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Brainstorm question: How to "view" QDX LED status remotely?

 

My QDX is generally "remote" in my attic at my main QTH, running off a laptop up there, 30 feet feet from where I'll sit and "operate." I like the QDX for remote digital work, because there's no audio routing involved, no other software needed to operate, and I don't need huge bandwidth if I remote desktop in.?
BUT, I have run into situations at home where I've accidentally bumped a slider in WJST-X....and eventually figured out I wasn't transmitting even though WJST-X seems to show that I am. I go up to the attic and then can see the LED status indicator and realize there's something wrong with the audio.?

? ? ?I'm looking at putting 2 or 3 QDXs to the same computer at my 2nd QTH eventually, and have realized this could be an occasional issue there, as I'll want to remote operate from home. From what I can tell, there's no way through Putty or any other native way to "see" the status LED (or read the status) via a computer... I have low bandwidth at my cabin, upload speed is slow there (600 kbps), so a camera with video is out of the question. So I'm curious as to how you think one could most easily "remote view" the status LED on a QDX or 2 without an insane amount of complexity??

Phototransistors into Arduino inputs? Somehow monitor the current of the LED, but fast enough to see what it's doing? (as in, need the resolution and speed to "Read" flashes vs the 1hz sine wave, etc) Of course this isn't an everyday need, so if it's just ridiculous to do so, I'll skip it. But was thinking there may be a simpler way than what I'm coming up with.?

Curious as to what others think, as this is not an area of my expertise.?

-Nate
N8BTR
 

What if you remove the LED and resistor and drive an Arduino pin directly?
--
Colin - K6JTH?
 

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Could you add a webcam to the remote PC, and point it at the devices, so you can view them remotely? You could also set up a Raspberry Pi and camera, and use that for viewing.

--
Paul
MW7PAJ

On 28/02/2024 13:41, natereik@... wrote:

My QDX is generally "remote" in my attic at my main QTH, running off a laptop up there, 30 feet feet from where I'll sit and "operate." I like the QDX for remote digital work, because there's no audio routing involved, no other software needed to operate, and I don't need huge bandwidth if I remote desktop in.?
BUT, I have run into situations at home where I've accidentally bumped a slider in WJST-X....and eventually figured out I wasn't transmitting even though WJST-X seems to show that I am. I go up to the attic and then can see the LED status indicator and realize there's something wrong with the audio.?

? ? ?I'm looking at putting 2 or 3 QDXs to the same computer at my 2nd QTH eventually, and have realized this could be an occasional issue there, as I'll want to remote operate from home. From what I can tell, there's no way through Putty or any other native way to "see" the status LED (or read the status) via a computer... I have low bandwidth at my cabin, upload speed is slow there (600 kbps), so a camera with video is out of the question. So I'm curious as to how you think one could most easily "remote view" the status LED on a QDX or 2 without an insane amount of complexity??

Phototransistors into Arduino inputs? Somehow monitor the current of the LED, but fast enough to see what it's doing? (as in, need the resolution and speed to "Read" flashes vs the 1hz sine wave, etc) Of course this isn't an everyday need, so if it's just ridiculous to do so, I'll skip it. But was thinking there may be a simpler way than what I'm coming up with.?

Curious as to what others think, as this is not an area of my expertise.?

-Nate
N8BTR
 

On 28/02/2024 13:41, natereik@... wrote:
But was thinking there may be a simpler way than what I'm coming up with.
Nate,

I do not know what you would do if a LED was not pulsing?
But an easy way of checking operation is looking for spots on WSPRnet.

I run WSP{R/FST4W on at least 3 RXTX QDXs and the situation you describe, no TX, is very rare.

73 Alan G4ZFQ
 

Hi Nate.? One quick solution is to purchase a cheap USB enabled DVM with software.? Run the DVM software remotely to monitor the activity of the LED voltage.? Here's one example:








Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:14


On Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 08:41:46 AM EST, natereik@... <natereik@...> wrote:


My QDX is generally "remote" in my attic at my main QTH, running off a laptop up there, 30 feet feet from where I'll sit and "operate." I like the QDX for remote digital work, because there's no audio routing involved, no other software needed to operate, and I don't need huge bandwidth if I remote desktop in.?
BUT, I have run into situations at home where I've accidentally bumped a slider in WJST-X....and eventually figured out I wasn't transmitting even though WJST-X seems to show that I am. I go up to the attic and then can see the LED status indicator and realize there's something wrong with the audio.?

? ? ?I'm looking at putting 2 or 3 QDXs to the same computer at my 2nd QTH eventually, and have realized this could be an occasional issue there, as I'll want to remote operate from home. From what I can tell, there's no way through Putty or any other native way to "see" the status LED (or read the status) via a computer... I have low bandwidth at my cabin, upload speed is slow there (600 kbps), so a camera with video is out of the question. So I'm curious as to how you think one could most easily "remote view" the status LED on a QDX or 2 without an insane amount of complexity??

Phototransistors into Arduino inputs? Somehow monitor the current of the LED, but fast enough to see what it's doing? (as in, need the resolution and speed to "Read" flashes vs the 1hz sine wave, etc) Of course this isn't an everyday need, so if it's just ridiculous to do so, I'll skip it. But was thinking there may be a simpler way than what I'm coming up with.?

Curious as to what others think, as this is not an area of my expertise.?

-Nate
N8BTR
 

On 28/02/2024 14:10, Alan G4ZFQ via groups.io wrote:
an easy way of checking operation is looking for spots on WSPRnet.
Or, presuming you are checking by VNC (?) click TX and be monitoring on a local RX.
 

Thinking about this some more, a Trinket M0 could monitor the voltage of the LED with a GPIO and output it while emulating a USB keyboard. I use trinkets as keyboards all the time. I have a rotary encoder that outputs the AV keyboard codes for volume up and down on my headless pi as an example. They are cheap. Then you need some PC code to read the keyboard and get you the data. It could be done in a web browser to make a status display you could read via VNC.?
--
Colin - K6JTH?
 

Watch the update rate on the meter, as well as the ability to disable the auto range.? With a flashing/pulsing LED the auto ranging might get stuck trying to chase the varying signal.
I have seen this happen, the meter just ranges up and down forever and never settles to a reading.
73, Don N2VGU
 

Hi Donald.? Quite true about the voltage acquisition timing issues.? One solution is to get the voltage before the limiting resistor for the LED.? Then just buffer (if necessary) and low pass the pulsating voltage.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:14


On Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 10:26:31 AM EST, Donald S Brant Jr <dsbrantjr@...> wrote:


Watch the update rate on the meter, as well as the ability to disable the auto range.? With a flashing/pulsing LED the auto ranging might get stuck trying to chase the varying signal.
I have seen this happen, the meter just ranges up and down forever and never settles to a reading.
73, Don N2VGU

 

On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 07:51 AM, Colin Kaminski wrote:
What if you remove the LED and resistor and drive an Arduino pin directly?
That may be an option!

On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 08:00 AM, Paul Jewell wrote:

Could you add a webcam to the remote PC, and point it at the devices, so you can view them remotely? You could also set up a Raspberry Pi and camera, and use that for viewing.

Paul, I have limited upload speed there, (600kbps), so remotely viewing video is rough. But fair point I could use the remote desktop to view on the screen of the remote PC at a reduced quality...but that seems to handle it better than it would directly trying to tap into a security cam that needs 1MBPS or more upload for video.?

On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 08:17 AM, Alan G4ZFQ wrote:
On 28/02/2024 14:10, Alan G4ZFQ via groups.io wrote:
an easy way of checking operation is looking for spots on WSPRnet.
Or, presuming you are checking by VNC (?) click TX and be monitoring on a local RX.

I run WSP{R/FST4W on at least 3 RXTX QDXs and the situation you describe, no TX, is very rare.

Alan, I use PSKReporter frequently to confirm my TX is going out. Not easy to local RX sometimes.... depending on band/hops. But I'm more concerned about viewing the LED to diagnose a no-TX issue once I know I have it. Also guessing it's more common for me because I'm messing about in WJST-X with changing bands and modes...probably more often than you are with WSPR?

On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 08:23 AM, Colin Kaminski wrote:
Thinking about this some more, a Trinket M0 could monitor the voltage of the LED with a GPIO and output it while emulating a USB keyboard.

Colin, that is an interesting one! I like this thinking/device!


On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 08:14 AM, Steve wrote:
Hi Nate.? One quick solution is to purchase a cheap USB enabled DVM with software.?

Steve, that's an easy/quick solution, too. I had the same thought that Donald did about update rate, but fair point it may just work!



Thanks for the input, all! Gives me plenty to mull over/think about my options here.?

-Nate
N8BTR
 


Hi!

Apologies for inexperience and eye sight too bad to read all these messages...??

Brainstorms--
1. Optocoupler with a long USB cable??

2. Smoke alarm?? <grin>

73
Paul
KY4XJ

On Wednesday, February 28th, 2024 at 8:41 AM, natereik via groups.io <natereik@...> wrote:

My QDX is generally "remote" in my attic at my main QTH, running off a laptop up there, 30 feet feet from where I'll sit and "operate." I like the QDX for remote digital work, because there's no audio routing involved, no other software needed to operate, and I don't need huge bandwidth if I remote desktop in.?
BUT, I have run into situations at home where I've accidentally bumped a slider in WJST-X....and eventually figured out I wasn't transmitting even though WJST-X seems to show that I am. I go up to the attic and then can see the LED status indicator and realize there's something wrong with the audio.?

? ? ?I'm looking at putting 2 or 3 QDXs to the same computer at my 2nd QTH eventually, and have realized this could be an occasional issue there, as I'll want to remote operate from home. From what I can tell, there's no way through Putty or any other native way to "see" the status LED (or read the status) via a computer... I have low bandwidth at my cabin, upload speed is slow there (600 kbps), so a camera with video is out of the question. So I'm curious as to how you think one could most easily "remote view" the status LED on a QDX or 2 without an insane amount of complexity??

Phototransistors into Arduino inputs? Somehow monitor the current of the LED, but fast enough to see what it's doing? (as in, need the resolution and speed to "Read" flashes vs the 1hz sine wave, etc) Of course this isn't an everyday need, so if it's just ridiculous to do so, I'll skip it. But was thinking there may be a simpler way than what I'm coming up with.?

Curious as to what others think, as this is not an area of my expertise.?

-Nate
N8BTR

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