back into the T41.
? ?Probably need to stick a counterpoise on the EFHW, and maybe a common
mode choke.
? ?My main antenna does not give me any such problems;? it's a trap
vertical up the hill,
and it has an excellent ground - an Ufer ground, consisting of 80 feet
of thick copper wire embedded in a 10 by 70' concrete slab.
? ?I'm trying the EFHW to see if it's any quieter than my vertical.? So
far, it's about the same.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry, KF6VB
|
Re: T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions
OK, just had not heard it used that way.
On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 02:35:08 PM EST, Peter McCracken EI3JCB via groups.io <peter.mccracken@...> wrote:
Come now Jack.... I'm sure you have heard the term "cracked the case" before... same deal.... :))
Well you would want this to read out in WATTS¡ not db reduction¡ ? ? Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ VP2EHZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner ¨C Operator Villa Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: ? Moderator: North American QRO Group at Groups.IO. Moderator: Amateur Radio Builders Group at Groups.IO. ? email:? bill@... ? ? ? It is working correctly, but the readout is confusing. Next round I will fix it to read in dB, from 0 to -31dB.
--
Jack, W8TEE
|
Re: T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions
Hi Al, Ver 066_4 is a "Winner,Winner, Chicken Dinner" as a couple of T41 experts I know would say. I was able to calibrate Xmit IQ all bands without a problem using the receiver of my FT991A. Had a couple of minor issues, one with display, which you are probably aware of. When adjusting IQ Phase with .001 resolution the last digit appears to not being erased but overwritten with the new numbert and after a couple of twists of the dial you cannot read the number. I have also copied the EEPROM dump and SD card dump (attached PDF) after copying EEPROM to SD and it looks like a formatting issue in the EEPROM Dump first line. The 80M number seems to not being copied into the SD, throwing the number to band correlation off. Not sure how that would affect the order and placement and did not want to try coping the SD back to EEPROM for fear of shifting the placement order. Thanks again for getting this working correctly. Rick, KN4AIE On Fri, Feb 28, 2025 at 8:26?AM Albert Peter via groups.io <albertfpeter@...> wrote:
Hi Everyone,
Had some good feedback on the versions 66.1 and 66.3. The attached update fixes the known problems.
Fixes include issues with the SSB transmit cal and power levels, which were caused primarily because of improper initial values. I tried these several times and everything appears to work properly.
The initial setup should be performed in the following order:
1. Frequency Cal
2. Receive cal
3. Set SSB Power Level to 10W
4. Preliminary SSB PA Power cal to ensure levels are nearly correct
5. Transmit IQ calibration
6. Set CW Power level to 10W
7. CW PA Power level cal
8. Check SSB PA Power Cal. one final time
Again, it is best to erase the Teensy to start over with the new EEPRM values and be sure to uncomment line 3163 of the .ino file. Comment out again after the initial download.
Other changes were primarily to fix a couple of the increments and to correct the on-screen text in a few spots.
A revised instructions PDF will follow.
Al
AC8GY
|
Hello all,
I was trying out my station with a second antenna - an 65-foot End Fed Half Wave. I had built it to the kilowatt level, with a big toroid core on the matching transformer. Instead of a counterpoise, I used an 8-foot ground rod - the kind they sell to ground your house.
Probably needs a counterpoise also...
The far end of the antenna is supported by a monster oak tree on my property. Got it up there with a slingshot.
I hooked up a spare MFJ998RT autotuner to the EFHW and thence to my station through
a 40-foot length of Davis Buryflex RG/8.
It worked fine on the base T41 - decent SWR on 40, 20 & 15M. And it actually worked
on 80 - although the autotuner was clearly struggling.
HOWEVER, when I turned on my KW amp, I pushed the PTT, and the power immediately rose to 950W or so out...without me talking. And somebody on the frequency said "what's that noise?".
I figure that RF is getting back into the T41.
Probably need to stick a counterpoise on the EFHW, and maybe a common mode choke.
My main antenna does not give me any such problems; it's a trap vertical up the hill,
and it has an excellent ground - an Ufer ground, consisting of 80 feet of thick copper wire embedded in a 10 by 70' concrete slab.
I'm trying the EFHW to see if it's any quieter than my vertical. So far, it's about the same.
- Jerry, KF6VB
|
Re: T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions
Come now Jack.... I'm sure you have heard the term "cracked the case" before... same deal.... :))
Well you would want this to read out in WATTS¡ not db reduction¡ ? ? Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ VP2EHZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner ¨C Operator Villa Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: ? Moderator: North American QRO Group at Groups.IO. Moderator: Amateur Radio Builders Group at Groups.IO. ? email:? bill@... ? ? ? It is working correctly, but the readout is confusing. Next round I will fix it to read in dB, from 0 to -31dB.
|
Re: T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions
Well you would want this to read out in WATTS¡ not db reduction¡ ? ? Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ VP2EHZ ? Owner - Operator Big Signal Ranch ¨C K9ZC Staunton, Illinois ? Owner ¨C Operator Villa Grand Piton ¨C J68HZ Soufriere, St. Lucia W.I. Rent it: ? Moderator: North American QRO Group at Groups.IO. Moderator: Amateur Radio Builders Group at Groups.IO. ? email:? bill@... ? ?
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Albert Peter via groups.io
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2025 11:44 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [SoftwareControlledHamRadio] T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions? It is working correctly, but the readout is confusing. Next round I will fix it to read in dB, from 0 to -31dB.
|
Re: T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions
Roger,
It is working correctly, but the readout is confusing.
Next round I will fix it to read in dB, from 0 to -31dB.
Thanks,
Al
AC8GY
|
Re: [AmateurRadioBuilders] Alternative to Pico?
No. Standard IDE. Jack, W8TEE
On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 12:21:16 PM EST, jerry-KF6VB <jerry@...> wrote:
On 2025-02-28 06:29, Jack, W8TEE via groups.io wrote:
> All:
>
> I've also experimented with the XIAO processor from Seeed Studio. It's
> about the size of your thumbnail and costs $5:
*** Hardware debug? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry, KF6VB
-- Jack, W8TEE
|
Re: [AmateurRadioBuilders] Alternative to Pico?
On 2025-02-28 06:29, Jack, W8TEE via groups.io wrote: All:
I've also experimented with the XIAO processor from Seeed Studio. It's
about the size of your thumbnail and costs $5: *** Hardware debug? - Jerry, KF6VB
|
Re: [AmateurRadioBuilders] RP Pico 2
You didn't read what I said. Each "page" (your term, not mine) is a segment of the display and only that gets updated.
Jack, W8TEE
On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 12:13:08 PM EST, jerry-KF6VB <jerry@...> wrote:
On 2025-02-28 08:46, jjpurdum via groups.io wrote:
> I think the Teensy could work with only 3 function calls to the Pico
> (or whatever??) processor for each page:
*** It should be more granular than that.? If a new S-meter reading
comes in,
the Pico shouldn't have to update the entire display.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry,KF6VB
-- Jack, W8TEE
|
Re: [AmateurRadioBuilders] RP Pico 2
On 2025-02-28 08:46, jjpurdum via groups.io wrote: I think the Teensy could work with only 3 function calls to the Pico
(or whatever??) processor for each page: *** It should be more granular than that. If a new S-meter reading comes in, the Pico shouldn't have to update the entire display. - Jerry,KF6VB
|
Re: [AmateurRadioBuilders] RP Pico 2
I think the Teensy could work with only 3 function calls to the Pico (or whatever??) processor for each page:
??? 1. Show -- present the default page being called. Essentially, one page for each new screen. By new, I mean overlays ??????????? on the display surface (e.g., Info Window, waterfall, spectrum, audio plot, S-meter). Some of these are in a tight
??????????? loop controlled by the Teensy (e.g., spectrum). ??? 2. Update -- if new info comes to the Teensy, it can be forwarded to update that page on the screen. ??? 3. Close -- that page is removed from the display, leaving a black background in its place.
If written correctly, the second processor could almost be anything that has a decent clock speed and memory. Keep in mind that the display supports the Block Transfer Engine (BTE) that can speed things up on the display updates.
Jack, W8TEE
On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 11:31:42 AM EST, jerry-KF6VB <jerry@...> wrote:
On 2025-02-28 06:06, Jack, W8TEE via groups.io wrote: > All: > > I just read that the RP Pico 2 is now capable of running at 200MHz ? I actually have a couple pico 2's.? No wifi, though.? It does do SPI, so it could control our current display - assuming that there's an RA8875 library available. ? The first step would be to isolate all access to the display.? Make sure it's all in one file.? I would use C++ objects to encapsulate it.? Pages and items. A "page" would be an entire display - say the normal radio display.? Or the BIT test display.? Or the IQ calibrate display.? An "item" would be one of the things that the page displays. ? Once something like that was in place, it would be straightforward to substitute "page" calls with calls to a different file that squirted the info out to the Pico. The object of the exercise is to minimize this info.? Only the Pico would know exactly where on the screen something goes, for example. ? So if the Teensy can just say "display the main screen" to the Pico, that's a lot less work for the Teensy.? There's no way around sending the individual readings for the spectrum.? But the Pico would maintain the waterfall. ? The Pico supports hardware debug, so development could be relatively fast. ? A quick websearch revealed that there IS a working RA8875 library for
the Pico.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? - Jerry, KF6VB
-- Jack, W8TEE
|
Re: T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions
You've solved the problem with TX calibrate!
?
One thing I have just noticed is that RF Out Atten seems to work in reverse. The higher the number the greater the output.
?
Roger G8JWT
|
Its the original pico not the pico 2 that got the speed bump.
Gary
W9TD
|
Re: [AmateurRadioBuilders] RP Pico 2
On 2025-02-28 06:06, Jack, W8TEE via groups.io wrote: All:
I just read that the RP Pico 2 is now capable of running at 200MHz I actually have a couple pico 2's. No wifi, though. It does do SPI, so it could control our current display - assuming that there's an RA8875 library available. The first step would be to isolate all access to the display. Make sure it's all in one file. I would use C++ objects to encapsulate it. Pages and items. A "page" would be an entire display - say the normal radio display. Or the BIT test display. Or the IQ calibrate display. An "item" would be one of the things that the page displays. Once something like that was in place, it would be straightforward to substitute "page" calls with calls to a different file that squirted the info out to the Pico. The object of the exercise is to minimize this info. Only the Pico would know exactly where on the screen something goes, for example. So if the Teensy can just say "display the main screen" to the Pico, that's a lot less work for the Teensy. There's no way around sending the individual readings for the spectrum. But the Pico would maintain the waterfall. The Pico supports hardware debug, so development could be relatively fast. A quick websearch revealed that there IS a working RA8875 library for the Pico. - Jerry, KF6VB
|
Re: T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions
For us Colonials who aren't too bright, what does "cracked it" mean?
Jack, W8TEE
On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 11:25:09 AM EST, bty84827531 via groups.io <roger.trett@...> wrote:
First impression is that 66.4 has cracked it.
?
Thanks
?
Roger G8JWT
-- Jack, W8TEE
|
Re: T41 V66.4 with Code Revisions
For us Colonials who aren't too bright, what does "cracked it" mean?
Jack, W8TEE
On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 11:25:09 AM EST, bty84827531 via groups.io <roger.trett@...> wrote:
First impression is that 66.4 has cracked it.
?
Thanks
?
Roger G8JWT
-- Jack, W8TEE
|
K9HZ
jjpurdum
Gary W9TD