开云体育

I have been surprised that no one has been talking about the performance of the SR40. It has brick wall filters, really nice. I have mixed feeling about the noise reduction, but not sure I understand the NR operation so will withhold comments. I have not really had problems with 7056 khz osc noise, but I got rid of the USB power source very quickly. 78L05 is the way to go. I run it with a laptop and distance improves the operation. Laptops generate a lot of EMI. Connect your SR40 to a dummy load and then fight your EMI sources. I have three different laptops, different brands but they all radiate. Next week I hope to move the SR40 connection to my 800 mhz tower with a Delta 44 and see how it does with weak signals. I ended up with my SR40 in a die case box. Some of those signals you see in the pass band may be your own computer. Watch out for ground loops. The SR40 is a RF device and you know the rules, one ground return for everything. Do learn how to use your mouse for tuning. Do not over drive the soundcard. Click on some of those -90 db signals and use the filters. You will be surprised if you have been using the old 602 mixer qrp rigs. I have been able to copy -110 db signals very well. Takes a little practice to learn how to use the powerful software. A good ham band band pass tuner in front of the receiver would be nice, most of the antenna tuners are LPF designs and not much help. But not required for a fun experience. Stan AK0B

Good thoughts, Stan. I agree, the performance of this little rcvr is surprising, considering the simplicity of the hardware. The filtering provided by the software makes for a real powerful set of tools. I have been listening to my SoftRock-80 here. covering a range of about 3.555-3.600 Mhz using a 14.318 crystal in the LO, and my redesigned front-end filter. It's working great. I can pull some pretty weak stations out fairly close to the S9+25dB signal of W1AW code practice here in NH. The Thirty meter version works great too. I am also using a seperate source of power from the computer. I have been doing too much experimenting to get the receivers into permanent cases yet, but I know that will only improve something that already works remarkably well. In time.... I have already determined the values for a 20m front end. Just need to decide on a method to get the LO on about 56.200 Mhz.... It may be hard to find a fundamental-mode crystal for that freq. Maybe a 3rd overtone oscillator mounted on a plug-in that includes the new front- end filtering......... I'd love to hear back from others who have done the 30m mod using the crystals I have provided. 73, Bruce N1RX

That's the feeling I was getting, that is not a simple setup a project and recompile. There is so much more to a programming environment, all the libraries would have to be compatible or your dead in the water. I was wondering, I went to the icSharpDevelop site and I got the impression that the software is only a IDE for the MS C# compiler, so you would still have to have the MS software anyway. Is that correct or will it work with it's own or other C# compilers. They have a evaluation version of MS C# has anyone succeeded in compiling the Flex software with that free software? Is anyone using the Borland C#Builder environment? I like Delphi and you get C# included so It would not be so bad to upgrade. My son is going to the local University so a student copy would also be reasonable in term of $$ I would imagine it's going to be like everything else MS C#, C#Builder, Mono, or Grasshopper all would be fine for a new software project but to convert a project from another environment would be a lot of work. Lissssp anyone? :-P Cecil Bayona KD5NWA www.qrpradio.com I fail to see why doing the same thing over and over and getting the same results every time is insanity: I've almost proved it isn't; only a few more tests now and I'm sure results will differ this time ...

Philip Covington wrote: That's right. Now that we're past the official fork between the Linux and Windows versions, the complete Linux environment is crystallizing fast. Bob G3UKB has done heroic work in building the console and remoted control environment. The debugging is mostly a question of ironing out version inconsistencies between various supporting software chunks. The main outstanding question right now is how to provide a complete system for the early adopters that won't have them tearing their hair out over massive installation requirements and dependency problems. This is a non-trivial issue and difficult to solve without forcing everybody to the same Linux distro, release, and supplementary libraries. Nothing conclusive yet. N4HY and I are down for the count right now with AMSAT and other commitments, but we will be concentrating on the Linux release again during the coming week. 73 Frank AB2KT

SR-40 Folks, Finished the mechanical assembly and posted a couple of pictures for show and tell. The enclosure is an LMB CR-321. The board is mounted vertical for access to both sides. The supports are L-brackets made from some aluminum angle. I need to do some rework on the one support. It hits the pads where the audio signals connect. Maybe an insulator too. The holes mounting the board were thread formed using a 4-40 screw. Don't tap the holes -- it removes the metal and the epoxy fiberglass won't hold a thread. The LED is now panel mounted and DIP pins were used for the crystal and the two feedback capacitors for the oscillator. I used manhattan pads for the off-board connections. I found that the use of very fine solder was much needed. The pads are small. The stuff I used is .015 silver bearing that I found at RS. Tony Parks mounted the surface mount parts for me. My hands have gotten too shaky for that many pins that close together...[g]. Now to get it wired up and see if it really works! Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, TX -|- Rains Co. -|- EM22cv -|- 72 es 73 50 years -|- 19 - K2OFN and 31 - W5USJ -|- Most fun = QRP since 1984. www.w5usj.com hosted by Hamnutz.com -|- NeTxQRP www.netxqrp.com

Hello all, I have started a frequently asked questions notice, and posted it to the Files Section. Please refer to this file when faced with a SoftRock startup problem. I will add topics to the list as they come up. If anyone has additional info that they would think would help others, just send it to me and we'll add it to the list. With the second round of AmQRP SoftRock kits hitting peoples, mailboxes, let's share our experiences! 73, Bruce, N1RX

Hi All, I finally got my Softrock up tonight after playing with it last night with no luck. Tonight I can hear stations!! I had a SDR program operator error last night. I took it into work and during lunch plugged it into a USB port and verified with a scope that the timing signals were present. A little overshoot and undershoot on the output of the buffer amp U1, but the signal is present. I did the initial soldering under my microscope but checked over it again today to make sure all was fine. Tonight I hooked it up to my 8640 generator and hear the tone fine, but every few seconds there is a rapid succession of a few clicks where the signal dies and then comes back. The signal strength goes up from about -140 dBm to mid -50's. The LED does not flicker at all during this (I had thought that the USB connector may be loose) and I tried connecting the USB connector up to my wife's new laptop and I get the same result. I also connected the radio up to my antenna to rule out the generator acting funny and I get the same result. How accurate is the signal strength meter? I set my generator for 7.040 Mhz at -73 dbm and the signal strength meter read -109 dBm. I checked the output of my generator last year with a commercial power meter and it was about 2 dBm off, not 36 dBm off. I have one last question. I was going through the "Configure and Use" section of the assembly manual and item #4 made me pause. Do I have to null the receiver to below -50 dBm on the panadapter display or am I supposed to have a difference before and after nulling of 50 dBm. I can get the receiver to null by about 5 dBm on the screen (from -108 dBm to -103 dBm). Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided. Chris Waldrup KD4PBJ

Hi Art, I had that problem too and the nice people in the group helped me fix it. On the Power SDR console, click on Setup at the top left corner. Click on Audio, then change the Card 1 Driver from Direct Sound to MME. I hope this works for you. Chris KD4PBJ ----- Original Message ----- From: "KY1K" <ky1k@...> To: <softrock40@...> Sent: Friday, October 07, 2005 2:23 PM Subject: [softrock40] It LIVES! > After 3 long days of waiting for my softrock to arrive, it finally > did! Now I won't be waiting at the mailbox to meet the mailman! > > Took me much longer than 3 hours to build, but I made some errors > that had to be corrected:>: > > For anyone about to go through this, I suggest the following: > > Don't do like I did....and put the tanatlum caps in backwards! Even > with a lighted magnifying lamp, I didn't see the little X on the > component indicating the polarity. Had to remove 3 of them and > reinstall them, fortunately I caught this before I applied power. > > Software install went without a problem. I'm a little concerned that > I didn't get prompted to install some other utility programs like the > directions said I would....but it fired up without errors on the first try. > > The moment of truth came.......time to plug it in and look for smoke. > > No smoke, but the LED is very dim....oooopppssss, must be a problem. > Turns out that's not a problem, they are all pretty dim,! The 2.2 K > series resistor limits the LED current to 1.3 ma. No doubt, this was > intentional due to the nature of the beast in that it draws power > from the USB port. > > My Dell laptop has no stereo input on the sound card and my antenna > was a 6 foot clip lead laying on the bench. So, I haven't adjusted > the null for the opposite sideband yet. > > Even with the bad antenna, I heard a few signals, enough to know it > works! Most of the signals I heard were noise coming from the > computer though, but I dido manage to hear some CW. My computer is > 59, much louder than the few signals I was able to hear with the > limited antenna. > > So, it looks real good so far. > > At some point, my softrock will probably be installed in a box! So I > attached both cables to the same side of the PCB, leaving one > mounting hole available for the day when I want to install it in a > box (both cables anchored to the same mounting hole). > > Took me awhile to figure out how to adjust the frequency on the > flexradio software.....but that was the hardest part of the software > aspect of the testing. > > Fired it up with SDRadio, it works with SDRadio software too. > > I have a problem with occasional (very brief) dropout of the audio > every 3 to 4 seconds for 100 msec's or so. It also pops when the > audio drops out. It does this whether the softrock is plugged in or > not though. Tried setting the soundcard to use mime instead of the > windoze driver, but had the same results. > > I can make a recording of it (I think). Will probably have time to > work on it tonight after the house gets quiet. > > So far so good. > > Hope everyone's assembly goes as well as mine. > > Regards, > > Art > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > >

Admittedly the only thing I have to compare it to is an 857 but this SR40 just blows it away, now I need an antenna switch so I can listen on the SR40 and xmit on the 857. Should have bought a name brand motherboard as the USB port power was unbearably noisy on this one. Just want to say thanks to all involved with this project from the design to the kitting it's one fun SOB! Chris N7UJU

Hi Guys, I am working on getting this little receiver up and running but noticed a few things I wanted to ask of those more experienced. I connected my generator and set it to 7.040 Mhz at -60 dBm then went to the General tab and clicked on Calibration. I set the frequency in the field to the generator frequency and clicked on start and it gave me a Frequency Calibration Complete message. I did the same thing for amplitude, so now the peak on the spectrum display is at -60 dBm. However the displayed reading for the RX meter at the top right says -83.2 dBm. As I tune around and the peak disappears the reading changes. What causes the discrepancy between the signal meter reading and the spectrum peak's value- is the reading an average between the signal and the noise floor? The clicking was stopped by selecting MME under the Primary Sound Card setup details field under Audio. Thanks Bruce for this help. I was worried that I had to get a new soundcard for the computer (which is new, so I hate to replace something that isn't broken). I worked more with the Image Reject feature under DSP and I can only null it by about 10 dB. It is sitting at about -65 dBm right now. The best null comes with the Phase all the way to 400 at far right and the Gain all the way to -500 at far left. The controls are at the end of their setting so I need more range and I don't get the twitchy response that Bill mentioned. I went back to the General tab and clicked on calibrate Image Null (above values) and got an message that says "Error calculating image null. Please try again." Does this mean that the receiver is bad or is there something in the software I need to change? Thanks again for a great little receiver and especially for this forum that we can get almost real time help from the designers and more experienced users. It helps tremendously! Chris KD4PBJ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Waldrup" <kd4pbj@...> To: <softrock40@...> Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 6:56 PM Subject: Re: [softrock40] Re: Softrock up and running but need a little guidance > Hi Bruce, > > That fixed it! The background would pop and shift levels even with no > antenna or signal generator connected. Quite annoying when listening to a > faint signal. Now that I got that taken care of, tonight I will work on > spur nulling and checking on the amplitude level readings (did not agree > with performance verified HP signal generator when I was testing it last > night). > The computer I am using is a Dell 3.06 Ghz machine with XP and 512 MB of RAM > so this should be fast enough. > Thanks again. > > Chris > KD4PBJ > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bruce Beford" <bruce.beford@...> > To: <softrock40@...> > Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 6:44 AM > Subject: [softrock40] Re: Softrock up and running but need a little guidance > > > > Hi, Chris. > > > > Re: The "popping sound" and shift in signal levels- (when you say > > the signal level goes from -140 dBm to -50 dBm during these jumps, I > > am sure you are talking about the background signal, not the output > > of the signal generator itself.) This sounds like the Windows audio > > driver issue that many of us have seen. Go to the Audio tab of the > > PowerSDR Setup screen. Set the audio driver to MME, instead of > > Windows DirectSound. Hope this helps. > > > > 73, -Bruce, N1RX > > > > .--- In softrock40@..., "Chris Waldrup" <kd4pbj@b...> > > wrote: > > <snip> > > > Tonight I hooked it up to my 8640 generator and hear the tone > > fine, but every few seconds there is a rapid succession of a few > > clicks where the signal dies and then comes back. The signal > > strength goes up from about -140 dBm to mid -50's. The LED does not > > flicker at all during this (I had thought that the USB connector may > > be loose) and I tried connecting the USB connector up to my wife's > > new laptop and I get the same result. I also connected the radio up > > to my antenna to rule out the generator acting funny and I get the > > same result. > > > > > <snip> > > > Chris Waldrup > > > KD4PBJ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > >

Well, great! Up until I saw Tony's message where he said to check Disable PTT, it seemed like my luck had run out. Everything built so far had worked first time...[g] I could hear the oscillator in my receiver and all the static voltages were OK. No scope to look at other stuff. Now all the controls appear to be working. The SR-40 isn't calibrated or properly setup yet. But when I turn on a Rock-Mite with a crystal at 7035 I see a definite signal from the oscillator (no antenna on RM) at that frequency on the panadapter screen. So I'm part way there at least. I still don't hear any sound in my laptop speakers and I haven't figured out how to tune the thing. Next, I'll have to try the 30 meter mods using the crystal from Bruce Beford. Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, TX -|- Rains Co. -|- EM22cv -|- 72 es 73 50 years -|- 19 - K2OFN and 31 - W5USJ -|- Most fun = QRP since 1984. www.w5usj.com hosted by Hamnutz.com -|- NeTxQRP www.netxqrp.com

Cecil, Thanks -- that did it. Things get easier once you understand them...[g] Much appreciated and having fun! Going to get it calibrated now. Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, TX -|- Rains Co. -|- EM22cv -|- 72 es 73 50 years -|- 19 - K2OFN and 31 - W5USJ -|- Most fun = QRP since 1984. www.w5usj.com hosted by Hamnutz.com -|- NeTxQRP www.netxqrp.com

Hi Bill, Tony and eveyone else, I tried it with my wife's new vaio laptop and I am able to null the image down into the noise! So it looks like my Softrock hardware is fine and it is an issue with the Soundblaster Live card. Thanks so much to all who have helped. I hooked up an antenna and I have signals! Chris

SR-40 Folks, The SR-40 is packaged, wired and is working thanks to some great help from folks on the lists. This thing is a great way to gain some familiarity with SDR operation. I've updated the pictures and posted them on the Yahoo groups Softrock40 reflector. The enclosure is an LMB CR-321. The board is mounted vertical for access (and viewing for show and tell) to both sides. The supports are L-brackets made from some aluminum angle. Had to do some trimming and insulating to clear the adjacent component pads. The back panel includes the power connector, stereo cable jack and the BNC antenna jack. On the front panel are the LED power indicator and an ON/OFF switch. Now to try the 30 meter conversion. The holes mounting the board were thread formed using a 4-40 screw. Don't tap the holes -- it removes the metal and the epoxy fiberglass won't hold a thread. The LED is now panel mounted and DIP pins were used for the crystal and the two feedback capacitors for the oscillator. I used manhattan pads for the off-board connections. I found that the use of very fine solder was much needed. The pads are small. The stuff I used is .015 silver bearing solder that I found at RS. Tony Parks mounted the surface mount parts for me and helped get the software running. Cecil provided the info on how to do the tuning. Several things weren't intuitively obvious to this COF...[g] Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, TX -|- Rains Co. -|- EM22cv -|- 72 es 73 50 years -|- 19 - K2OFN and 31 - W5USJ -|- Most fun = QRP since 1984. www.w5usj.com hosted by Hamnutz.com -|- NeTxQRP www.netxqrp.com

Greetings all, As previously reported, my softrock is dead-has to be a bone crushing+ loud signal to be heard. But, the output level to the sound card appears identical compared with my borrowed and fully functional softrock. By this I mean that both units put out the same signal level to the soundcard with no antenna connected....in fact, it's impossible to tell them apart until a decent antenna is connected. So, I figured I had a tuned circuit problem between the antenna and the transformer...but that the power supply, the switch and the logic was probably working fine. I borrowed an MFJ antenna analyzer (MFJ-269) and fed the thing into the antenna input. I've checked these figures twice, got the same numbers both times. These measurements were taken on the bench with power applied from the computer and with the connection made to the sound card (without antenna attached). I have a fairly high degree of confidence that the MFJ is in working order, it's used often and has recently made stubs for 6 meters and the numbers seem reasonable when hooked up to my 2 meter yagi. So, here is are the results. SWR Rs Xs 5 Mhz 15(12) 12(15) 102(96) 6 Mhz 1.7(3.2) 77(14) 26(12) 7 Mhz 3.8(2.1) 30(24) 63(12) 8 Mhz 2.7(2.4) 113(21) 56(14) 9 Mhz 1.0(5.3) 49(11) 2(25) Has anyone else had their softrocks hooked up to an antenna analyzer? The numbers seem like they should be a little closer to each other, so I'm not sure whether to look at the tuned circuit or elsewhere. Any suggestions? HELP!!!!!! Art .

Hello everyone. I have uploaded 4 new photos to the N1RX photo folder. These show sweep results using an AmQRP Micro908 Antenna Analyzer on the SoftRock. There are two pictures each for a SoftRock40 and for my SoftRock80 prototype. For each unit, there is one photo for the SoftRock under power, but with the local oscillator disabled. The second photo for each, shows the same sweep, with the LO crystal installed. Again, the Softrock is powered in all cases. Notice that the local oscillator causes a big spike in the SWR curves at the LO frequency, due to the oscillator energy that makes it out the antenna jack. (Yes, the SoftRock DOES transmit, hi.) The SR80 graphs are from 2.5 Mhz-7.0 Mhz and the SR40 graphs are from 5.5 Mhz -14.0 Mhz. If larger photos are desired, I can repost them to the files section where they won't get squished down to only 400 pixels wide. 73, Bruce N1RX

I'm using I2PHD software and can only null the image one one side of zero (center) As I swing generator through zero to other side of center the image reappears i've tried swapping I&Q channels but can only null image on one side. Thanks Joe WA9CGZ

One other thing. I thought I would test the kit with another computer just to rule out the computer's soundcard compatibility causing my problem. My wife just bought a Sony Vaio laptop in August, and I installed Power SDR on it the same way I did on the Dell desktop. When I open SDR all is fine, but as soon as I click the Standby button, the program powers up and then in about half a second goes back to standby. I uninstalled and reinstalled with no luck. Has anyone else seen this? Chris

After some experimentation and installing the Power SDR on my workshop computer (Pentium 450 Mhz running XP) I have a couple of questions. I did check the CPU usage and it is close to 60% but this is ok since when I am using the softrock I won't be using the computer for anything else. My wife said that the Power SDR icon on her desktop looked ugly and if I wanted to keep the program on her laptop that I would have to remove the program from the desktop and access it from Program Files. So I decided to just try the slower workshop computer since the computer in our office has a pathetic sound card for this application. Here are my questions: As described in the configure and Use part of the Softrock manual under item #5, I went in and set the frequency tab to 7.040 Mhz and -60 dBm (this is what my generator was set to). Do I have to click on the start buttons to the right of the fields to calibrate or just Apply and OK? This computer reads -70 dBm for the test signal, and the computer in our office read -60 dBm which is correct but I couldn't remember if I had clicked Start before and now that almost everything is right I don't want to hose up anything else. I was able to null the image way down there to where it was almost undetectable, much lower with this really old 1999 vintage desktop than with my wife's new laptop. Less noise I guess. I checked my generator 's display against a recently calibrated frequency counter and it is 7.040 on the dot. But when I tune to 7.040 with VFO A on the SDR console I hear and see nothing. I have to tune to 7.042 to hear the signal and the signal is over near -800. I have found that the signal peak must be within the green box on the panadapter to be heard. How does one zero beat a signal with this- is the frequency listed under VFO A at the extreme right or left of the screen? When installing the program with the various 3 computers I used for this installation experience I have had to go in and change things like PTT disable , Audio-Direct vs MME and enabling the Softrock board and entering the LO frequency. I have had to uninstall the program a few times, and I do so using the Add/Remove programs icon under Windows control panel. When I went back to reinstall the programs, these options were already selected for me. How did the new install know these things? Did teh Add/remove programs not remove everything? I was just curious on this one in case I ever needed to do a clean uninstall? Thanks again for such a neat little rig and all the help. Chris KD4PBJ Raleigh, NC

I should have that first cup of coffee before typing..... These answers are also good through October. My early morning math skills also leave something to be desired... 7.056 + 10Khz = 7.066 Image frequency, not 7.062. Off to the coffee pot..... -Bruce.