That's a great blog, Dean - lots of useful insights. And I am impressed that Farhan has taken time out to offer you assistance. What an impressive forum this is!?
73?
Tony

The podcast was fun and it prompted me to update my blog -?

Take a look at my latest blog post:

73,
Dean?
KK4DAS

sBITX Toolbox version 1.7 is now available. You can easily upgrade to the new version by pressing the Update button



And as always... The release notes are? at??




-JJ

开云体育

Thanks, that’s great information. ?

Hi Gordon - Very FB. I don't think the baud rate will affect SDR processing. Your code shouldn't block - it should just accumulate characters in an array of char until a carriage return (or whatever end-of-command character is used) is received, then it should go process the command. Until that time the GUI loop would just continue executing every millisecond.

The SDR code is in separate tasks, interrupt driven, and has buffers so that a real-time processing kernel is not required.

73; Steve, N3SB

THANKS, STeve!!
The characters were actually going the right place -- where the code had sent them.
I found my old code for driving a HEATHKIT SB102 from Winlink....and it interprets FT-897 commands.....oops!
I almost got THAT kludged in...but I have to go back because I am not handling the received characters properly.? ?The previous code was written for a completely different purpose, so a good bit of re-thinking and rewriting is now in order....however, I am ON THE WAY!
I put another hour into it to see characters getting stored and attempted to be interpreted.? ? That was big improvement, but all needs careful rewriting.
Another few hours and I might be intepreting my first command properly.
I have the baud rate set at 115200 on the theory that I dare not SLOW UP the SDR functions inordinately.
Timing will be something I have to figure out eventually.
But at least I am now processing characters from WINLINK itself, even if poorly.? ?It serves as a proxy for all other WINDOWS software that will likely work quite similiarly.??

I should order a couple of UARTs or at least some Baofeng programming cables, whichever is cheaper.? ?
Found this:? ??

It is TWO uarts identical, with connection pins (which will need to be longer, but I think I have some or can make them.? ? $9
That should fill the bill and make my llfe easier.

UPCOMING TALK:
I am giving a? 50-minute TALK about all the improvements that have been made to the sBitx in the past year, at the West Central Florida TECHCON 2024 talk at the end of February.? ?It would really be nice if I had this WORKING by then....it would mean that almost anything could be done with the radio, some all by itself, and others, such as WINLINK RMS 24/7/365 gateway stations, or ION2G, by using this trick.? ??

Gordon KX4Z

Thanks for the replay Tony. I really have no idea about any of it. I picked it up fully assembled. Receives SSB and CW fine. I know it transmits, just not sure how well. Anything you can send me would be great! my email is my call @ qsl.net.

Thank you!
kg8jk

Gordon - This is a great project, and you're making progress!

You will first have to add a few lines of code at the start of the sbitx program execution to open the /dev/ttyUSB0 serial port. Program start main() can also be found in sbitx_gtk.c Look for the string VER_STR? .

Then, have a look at the ui_tick function in the sbitx_gtk.c file. You'll find a function call a few lines down - cmd_exec(remote_command) . Your interim solution may include a new call that looks something like cmd_exec(serial_command) - which would be a way to demonstrate that your serial commands can be interpreted just like telnet commands.

After that, possibly create a new function called serial_command_exec(serial_command) with this new function coded to respond to the commands that an IC-7300 accepts.

Your idea to just plug in a Serial to USB converter is an excellent way to add a serial port to the sBitx.

73; Steve, N3SB

I recommend studying this description:?
--
Gyula HA3HZ

Talking to a 7300 might be easy, but it isn't the goal here.? ?We have to talk to a PC.? ?Apparently they make a cable just for this sort of thing, but I don't have one.? ?Using 2 UARTS that are recognized by each operating system on each end is probably the easiest for me.? ? There is probably a brighter way to direct connect to the UART on the Raspberry PI, but I don't want to take any chances of damaging that precious board!? ?

73
Gordon

OK,? I know that 90% of the readership here doesn't see any reason that we need this.....but some of us see why it would expand the market and usefulness of this incredible radio.? ?

So sometimes I think I am dumb as a stump.? ?Programming is NOT my forte.? ?I only do it when FORCED to..like now.

I have put THREE HOURS into this on this Sunday afternoon and finally I have achieved something huge in my eyes:? ?I have characters from Windows PC showing up on a screen of the sBitx.? ?This was my first important milestone.? ?It isn't pretty, it didn't happen the way I thought it would and they are not showing up where I thought they would....but they are showing up.

1.? Dumb me thought I could just build a "null modem" USB cable.? ?Duh.....that doesn't work.? ?Windows doesn't "see" it at all.? ? Maybe someone else could figure that out, but not me.? ?I needed COM PORTS to show up and DEVICES on the raspberry.

To get there I had to surmount a whole slew of issues like finding my software, getting it on the Raspberry, re-learning how to COMPILE.? ?Figuring out a missing .h file so it WOULD compile, remembering how to execute the output, how to name the output....the standard stuff that a non programmer like me forgets....but that was only about an hour of the 3

2.? Once I started trying to remember how the dickens I had it copying the PACTOR DRAGON....things started making more sense.? ?I needed a piece of "hardware" to plug into the USB port.? ? The only things that I have laying around.....are programming cables.? ?I couldn't find the ONE bare UART I have around here somewhere, and I couldn't find the pinout of the Icom2720 programming cable, but I did find the pinout of my one working Baofeng programming cable and I ended up deducing/guessing the pinout of the Icom2720 cable.??

3.? Then I connected TX from the 2720 cable (plugged into a windows PC) to RX of the Baofeng programming cable (plugged into the raspberry pi and quite satisfyingly, causing /dev/ttyUSB0 to magically appear!)? -- rewrote my software to use ttyUSB0 and started trying WINLINK to talk to the raspberry....I got characters but they make no sense so I am missing something in the pgramming lingo

4.? HOWEVER,? I had by this time also installed PuTTY on both computers and BINGO when I turned on Putty on the Windows and commanded the USB/COMPORT and set the baud rate -- magically whatever I type on the Windows putty screen appears on MY SOFTWARE'S TERMINAL WINDOW -- it is supposed to go to a file but it is somewhere being read and put there so SOMETHING is working.

-------------THat is huge progress for me---------------

Now I have to FIND where it is being pulled from the serial device in the C code and write software to hunt for ICOM Commands (I have some of that done somewhere)....and then probably the easiest part will be to have it change variables in sBitx code? (and integrate the two....I'm not smart enough to write socket code so I will just jamb these routines into it and let some MUCH BRIGHTER PERSON figure out the RIGHT way to do it.....

So that is a start.? ?I haven't tried it yet, but I *bet* that the icom 7300 is going to "appear" just like a UART and show me a /dev/ttyUSB0 when I connect a cable to IT.? ? If that is the case, I can just open it and start receiving and talking as well;? then I don't need the UART from the programming cable.? ? (But you would need it, or an open collector version...to control a radio like the Icom 718that only has CI-V control.....)? ?My thinking on all that was quite muddled when I started today so it never occurted to me to try THAT idea.....

THis is a START.? ?
73
Gordon KX4Z
??

I’m trying to get FLAMP working with FLDigi on my SBitx V2. FLDigi is working great using HamLib on all modes and when I open FLAMP I don’t get the “Mist start FLdigi first” message so I would assume FLAMP is communicating with FLDigi. ?But when I select a file to send in the FLAMP TRANSMIT tab and it’s showing up in the Queue and highlighted, it still won’t transmit when I pleas the XMIT button. ?Anyone have any ideas??

Original post was #99885

Somewhere? here I made a thread about my Bitx40, it was receiving, then eventually became lodged in Calibration mode. (Never transmitted on it.)
Since then, at the advice of the group I removed the original pi, and then got a new one with the updated firmware on it. I flashed the firmware (a first for me), and had to jumper some of the traces I broke during pi removal. So its on the updated firmware, not the original.?

My current issues can be seen here:?https://youtu.be/AoULnr5VICc

It appears to be switching between different modes, like the multifunction button is being pushed repeatedly. It did not have the button connected, so I added one, which did not help nor hurt.?

It had also been saying it was switching to transmit (no PTT was hooked up). I cleaned up some of the jumpers, which got me to where I am now, and am not sure what to try next or where.?

I was going to go back to all the original wiring, and start at the beginning, but skipped that and added in the 10 turn put vs the original pot(no change), and as mentioned added the multi function button back in.?

The second part of the video is an attempt to show the noise being generated is roughly in time with the change in LEDs from the pi.?

Help appreciated.

The title of the topic is misleading, it has nothing to do with sBitx.
Correct uBitx remote control program.
--
Gyula HA3HZ

开云体育

For what its worth:

Thank you for your explanation.

It might be wise for me to pause my attempt to grasp the code and architecture more deeply. It seems you possess a level of understanding beyond mine, given that despite my efforts in reading papers, watching tutorials, and examining numerous code examples, I still feel as though I'm barely touching the surface.?

The entire architecture of this platform, spanning from its software to its hardware design, deviates significantly from the conventional structures I'm accustomed to. Initially, I was optimistic about utilizing this radio in practical, field applications, but it appears that won't be the scenario moving forward.



-JJ