Enable Pre-Amp in Firmware #16
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I think Michael hasn't worked on this project for a long time. I also have a PSDR here. But like all the others, it's just a paperweight. |
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It's true, I've become busy with other projects and the PSDR hasn't gotten
much of my time recently. Jeff is correct, the preamp/low-pass filter
circuit isn't working. I had it working on development hardware, but my
efforts to get it to operate properly on the production board didn't reach
completion. That would certainly be a great place to focus attention for
anyone that is interested in assisting with development.
…On Mon, Dec 6, 2021 at 3:23 AM DM2NT ***@***.***> wrote:
I think Michael hasn't worked on this project for a long time. I also have
a PSDR here. But like all the others, it's just a paperweight.
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Is it very complicated to activate the preamp? Unfortunately I don't have a Windows computer to run the development environment. |
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Well in theory it shouldn't be too hard. Though it's certainly not as easy
as turning on power to it. There are RF switches that need to be
configured, and the pre-amp/low-pass filter IC has a lot of configuration
registers and things that have to be set correctly. The frustrating part is
that I had built one up on a dev board I made, ran some test code on it and
verified it was doing what I wanted (in this case, I was more focused on
the low-pass filtering part, but it did demonstrate the chip was working.)
but when I tried to do it on the production PSDR, I had trouble getting it
to work. I'm not sure what the problem is. And right now I just don't have
the bandwidth to work on it.
Most of my code is not in the main branch on github, btw, make sure you
look at them to see where the most recent activity is.
It might be worth putting on external pre-amp on the PSDR to see if it
performs better with that there. Where I live the bands are so noisy (S9+
most of the time) that the PSDRs sensitivity is actually fine, any signal
that can get through that shows up on the PSDR. I didn't realize at the
time that the sensitivity was a problem.
I am, by no means, an expert in RF/Radio design. If anyone makes
modifications that improve performance, I would love to know about them.
There is another project, called uSDR (there are some variations on it)
that pulls off pretty good performance with simpler circuitry than the
PSDR, and includes a very efficient amplifier design, something the PSDR
almost completely lacks. When I have some time, I'm interested in taking
what is (in my opinion) superior on the PSDR (the screen, processing power,
waterfall, ergonomics, case design, etc.) and merging in what I can from
the uSDR (simpler design, better sensitivity, better output power and
output filtering) into a next generation PSDR that could actually meet the
design goals I had for the original. But that may be a ways down the
line....
…-Michael
On Mon, Dec 6, 2021 at 11:45 AM DM2NT ***@***.***> wrote:
Is it very complicated to activate the preamp? Unfortunately I don't have
a Windows computer to run the development environment.
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Hi Michael, I also know the uSDX. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer a good display interface. I don't want to do without the waterfall display. Andreas DF8OE has already implemented the HMC1023 in his UHSDR. Here is the link to the Github: https://github.com/df8oe/UHSDR/tree/active-devel/mchf-eclipse/hardware Maybe you can already use a part here. |
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... I think a Malahit is what you want, either the original or there is one of the china clones which is as good as the original. There's a very active group of FB. Also google teensy convolution sdr if you really want to get into it. |
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Also have a look at the mcHF group on FB, if you look through the posts there's a Russian guy who is selling modified kits for the mcHF with a 4" display, looks very good. There are heaps of possibilities and projects out there. |
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DM2NT, Yes, I agree the uSDX interface is lacking (and in my opinion, the
ergonomics, case design, and the microcontroller is very underpowered,
thought they've managed to do an impressive amount with it) the idea I'm
playing with is merging the PSDR and the uSDX, but it will be a while, or
may never happen at all. Also, you don't need a Windows computer to work on
the PSDR, I just don't have instructions for other environments. Any guide
on doing STM32 development for your platform will likely work.
Peter, the Malahit looks pretty cool, but looks like it has rather
different goals from what I hope the PSDR eventually becomes. I am aware of
the mcHF, it's a nice project for sure. Interestingly, KA7OEI, the guy that
overhauled the mcHF, hugely improved its software (and maybe hardware too?)
lives not far from me and I've talked to him about the PSDR. He said he's
willing to take a look at it, but we haven't really made it happen yet.
…-Michael
On Thu, Dec 9, 2021 at 9:21 AM petermccracken ***@***.***> wrote:
Also have a look at the mcHF group on FB, if you look through the posts
there's a Russian guy who is selling modified kits for the mcHF with a 4"
display, looks very good. There are heaps of possibilities and projects out
there.
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You dont need windows to do this. If You have a Linux machine, see https://github.com/MichaelRColton/PSDR/wiki/Linux-build-instructions Cheers, |
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But i’d start by looking into the preamp issue (preamp not enabled, perhaps by not bing initialized in software) as this thing is deaf as a brick right now (sensitivity around -70dBm if I remember correctly, indicating 50 dB “missing”)
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