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Re: Rocky v1.1

 

Now, you really cannot do a fair comparison of Rocky and PowerSDR.
The PowerSDR software was developed to support the SDR-1000 which is
MUCH more complex than the SR40. Support for the SR40 was added to
PowerSDR first by Bill Tracey and now officially by Flex-Radio in the
latest release. Rocky supports the SR40 and multiband variants but
does not support the SDR-1000.

I do believe that Rocky is a better fit to the SR40 than the PowerSDR
program is.

Phil N8VB

--- In softrock40@..., "wb8yqj" <wb8yqj@y...> wrote:

Hi Guys,

I loaded the Rocky software last night. I was suprised
to find that it seemed to make a better receiver with the
SoftRock40 than the Flex software. Is it all in the mind?
Prehaps the Flex software can be dialed in with some time and
attention where Rocky is more ready to play.

I can say that with my setup (2.4GHZ Dell and Soundblaster Live),
the Rocky program is noticably more snappy to operate than Flex
from the interface standpoint.

Having loads of fun here with the entire setup. Alex did a
fabulous job - my thanks.

de Don WB8YQJ/6
Carlsbad, Ca
Laptop Soundcards

 

I know the Delta-44 is the "preferred" sound card by many for SDR use,
however I wonder which external card has shown the best performance
for use with a laptop.

The SB Audigy 2 NX USB and the SB Audigy 2 ZS Laptop (PCMCIA) cards
seem to have pretty good specs however I've noticed a bit of list
message traffic concerning difficulties a few users have had with
these cards when used with the Rocky software.

Have these difficulties been resolved in the most recent versions of
Rocky ? Any comments on the use of these cards (or others you have had
good luck with) with Rocky and other SDR software would be welcome.

Thanks & 73,

Ray WB6TPU
Rocky v1.1

 

Hi Guys,

I loaded the Rocky software last night. I was suprised
to find that it seemed to make a better receiver with the
SoftRock40 than the Flex software. Is it all in the mind?
Prehaps the Flex software can be dialed in with some time and
attention where Rocky is more ready to play.

I can say that with my setup (2.4GHZ Dell and Soundblaster Live),
the Rocky program is noticably more snappy to operate than Flex
from the interface standpoint.

Having loads of fun here with the entire setup. Alex did a
fabulous job - my thanks.

de Don WB8YQJ/6
Carlsbad, Ca
Re: Useful FPGA development board

Leon Heller
 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Harman" <pvharman@...>
To: <softrock40@...>
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 12:41 PM
Subject: [softrock40] Useful FPGA development board


I'm presently supervising a couple of overseas engineering students whilst they do their industrial training. They need 12 weeks of practical experience so they can obtain their degrees.

They are both very interested in FPGA development work and whilst we have develpment systems in the lab I can't hand them over to the students for this period of time.

I came across this low cost FPGA development board



With Ethernet, USB2, I2C, VGA etc and free development tools this looks like a very inexpensive way to get into FPGA development. I see that the FPGA code can be down loaded from the PC via USB2 and then the PC can communicate with the FPGA at 35MBytes/s.

I'm going to look at using this board to interface a high speed A/D converter for the SoftRock and SDR1000.

I've got a Digilent Spartan 3 kit with a -400 Spartan 3 FPGA ($125):



I've started designing an ADC interface for it.

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
leon.heller@...



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Using SDR for study

Bill Walker
 

I don't know about you guys but I have had a great time using my SoftRock40
to study the band conditions. I have identified all kinds of noise sources
within my shack, ethernet cables, battery chargers, power strips, etc.
Using my SoftRock40 and Rocky, I have been able to significantly reduce the
level of RF noise in the shack.

With the new feature of being able to record using Rock 1.1, I have taken to
making recordings of times when I'm not normally able to be in the shack.
Doing this I have discovered ham activity periods I was not aware of and
noise sources that come and go at various times as the night progresses.

It would be great if Rocky had a feature to enable the user to set a
starting time and duration for recording to occur. This would enable making
unattended recordings of the bands while getting that much needed sleep. 8-)

Does anyone know of any software with a waterfall display that can play the
I/Q recordings produced by Rocky and/or PowerSDR? Ideally this software
would enable playback at higher than normal speed and "zooming" to time
periods later in the recording.

I would like to thank all the people working on SDR software. You are all
doing a wonderful job and you should be commended!

Bill Walker - WV7G
Re: Useful FPGA development board

 

This is totally cool :-) Thank you very much :-)

Phil Harman wrote:

I'm presently supervising a couple of overseas engineering students whilst they do their industrial training. They need 12 weeks of practical experience so they can obtain their degrees.
They are both very interested in FPGA development work and whilst we have develpment systems in the lab I can't hand them over to the students for this period of time.
I came across this low cost FPGA development board

With Ethernet, USB2, I2C, VGA etc and free development tools this looks like a very inexpensive way to get into FPGA development. I see that the FPGA code can be down loaded from the PC via USB2 and then the PC can communicate with the FPGA at 35MBytes/s. I'm going to look at using this board to interface a high speed A/D converter for the SoftRock and SDR1000.
Phil.... VK6APH


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Useful FPGA development board

Phil Harman
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

I'm presently supervising a couple of overseas engineering students whilst they do their industrial training. They need 12 weeks of practical experience so they can obtain their degrees.
?
They are both very interested in FPGA development work and whilst we have? develpment systems in the lab I can't hand them over to the students for this period of time.
?
I came across this low cost FPGA development board
?
?
With Ethernet, USB2, I2C, VGA etc and free development tools this looks like a very inexpensive way to get into FPGA development. I see that the FPGA code can be down loaded from the PC via USB2 and then the PC can communicate with the FPGA at 35MBytes/s.?
?
I'm going to look at using this board to interface a high speed A/D converter for the SoftRock and SDR1000.
?
Phil.... VK6APH
?
?
Re: Software Defined Superhet

 

--- In softrock40@..., "Bob Hillard" <rhillard@a...>
wrote:

The first device in the received signal's path determines the
system's
noise figure. If it's a DBM, then the noise figure can't be any
better
than 6 dB. Putting a low noise preamp in front of the DBM fixes
this.

I seem to remember reading some place the QSD mixer had a noise
figure
in the area of 12 db ? Would this not be acceptable except maybe
above 28 mhz since the terrestial noise figure would be >15 db?

It would be interesting to see a gain/noise chart by stages of the
better commerical receivers when compared to the SDR-1000
technologies.

Does anyone know the maximum usable gain of a receiver(?) aren't we
getting very close to that number in current HF technology?

Are we not close to the point where the LO phase noise and front end
IMD are the current limiting factors in a receiver design?

I would be interested in reading others response in these area. It
is an area in which I know very little.
Re: Software Defined Superhet

 

The first device in the received signal's path determines the system's
noise figure. If it's a DBM, then the noise figure can't be any better
than 6 dB. Putting a low noise preamp in front of the DBM fixes this.

The transformer at the input to the SDR will have no effect on the
system noise figure.

Bob WA6UFQ

--- In softrock40@..., "Stan" <ak0b@s...> wrote:

--- In softrock40@..., KD5NWA <KD5NWA@c...> wrote:

If you are going to put a pre-amplifier in front of the QSD that I
would suggest a better pre-amplifier than a MMic chip. > >
Yahoo! Groups Links
I would 'not' use a pre-amplifier stage.

In the QEX article a gain of 6 was obtain from the input transformer
which should be enough to overcome the losses in the BPF. Need to run
the AADE program to verify.

The rule of thumb for the design of an RF stage is give it just enough
gain to overcome the tuned circuit losses. T1-4 does this plus
provides a degree of isolation.

I would use high Q inductors (not the store purchased ones) and high
quality RF capactors in the BPF.

Sometimes less is better. At least in this case this appears to be
true.

Stan AK0B
Re: Connection to Delta-44

Leon Heller
 

----- Original Message -----
From: "patt896" <d.patten@...>
To: <softrock40@...>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 8:07 PM
Subject: [softrock40] Re: Connection to Delta-44


Hi, Leon. I'm following the Flex Radio Delta44 setup using Y adapters.
Thanks. I'll try that set-up.

73, Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
leon.heller@...

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Re: Connection to Delta-44

patt896
 

Hi, Leon. I'm following the Flex Radio Delta44 setup using Y
adapters.



Dick Patten


--- In softrock40@..., "Leon Heller" <leon.heller@b...>
wrote:

I'm just getting round to connecting the SR-40 to my M-Audio
Delta44 card.
How are people doing this? I can either use 3.5 mm to 1/4" jack
adapters or
a couple of 1/4" jack plugs and cable. I've got a double-ended
version of
the latter (male-male) but the cable looks rather thick for
reliable
connection to the SR-40 PCB. Putting the SR-40 in a box with 1/4"
jack
sockets would be the neatest solution.

73, Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
leon.heller@b...


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Re: Software Defined Superhet

 

--- In softrock40@..., KD5NWA <KD5NWA@c...> wrote:

If you are going to put a pre-amplifier in front of the QSD that I
would suggest a better pre-amplifier than a MMic chip. > >
Yahoo! Groups Links
I would 'not' use a pre-amplifier stage.

In the QEX article a gain of 6 was obtain from the input transformer
which should be enough to overcome the losses in the BPF. Need to run
the AADE program to verify.

The rule of thumb for the design of an RF stage is give it just enough
gain to overcome the tuned circuit losses. T1-4 does this plus
provides a degree of isolation.

I would use high Q inductors (not the store purchased ones) and high
quality RF capactors in the BPF.

Sometimes less is better. At least in this case this appears to be
true.

Stan AK0B
Rocky 1.1 crash

 

Thanks for the release of the new Rocky 1.1 code. Good stuff!!

I've just started experimenting with it using some recorded .wav file
signals. I am finding it works great for about 30 seconds or so and
then crashes with a "Debug Event in Section 3c1" message. I wonder if
anyone else has experienced this? This crash seems to be very repeatable.

For reference I am running on an IBM Xeon based system under Windows
XP professional. The signal file I am playing back is pretty huge
(around 676 MBytes). The sound card is an internal SoundMAX chip set
on the motherboard.


I'm going to try some experiments with a much smaller .wav file to see
if the crash may be related to something in the current file.

73's,

Ray WB6TPU
Re: Software Defined Superhet

KD5NWA
 

If you are going to put a pre-amplifier in front of the QSD that I would suggest a better pre-amplifier than a MMic chip. They don't have the best IP3 figures in the world and can have a lot of noise.

A Norton amplifier will be low noise and can have a very high IP3, for best results a Norton amplifier configured in a push-pull configuration will add even harmonic cancellation to boot.

At 09:12 PM 10/28/2005, Bob Hillard wrote:
Consider using the SR40 as an 'IF strip', preceeding it with a MMIC
preamp, some bandpass filtering, and a Diode Balanced Mixer
using an AMQRP DDS module as the LO source.

I have done that very thing with excellent results.

I've converted my SR40 to 30 meters, and use 10.138 mHz as the IF
center frequency. I've located the LO above the incoming signal in
order to reduce image frequencies.

The output of the DDS module ranges from 11.9 mHz on 160 meters to
31.6 mHz on 15 meters. By replacing the DDS module with the newer 60
mHz model when it becomes available, coverage will be increased to
include the 12, 10 and 6 meter bands.

With the LO above the incoming signal, the radio operates on the lower
sideband. However this can be corrected by software for bands that
require USB operation.

Band switching is accomplished by programming my DDS VFO controller
() so that each of the
eight programmable configurations represent a band. This gives me a
bandswitching VFO with wrap-around, up/down frequency control or
direct entry, variable VFO steps, sweep and scan functions, and 20
memory cells per band.

Presently I am switching bandpass filters manually, but that will
change with the addition of a band pass filter selection circuit
similar to that found in the 'Software Defined Radio for the Masses'
article. The bandpass filters are also similar to those found in the
QEX article. One of the filters, the one I use most oftenly, covers
the 15, 17, and 20 meter bands.

By using this scheme, the SR40 circuitry is not taxed by trying to
stretch it's operation past the limits of its design since it is
always operating on 30 meters. However the radio itself can operate
from 160M to 6M, with the exception of 30 meters (the IF frequency).
Likewise, since the DDS frequency does not have to be divided by four,
the useable range of the DDS module is extended to include all bands
through 15 meters.
?
What's next? Add a QSE module, a xmit DBM, some driver amps and WALLA,
an all band transceiver. Then add an HC908 controller to take care of
housekeeping, and a DSP module for operation independent of a
computer; a nice winter project.

I'll upload a block diagram of the radio.

Bob WA6UFQ





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Cecil Bayona
KD5NWA
I fail to see why doing the same thing over and over and getting the same results every time is insanity: I've almost proved it isn't; only a few more tests now and I'm sure results will differ this time ...

Connection to Delta-44

Leon Heller
 

I'm just getting round to connecting the SR-40 to my M-Audio Delta44 card. How are people doing this? I can either use 3.5 mm to 1/4" jack adapters or a couple of 1/4" jack plugs and cable. I've got a double-ended version of the latter (male-male) but the cable looks rather thick for reliable connection to the SR-40 PCB. Putting the SR-40 in a box with 1/4" jack sockets would be the neatest solution.

73, Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
leon.heller@...


---
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Re: PowerSDR 1.4.5 Beta preview 2 - SoftRock Support built in

Robert McGwier
 

Beta preview 3 will be out early this week and will contain significant bug fixes: Database problems, callback threading bugs, etc. IT IS BETA AFTER ALL.

Thanks!

Man do I like my SR40.

Bob
N4HY


Bill Tracey wrote:

The latest PowerSDR software release (1.4.5 Beta Preview 2) has Soft Rock support built in! No more installing patch packages from me (until I get back to doing some experimenting).

The release notes for this release can be found at:

My thanks to the folks at Flex-Radio for picking up the Soft Rock mods into the mainline code distribution. it saves me a lot of time not needing to merge Soft Rock changes into future releases of the code.

Bill (kd5tfd)




--
Laziness is the number one inspiration for ingenuity. Guilty as charged!
Re: SDR on 50Mhz

 

Jean-Claude,

The 2N3866 post amp would not be needed. I get sufficient output from
my pre-amp/mixer to drive the SR30.

Bob WA6UFQ

--- In softrock40@..., "jabauzit" <jabauzit@y...> wrote:

Hello all,

First: I did not receive my Softrock-40 yet and everyday new software
popups for it. I guess that I will have trouble to choose when I
receive it.
Thanks to all the developpers for all these neat applications.

I have been interested in SDRs since I discovered Flex Radio a few
years back and the SR-40 will be a good start to experiment.

I am a 6m op and my dream is to developp one exclusively for 6m.

The SDR-1000 does 6m, but it seems it is by chance:
No PA has been developped for it
I did not find any review for the 6m part
The DDS is at is upper limit for 6m and I guess that the spurs are
more of a problem on these frequencies.

My idea is to use a SDR as a variable IF with a downconverter ahead.
The new SDR Version 5 by Tony would be a good start to experiment.

Any idea would be welcome. On my side this is what I think:

A not so high gain preamp (U310 with 10dB gain).
A diode balance mixed (SBL-1 / TUF-1)
A post mixed amplifier (2N3866) followed by an attenuator pad (how
much attenuation?)
A SR Version 5 tunable on 9Mhz (or any other suitable IF)

If that works what about a more high performance SDR. I tried to find
schematics of the latest QSD used in the SDR-100 but did not find
anything.

Jean-Claude PJ2BVU
SR-40/30 Dual Bander and Rocky v1.1

Chuck Carpenter
 

SR Folks,

Got my SR modified with a switch so I can select either crystal for 40 or 30 meters. Used a sub-mini SPDT toggle switch and soldered the crystals directly to the switch. The common switch contact connects with a short lead to the crystal hot side at the board. Actually I'd used a DIP pin for the connection so I'm plugged into the DIP pin.

The ground ends of the crystals are connected together with a short lead to DIP pin crystal ground. Along with Rocky v1.1, it's now easy to switch bands. Works with PowerSDR too of course.

New picture to be posted of the lashup. Haven't grounded the crystals, BTW, and tapping or touching them doesn't seem to cause any problems.


Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, TX -|- Rains Co. -|- EM22cv -|- 72 es 73
50 years -|- 19 - K2OFN and 31 - W5USJ -|- Most fun = QRP since 1984.
www.w5usj.com hosted by Hamnutz.com -|- NeTxQRP www.netxqrp.org
Re: Desoldering

Leon Heller
 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Dumke" <billd@...>
To: <softrock40@...>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 2:08 AM
Subject: [softrock40] Desoldering


I am looking for suggestions on how to desolder and remove a leaded
capacitor I soldered in the wrong place on the SoftRock 40. One
suggestion a friend of mine gave me was to use plenty of solder and
plenty of rosin. I had tried to remove it using my digital controlled
iron set at 650 degrees F, but I couldn't get the solder to melt
properly on the component side of the board. He said that was because I
didn't have enough heat conduction to the other side because I didn't
have enough solder in the hole to do that. And also I needed to set the
iron to a higher temperature, like 700 or 800 degrees. (I was trying
to use some 1/8 " solder wick to draw it out, but wasn't very successful.)

Does anyone know the maximum temperature that can be applied to a plated
through hole in this PC board? I don't want to damage the plated
through hole.
I would simply cut it off, and remove the leads one at a time. Melting the solder and tapping it on a hard surface should work, or you can use desolder braid.

73, Leon

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SoftRock v5.0 new schematic posted

kb9yig
 

Good Morning All,

I have posted a new schematic with a table started on the schematic
page to include band-specific component values.

The first example of the v5.0 SoftRock is playing nicely on 40
meters. Uncorrected I/Q gain balance is within 8% and phase balance
is about 3 degrees. Rocky does a great job of tuning out the gain
and phase imbalance. The v5.0 sensitivity is a little less than the
v4.0 but the MDS is still on the order of -130dBm.

I will be building another v5.0 this week to try operation on 20
meters.

Sorry, my digital camera has stopped working properly so I can't
post any pictures of the two board stack.

I will be mailing out the v5.0 kits to alpha testers this week with
several going out today. E-mails will be sent to individual alpha
testers when I am ready to send each kit.

73,
Tony KB9YIG
88421 - 88440 of 89293