The Aero Thread..

[Vipersan]

Nice work Confucian ..
..but suggests to me that SDR# want to distance themselves from all but Airspy really ..
Obviously you can retrofit # to support dongles as you have proved ...but it's not that long ago they dropped support for SDRplay Also ..
I guess they go where the money is ....and try to drag folk along with them ..
AirSpy aint cheap ...but dongles are ..
cest la vie

 

[Confucian]

Well ...after much messing about trying to use both the Left and Right audio channels of a VB cable to transport 2 sets of data ..to one version of Jaero ...I have drawn the conclusion that Jaero only accepts data on the Left channel ..
The right channel being totally unused ..which is a waste ..
I've monitored the Right Channel and the data is present and ..with headphones on you can hear the data moving Left and right from the two channels ...but Jaero turns a deaf ear to the right channel.
I guess the only option now is to set up even more VB cable lines and use even more instances of Jaero ...each assigned its own cable and each only using the Left audio channel ?
I'll contact Jonti at some point and ask him to confirm my findings..
rgds
VS

Now there must be something silly going on I have had this working fine for ages. Start simple have you by any chance overlooked the jareo setting for 2 x Burst ? Also attached are my settings screens.

 

[Vipersan]

Now there must be something silly going on I have had this working fine for ages. Start simple have you by any chance overlooked the jareo setting for 2 x Burst ? Also attached are my settings screens.
View attachment 96969 View attachment 96970

Suspect you may be right Confucian ..
I have had or at least thought I had this working last night with the x2 burst setting ...but it simply stopped taking data overnight ??
Which is why I am trying again but this time with individual Virtual cables ...rather than L & R ..
It's as though there is a conflict on my system ?
I guess whatever works best ..

The audio level sliders shown on your screen grab are at the top ..
These do appear very critical to set on mine ..

fully up overloads Jaero..

I'm guessing there might be a great deal of variation with sound cards ..integral or otherwise..?

I also noticed you had the filter audio box ticked ..
I haven't done this ...
does it make a huge difference ?
rgds
VS

 

[Confucian]

Suspect you may be right Confucian ..
I have had or at least thought I had this working last night with the x2 burst setting ...but it simply stopped taking data overnight ??
Which is why I am trying again but this time with individual Virtual cables ...rather than L & R ..
It's as though there is a conflict on my system ?
I guess whatever works best ..

The audio level sliders shown on your screen grab are at the top ..
These do appear very critical to set on mine ..

fully up overloads Jaero..

I'm guessing there might be a great deal of variation with sound cards ..integral or otherwise..?

I also noticed you had the filter audio box ticked ..
I haven't done this ...
does it make a huge difference ?
rgds
VS

Not noticed a great deal of difference with the filter in or out. Its a good point you raise about sound cards as my server has no sound devices at all except for VAC. ? With two Aux VFO's set to left and right and tuned in have you tried disabling them in turn to see which GES's you get ? I get 15W = GES43 & 44. 25E 2x GES90. 54E GES 2 & 5

 

[Vipersan]

Not noticed a great deal of difference with the filter in or out. Its a good point you raise about sound cards as my server has no sound devices at all except for VAC. ? With two Aux VFO's set to left and right and tuned in have you tried disabling them in turn to see which GES's you get ? I get 15W = GES43 & 44. 25E 2x GES90. 54E GES 2 & 5

Yep ..I had GES 43 and 44 with 2x vfo using L & R..last night ...see earlier post ...
but at some point during the night ...
It simply stopped ...which is why I set about installing extra VB cables...and trying a different approach.
No idea why it stopped ..possible conflict or sound card crash ..
I'll keep working on it

 

[Vipersan]

So ..did a Kent Clark ..put some speakers on it shut my eyes and listened ...
There was a background vibration to the white noise that sounded like helicopter blades ...not that loud as to drown everything out ...but nonetheless ..present.
No data (hits) displayed on either Jaero ...
Shut down SDR# nothing else ...went and made a cuppa ..approx 5 minutes ...then started up SDR# again ..
I instantly got hits ...
not a huge number but some ...and the helicopter white noise was gone ...just the comforting white noise rush ...pierced occasionally by high pitched data bursts ..
So ..is it SDR# causing this I wonder ...the addition of the plugin ....VB cable ...or the PCs integral sound card ..?
Who can say ...
It may well be tricky to pin down or point a finger ..but I believe this is why the system gradually runs out of steam ..
ideas anyone ?

The noise I think is caused by a vibration set up in the AGC causing rapidly fluctuating levels though these are not visible in the waterfall ..
Could be IF ...AGC ...or Audio

I'll check back in about 2 hours to see if the vibrating white noise has returned..

 

[Vipersan]

Roughly 2 hours in ..and it started again ..
No wonder I have no hits ..
...
Didn't need to stop SDR# and start it again ..
Just disabled the dual vfo plugin and re-enabled ..
Untick > tick ...and the problem went away for about a minute ....then returned with a slowly at first ...then with a vengeance ..
This plugin is unstable ...or at least on my pc it is ..
Let me know if this dropbox link works ?
Dropbox - Public

 

[Archive-8]

Roughly 2 hours in ..and it started again ..
No wonder I have no hits ..
...
Didn't need to stop SDR# and start it again ..
Just disabled the dual vfo plugin and re-enabled ..
Untick > tick ...and the problem went away for about a minute ....then returned with a slowly at first ...then with a vengeance ..
This plugin is unstable ...or at least on my pc it is ..
Let me know if this dropbox link works ?
Dropbox - Public

Works ok on iPhone



Sounds like pocsag.

 

[Vipersan]

Works ok on iPhone

View attachment 96987

Sounds like pocsag.

Not at those frequencies Chris ...
Signals coming from a C band lnb on a satellite dish ..
lol
No ...'tis running smooth atm ...(left channel only)
till it starts again ..
IF it does that is ..
trying something else atm ...on account it may be some sort of internal feedback loop ..
A bit like a microphone in proximity to a speaker ....slow build up ..but eventually unrestricted unstable feedback..
When selecting the relevant virtual cable to transport the signal ..
2 choices are available in the drop down in SDR#
cable 3 is the one being used ..
choices are :
(MME)Line3 (Virtual Audio Cable)
or
(Windows directsound)Line3(Virtual Audio Cable)
Both get the signal to destination so what is the difference ?
I'm trying t'other option..atm

 

[Vipersan]

Nope ...still cannot use the right channel to transfer data ...
I guess it _could_ be VB cable but I'm suspecting something more sinister ..
@Confucian ...
Any chance you could somehow send me a copy of your entire 15W SDR# directory as is ...
So I can eliminate this at least ..?
Do you have access to dropbox ? or one of the other free file sharing freebies.
This mystery has me beaten atm.
doh!

 

[Archive-8]

Nope ...still cannot use the right channel to transfer data ...
I guess it _could_ be VB cable but I'm suspecting something more sinister ..
Confucian ...
Any chance you could somehow send me a copy of your entire 15W SDR# directory as is ...
So I can eliminate this at least ..?
Do you have access to dropbox ? or one of the other free file sharing freebies.
This mystery has me beaten atm.
doh!

Can't help you on your problem with the audio.

But your drop box link is working.

 

[Vipersan]

Now it gets interesting ..
Confucian kindly copied me a dump of his SDR# folder for 15W ..
The satellite position not being relevant ..except in the order I initialise the dongles ..
I still have copies of the SDR# directories frovided earlier by SB ...
These are initialised in this order A >54W B15W C 25E ..
So I started 54W first which worked ok and produced a waterfall ...but cannot produce data on both Left and Right virtual audio channels ..
Left Only works ..
This is true for all 3 instances ...but I started 54W first so that logically starting B (Confucians substituted for SBs ...) this would logically activate the correct SDR dongle/Dish at 15W ..
BUT it fails to run ...the waterfall freezes ...??
Interestingly they are both version 1.0.0.1443 ....so they should be straight swap
So I just ran the one instance of Confucians SDR# ...and re-tuned for 54W T channels ..
I can indeed now use both Left and Right channels for data ..
..the oddity continues however in that ...If...I then run up a second instance of Confucians SDR directory ...I once again experience a Frozen waterfall ...
..and it simply doesnt run ..
What I plan to try next is to obtain a clean copy of SDR# 1443 ...
..and migrate Confucians pugins etc one file at a time to see what is causing the second instance not to run ?
Hopefully I will get to the bottom of this enigma ..
What I can say for certain is that Confucians allows L & R
SBs Does not ...so there is something odd going on .
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

I had not re-booted the PC between running the SB versions of 1443 ..and The Confucian version I received today ..
So did it just now ...then ran up 3 incidents of Confucians SDR 1443 in succession ..
The booted just fine ...and allow L & R to be used on all of them ..
Something about SBs version is causing issues ...at least for me ..
So The plan is to replace with 3 new directories containing clones of Confucians in all 3 ..
Hopefully this will provide a solution..
Just when I thought it was all plain sailing though ...the cable connection the VCXO titanium mounted on Christina has developed a fault ...but then ..it was ancient RG6 put in some 10 years ago ..
Looks like I need a new reel of coax ...
Triple copper I think..50 mtrs
Perhaps Digi247 can pick me one up when he comes round to see me next week ?
If you read this buddy ...let me know ..
If not I'll drop him a PM
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

So I have made the clones ...and have just set up 54W ..
already getting a mix L & R GES 02 and GES 05 on VBcable 2 ...
Now to set up 15W ..
25E will have to wait until I replace that dodgy cable..
rgds

 

[Vipersan]

Ok ..now have GES 43 and GES 44 arriving at the same time on left and right channels of VBcable 3
Damned frustrating I cant set up 25E ...but then I'm used to setbacks..
lol

Is there only one T channel on 25E Mick ?
GES90
If so there is no point in multiplexing L & R

 

[Confucian]

Ok ..now have GES 43 and GES 44 arriving at the same time on left and right channels of VBcable 3
Damned frustrating I cant set up 25E ...but then I'm used to setbacks..
lol

Is there only one T channel on 25E Mick ?
GES90
If so there is no point in multiplexing L & R

25E Two "T" Channels both on GES90

 

[Vipersan]

25E Two "T" Channels both on GES90


View attachment 97031

Cheers for that ..
Not that I can set it up yet ...but good to know
;)

 

[Confucian]

Latest attempt to solve the stability issue. Arduino & GPS disciplined LO producing 25mhz for the LNB's & 28.8mhz for the RTL_SDR Dongles. Finally got it working, now comes the easy bit, putting it in a box ! lol

 

[Vipersan]

Spent all last night trying to get to the bottom of what might lie at the bottom of all my issues ..
I suspect there might be some problem usb sockets on the Optiplex 990.
I built a clean OS specifically to test them ..on a new drive so as not to destroy what I have already.
Then went to Dell ..and ran their online PC doctor tests ...specifically USB tests ..
There are 6 ports to the rear and 4 at the front ..
Supposedly all USB2
Running the interactive tests ..plugging in usb pens ..
All ports passed ..
So ran it again ...plugging in compound bulk in interface devices ..
ie ...dongles ..
3 of the rear ports failed
2 of the front ports also failed ..
The rest passed ..
So my conclusion is that although these ports sort of work ...it may be some are only partially functional/compliant ...and may well be the reason I'm having so much trouble.
If it is hardware failure I see no way round other than ..the inclusion of a low profile 4 port pcie card..
I only need 4 fully working ports at the rear ..
Now ...I cannot get a USB 2 version ..but there are USB3 low profile 4 external port cards available ...and are relatively cheap..
This would solve my problem ..
a) If the Optiplex 990 can accept it
b) If USB2 bulk interface devices are compatible with usb3
I assume the usb3 standard accomodates and is ok with older usb2 legacy devices ?

Well I ordered one just to see ....
Its a gamble but a relatively inexpensive one.
Price wise there is little difference between the card and an external USB hub ...which might well require external 5v power ....whereas the pcie card would not.

It could well be that running 4 SDR dongles 24/7 demanded too much current ..and is responsible for port failure ..
If the pcie card solution _does_ work ...
I feel this may be the way to go ...as they are easily replaced if they fail in the future.
Whereas ports on a motherboard are not.
rgds
VS

 

[Vipersan]

Latest attempt to solve the stability issue. Arduino & GPS disciplined LO producing 25mhz for the LNB's & 28.8mhz for the RTL_SDR Dongles. Finally got it working, now comes the easy bit, putting it in a box ! lol

View attachment 97032

Impressive Mick ...very impressive..
TBH I didn't realise you still had stability issues ....but the idea of locking both ..a Titanium C1 ..and an RTL dongle to a common 'fixed' source ...great idea ...
Though is expensive overkill ?
I assume it might be tricky locking all the LNBs to the arduino ...as this would require long extra cable runs ?
Not true of course of the dongles which are closely grouped in the shack.
I'd like to see more info if possible ...starting with a block diagram of how it will link up the 'component' parts for starters ...
with schematics to follow..
Nice work tho' buddy ...
Love the way you work as well mate ...Typical tech bench ...looking like a birds nest ..
reminds me of my own..
lol