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ensemble rx ii has a problem

 

what did I do wrong on my softrock ensemble rx II? I'm using the cheap
little syba (aud20101) usb sound card and this is what I get when I try to
use it as my input.
Alan
 

Original Message -----
Subject: [softrock40] ensemble rx ii has a problem


what did I do wrong on my softrock ensemble rx II? I'm using the cheap
little syba (aud20101) usb sound card and this is what I get when I try to
use it as my input.
I've not seen anything like this.

What is it like without anything plugged in?
Have you tried mixer controls? Stereo Mix?
What PSU?
Have you any other sound? On-board?

I'd guess it's working at only 48KHz. And a lot of these were mic input mono but you would see signals.
(The Ensemble is only designed to go down to 3.5MHz although it will receive lower with a reasonable antenna.)

73 Alan G4ZFQ
[email protected]
 

One other note, it's the same display from 80M - 10M
[email protected]
 

I have seen this display. It is quite dramatic, startling even when you expect to see the normal display. Unfortunately, I can not remember exactly what the problem was in my case but I think what returned my Ensemble II set up to normal function was to unplug either the rx or the soundcard USB and plug it in again. (Do you have the USB drivers for both the rx and the soundcard installed?)
There is another, less dramatic but still abnormal, display that sometimes appears for me where the fix is to change the frequency, even 10 Hz.
[email protected]
 

Re. my USB comment. Is the soundcard working OK for other apps, like playing music files,? if so my question re. USB driver is probably not relevant. Is the rx frequency control (which uses the USB) working when you use the "SoftRock Configuration Tool"? The latter should show that the Si570 is connected and succeed in changing the frequency. If that is OK and the display is still not showing the band signals, then I would guess that the USB for the rx is OK (but that USB control dll file has to be in the HDSDR directory as well as in the CFSGR exe directory I think). The cabling from the rx to the soundcard line input (not line output in spite of what it says on the rx) might be worth looking into also. My setup is quite sensitive to the sound cable quality and length. I am new to the SoftRock world myself, so hopefully one of the experts will have the solution for you.
 

I will check on the operations of the USB card, I am leaning towards a cable problem though


On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 12:05 PM, <tharlam@...> wrote:
?

Re. my USB comment. Is the soundcard working OK for other apps, like playing music files,? if so my question re. USB driver is probably not relevant. Is the rx frequency control (which uses the USB) working when you use the "SoftRock Configuration Tool"? The latter should show that the Si570 is connected and succeed in changing the frequency. If that is OK and the display is still not showing the band signals, then I would guess that the USB for the rx is OK (but that USB control dll file has to be in the HDSDR directory as well as in the CFSGR exe directory I think). The cabling from the rx to the soundcard line input (not line output in spite of what it says on the rx) might be worth looking into also. My setup is quite sensitive to the sound cable quality and length. I am new to the SoftRock world myself, so hopefully one of the experts will have the solution for you.
[email protected]
 

Tried a different 3.5mm - 3.5mm cable - just the same.
I get the same thing from the line in on the laptop Dell d630 and the usb sound card.
I'm starting to think it's a PSU problem - cheap multi-voltage walmart
Any other thoughts from the experts?

Kevin
K5KDT
 

Kevin

I have not had good luck at all with wall wart power supplies unless they are transformers. The lightweight switching supplies cause hum and noise both on the receive display and on the transmit signal. I even purged them from my entire shack. Try the rig on a 12V battery and see if that cures the problem.

Warren Allgyer
9V1TD
 

On 04/18/2014 08:24:35 PM, allgyer@... wrote:
[snip]
Try the rig on a 12V battery
and see if that cures the problem.
+1

First thing to try in _any_ weird problem. It's quick, easy, and has a
decent success rate. PS noise can find its way into weird places and
cause some truly odd symptoms.

-John

--
John Maxwell KB3VLL jmax@...

Adulthood isn't an award they'll give you for being a good child. You
can waste... years, trying to get someone to give that respect to you,
as though it were a sort of promotion or raise in pay. If only you do
enough, if only you are good enough. No. You have to just... take
it. Give it to yourself, I suppose. Say, I'm sorry you feel like that
and walk away. But that's hard.

-Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999
 

2 6v lantern batteries in series, no change :(


On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 7:34 PM, John Maxwell <jmax@...> wrote:
?

On 04/18/2014 08:24:35 PM, allgyer@... wrote:
[snip]


> Try the rig on a 12V battery
> and see if that cures the problem.
>

+1

First thing to try in _any_ weird problem. It's quick, easy, and has a
decent success rate. PS noise can find its way into weird places and
cause some truly odd symptoms.

-John

--
John Maxwell KB3VLL jmax@...

Adulthood isn't an award they'll give you for being a good child. You
can waste... years, trying to get someone to give that respect to you,
as though it were a sort of promotion or raise in pay. If only you do
enough, if only you are good enough. No. You have to just... take
it. Give it to yourself, I suppose. Say, I'm sorry you feel like that
and walk away. But that's hard.

-Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999
[email protected]
 

12V connected
[email protected]
 

12v not connected, but moving the LO around doesn't change the display below (tuning does nothing)
[email protected]
 

The HDSDR display shows a very wide bandwidth, with big signal bars at +- 30 kHz. If you set the soundcard to 48 kHz with HDSDR and make the HDSDR display show only +- 24 kHz, what does the display then look like? Are you getting any real RF signals thru the rx?
Interesting puzzle.
[email protected]
 

Now I have a question. The email version of Kevin's posts that I receive have screen captures of his HDSDR display, but the posts I see on Yahoo Groups only have the text, no images. How do I get the Yahoo posts to show the images?
Alan
 

Original Message -----
Subject: Re: [softrock40] Re: ensemble rx ii has a problem


12v not connected, but moving the LO around doesn't change the display below (tuning does nothing)
You should see a flat line with no 12V.
Use HDSDR at 48KHz, what do you see? Please confirm that you see nothing if the audio lead is removed.
Otherwise, presumably you built this Ensemble?
Did all the checks go well?

73 Alan G4ZFQ
Alan
 

Original Message -----
Subject: Re: [softrock40] Re: ensemble rx ii has a problem


Now I have a question. The email version of Kevin's posts that I receive have screen captures of his HDSDR display, but the posts I see on Yahoo Groups only have the text, no images. How do I get the Yahoo posts to show the images?
I have to open Kevin's email in my browser....
And I too cannot see the pictures on the Yahoo web interface.

Maybe it would be better if Kevin posted pictures as attachments?

Something is not compatible with Yahoo (and my email client)

73 Alan G4ZFQ
 

Ditto, the image box is empty, I have to re open the mail in Firefox
to see the attached image.




Best Regards,
Chris Wilson. 2E0ILY (UK)

Now I have a question. The email version of Kevin's posts that I
receive have screen captures of his HDSDR display, but the posts I
see on Yahoo Groups only have the text, no images. How do I get the Yahoo posts to show the images?
 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý

I see all the screen shots in my email client (Apple Mail). I very rarely go to the web group page

73 de
Jean-Paul
AC9GH @ EN61vr99






On Apr 19, 2014, at 3:52 AM, Chris Wilson <chris@...> wrote:

Ditto, the image box is empty, I have to re open the mail in Firefox
to see the attached image.

Best Regards,
Chris Wilson. 2E0ILY (UK)

> Now I have a question. The email version of Kevin's posts that I
> receive have screen captures of his HDSDR display, but the posts I
> see on Yahoo Groups only have the text, no images. How do I get the Yahoo posts to show the images?
 

without 12v I have a (reasonably) flat line @ 48khz - with the spike at the LO frequency
My internal card does 192/24
My external card does 96/24

Input : Softrock Si570

Input channel mode for RX: I/Q
Output channel mode for RX: AF to both channels

Swap I and Q is checked (I swapped the jumpers during build as recommended)
Alan
 

Original Message -----
Subject: [softrock40] Re: ensemble rx ii has a problem


without 12v I have a (reasonably) flat line @ 48khz - with the spike at the LO frequency
My internal card does 192/24
My external card does 96/24

Input : Softrock Si570

Input channel mode for RX: I/Q
Output channel mode for RX: AF to both channels

Swap I and Q is checked (I swapped the jumpers during build as recommended)
There is no guarantee that your sound systems will work higher than 48K without some configuration in their panels. Sometimes this can be tricky, so leave it at 48K for now.
So, do you now see signals when you connect a good antenna?
Assuming you have checked the basic sound mixer controls for correct input selection and gain.

73 Alan G4ZFQ

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