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Hi.

Running on LMDE 6 all up-to-date, on a 4 core Intel platform with 8G of RAM.

Fldigi 4.2.06.21 (alpha) has a buggy AFC feature.

It's been flaky since I first tried it, but intermittently the control (lower right, under the T/R button) would be "Greyed Out" so unable to change it's state.? The "greyed out" LED sort of indicates AFC is disabled, but in truth it is enabled and causes problems with noisy MFSK signals, where it can wander off to a neighbouring QRM signal.

Restarting Fldigi used to (most, but not all times) fix it, but now the control is permanently disabled, but the behind GUI AFC functionality is still running, and I'm unable to turn that off..

ver4.2.06 (release.)? It's AFC seems to mostly work as "normal".?? With no changes to the perfs files.?? That is, as configured, they both use the same files in the default location just fine, but the .21 Alpha version is very confused about if it has an enabled AFC control, or not.? Plus as above, when the on/off control is disabled, the AFC functionality is running!

Everything else seems OK, as far as what I've used anyway.?? Though the logic of what modes allow the AFC to be used, I haven't fathomed yet.

I can only conclude the AFC On/Off control Enable/Disable in 4.2.06.21 is buggy, so have reverted to the release version.

73.

Dave G0WBX.

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Hi Dave

AFC is not relevant to all modes. Back in the 4.2.06.alpha evolutions I mentioned to the forum that it wasn't working, but was indicating "on" with the multicarrier PSKR modems. RSID action was also involved as it kind of replaces AFC action.

RSID Squelch and MFSK AFC were patched only last month. (see Changelog) ie 4.2.06.24 has some associated changes. As I recall that also involved "more" greying out of the AFC button when it wasn't active.

I'd suggest discarding 4.2.06.21 in favour of 4.2.06.24 for any further testing.

Cheers Bob VK2YQA

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Thanks Bob VK2YQA.

Re:-? "I'd suggest discarding 4.2.06.21 in favour of 4.2.06.24 for any further testing."

I'll progress that today, and report back later I hope, though it's just been decided by "management" that I'm fetching and carrying furniture later today.

Regards.

Dave G0WBX.

(PS: In other news, the old w1hkj.com site, sometimes redirects to a UK Sundial website!?? I don't suppose Dave 'HKJ could arrange for a proper auto redirect to his new .org site to be implemented?)

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A CNAME DNS record would probably do it. Problem is that Dave may want the site hostname for something else, or he'd be giving it up and no longer have DNS authority over it.

You may be able to get away with making a local host declaration on your PC though ie directs to 72.52.250.187 (however you OS does it)

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Hi.

Well I said I'll report back.? But it'll be brief as I've been "booked for other things" (again.? I wish DM would give more advance notice, but when I suggest that, I get "The Look"!)

Anyway.

4.2.06.24 builds OK and runs.? But, the AFC control functionality is still weird, but in a somewhat different way to .21.? (Difficult to get my head around it, let alone describe it!)

Next stage is to archive all the settings and log files, and see if a "clean" build works correctly.

I rarely "Install" it these days, preferring to run it via a script, pointing to it's location in the projects version file tree.? It is also much easier to revert to an earlier release if issues prevail.? At least that's what I find.

~/app-srx/fldigi-4.2.06.41/src/fldigi??? For example.

The script containing that, itself invoked from the system menu tool.? If there is a better way, I'm all ears!? :-)

If a clean build does behave, then some investigation is needed perhaps, as I cant be the only one to update the executable with a new build, and expect things to at least "behave sanely".

One thing I've seen, that I sort of understand, is if RXID is active, AFC cannot be controlled, regardless of if it is active or not.?? I can understand the idea that if a station is using TXID, you shouldn’t need AFC to receive it, but there are some that use it, and still drift, so we need the free choice to use AFC or not please.

Also, if the AFC button/functionality is "blanked/greyed out", then the background AFC functionality, if it was in use, that should be turned off before the gui control is disabled.

73 All.

??? Dave G0WBX.?? Gathering tools to install a CCTV camera for a disabled friend of Mrs WBX.

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Hi Dave...

Also keep in mind that AFC state can now also be saved per band/modem as well, in a similar way to output level and squelch. That would certainly cause some weirdess. Look at Config/Misc/Saveparams to see what the overall save state is. These are saved in the config directory within the file mode_state.prefs. I remember getting this confused for output levels once so I just altered the file directly. I think a good start point for testing is to ensure that any line with "afc" in it has the value of "1" (enabled). Given there are near 2800 afc lines I'd recommend using some grep filtering! Like;

grep afc mode_state.prefs | grep \:0

Displays all modem/band combos with afc disabled

To add to the confusion that file has AFC entries for modems that wont use it. It was easier to program that way I guess.

My original concern about AFC/RSID also involved TX lock. This being very useful if the radio TX/RX freqs are not exactly the same. One can "walk the band unintentionally.

Yes it can all get quite complex Some modems need to use RSID to get the centre close enough. eg 8PSK & OFDM. Multicarrier PSK modems don't ever use AFC I suspect because the code is written for a single carrier! Any IFK mode doesn't ever need it nor Olivia/Contestia. What is left that really needs AFC? Maybe just test these?

Bob

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Thanks Bob, I was thinking that this smacks of a config file conflict somewhere.

I'll look into that, as soon as the just announced "honey doo" tasks are completed.? (Her sister is coming to stay for a night!?? I'm thinking of sleeping in the 4x4 on the driveway HI!

73.

Dave G0WBX.

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Hi again.

Well, this is very strange.

I renamed the entire .Fldig files folder, and started up 4.2.06.24 in it's /src folder from the command line.

After going through the basic configuration, things were working.? AFC control working as expected.

After some time, I exited, waited, and re-started it the same way.? BANG!? That AFC button is greyed out!

Mode was still PSK31, as it was the first time.

There is something funny about how it is saving/recovering settings from a previous session.

The daft thing is, if I again remove the .Fldigi settings folder, and start up 4.2.06 (release) and do the same procedure, THAT TOO instantly suffers the greyed out AFC button issue when restarting!

I've run MEMTEST86 overnight, no errors.? Spinrite 6.1 likewise passes the main hard drive as healthy, and as it is only Fldigi that is misbehaving, I don't know what else to try.

Earlier versions (and alphas) on the same OS (LMDE 6) worked OK.?? (As do WSJTx and JS8 Call.)? But do have issues some times with the Rv button, needing to be "toggled" when working with MFSK modes, so the decoder is the "right way up".

If it was a case that when the AFC button is disabled, and the AFC functionality too was turned off, that would be understandable.? But, if (when the AFC button is greyed out) and I select MFSK64 mode, with a waterfall full of PSK31 signals, the two red bars move about hunting for a signal, indicating (to me anyway) that the AFC is still working, despite it's control being disabled.

That is a huge problem when (for example) receiving the weekly ShortWave Radiogram, as when they send pictures, often the Fldigi "tuning indicator red bars" will wander off frequency during the picture transmission, and not find the digital mode again when the picture (successfully received) ends!

I've seen that behaviour for some time now, and was thinking it was "just me", but now I'm wondering if something in the permitted controls vs mode logic is messed up.

Might this be related to the need when running Olivia and other MFSK modes, to "toggle" the Rv button, to ensure the decoder is the "right way up" vs the Rig Sideband mode.?? That issue too, has been present for some time (I've reported it before) and I know I am not the only person to notice that, as it has caused issues a few times with the UK RAYNET HF nets, when working digital.?? (As I have also reported in the past.)

Sadly, my knowledge of C/C++ is not good enough to even figure out where the code that handles all this is located in the sources, let alone fathom out the logic.?? Else I would have a go!

73.

Dave (G0WBX) somewhat confused with this.

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PS:?? There's more.

Ive just found that the Squelch functionality with Olivia 8/250, is a bit dysfunctional too.

The squelch sometimes seems to be always open, regardless of the SQL button setting, or what the associated level indicator is showing relative to the threshold slider control..? This is intermittent as well.

Toggling the SQL button seems to fix it though.

I'm monitoring TC110GLB who's straddling 14072.5kHz today.

73.

Dave G0WBX.