Re: How to find this signal with all its harmonics
This is interesting. There has been some other conversations with similar suggestion I did read elsewhere. But I like to understand something and prevent accidental TinyAS damage. I have a directional antenna as well that I can use. What kind of attenuator is any should I use to prevent accidental TinySA damage from overpowering it specifically when you get closer to the source. I understand that there could be some signal at any given time that is not related to source you are looking for that might happen anywhere you standing. Would community here suggest something like this switchable 2W attenuator
If TinySA, attenuator and directional antenna are setup, could someone explain here in an algorithmic way how he would go safely search for the signal?
?
1. Set band start and end on TinySA.
2. What attenuator setting to start with.
3. What appropriate TinySA settings should be made related to the above attenuator value used.
4. What to pay attention on TinySA and make appropriate adjutements and try again starting from point #2 above.
?
If there are additional steps which should be added to the above, please add as much as you think it is relative to know.
If any of you have some good YouTube links related to this, please share
?
Thank you
?
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Hey, Mikey! It works!
ran: pip install --upgrade [name] Against all dependencies listed, a few updates accomplished and tried it again - it launches.? Now to try it with my updated TinySA Ultra connected
Dependency?list:?? ? ? What I now have installed here altgraph-0.17.4 numpy-2.2.2 platformdirs-4.3.6 PyOpenGL-3.1.9 PyQt5-5.15.11? PyQt5-Qt5-5.15.16 PyQT5-sip-12.17.0 pyqtgraph 2.2.2 pyserial 3.5
Sorry for the clutter
OK, that was my bad - i'd missed the need to update the Database,? Deleted the old one and tried?again.? Maybe a Fedora specific issue and it gets past the previous error, copies the new database, flashes on the screen and then fails?with:
[user]@[machine]:~/QtTinySA/src$ ./QtTinySA.py
QSocketNotifier: Can only be used with threads started with QThread
QtTSAprefs.db copied from /home/[user]/QtTinySA/src/. to /home/[user]/.config/QtTinySA QtTSAprefs.db open: True ?Connection = "settings"
QtTinySA v1.0.2
The Wayland connection experienced a fatal error: Protocol error
Just to ensure I've not done something else ignorant, I'm going back through all the prerequisites, again.
I believe you'd also have to use an older version of Linux,?or at least older versions of Python and Qt.? On Fedora 41 with Python 3.13.1 and Qt6 yields this:
[user]@[machine]:~/QtTinySA/src$ ./QtTinySA.py
QSocketNotifier: Can only be used with threads started with QThread
Database QtTSAprefs.db found at /home/[user]/.config/QtTinySA
QtTSAprefs.db open: True ?Connection = "settings"
QtTinySA v1.0.2
Traceback (most recent call last):
? File "/home/[user]/QtTinySA/src/./QtTinySA.py", line 1805, in <module>
? ? checkboxes.mapWidget('checkboxes') ?# uses mapping table from database
? ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
? File "/home/[user]/QtTinySA/src/./QtTinySA.py", line 1191, in mapWidget
? ? self.dwm.addMapping(eval(gui), int(column))
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ~~~~^^^^^
? File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: 'Ui_MainWindow' object has no attribute 'marker1'
On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 3:57?PM Ian Jefferson via <ian.jefferson= [email protected]> wrote: On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 07:59 PM, JCR wrote:
I have Windows 7 professional 64 bits and the QtTinySa program does not work. Error: api-ms-win-core-path-l1-1-0.dll. Is there a solution?
?
It doesn't work on Windows version < 10 and it's 5 years since Microsoft ended support for Win-7.
You could install Linux as a dual-boot system if you do not wish to upgrade Windows.
--
Tate
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." ? -- W. C.
--
Tate
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." ? -- W. C.
-- Tate
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." ? -- W. C.
|
OK, that was my bad - i'd missed the need to update the Database,? Deleted the old one and tried?again.? Maybe a Fedora specific issue and it gets past the previous error, copies the new database, flashes on the screen and then fails?with:
[user]@[machine]:~/QtTinySA/src$ ./QtTinySA.py
QSocketNotifier: Can only be used with threads started with QThread
QtTSAprefs.db copied from /home/[user]/QtTinySA/src/. to /home/[user]/.config/QtTinySA QtTSAprefs.db open: True ?Connection = "settings"
QtTinySA v1.0.2
The Wayland connection experienced a fatal error: Protocol error
Just to ensure I've not done something else ignorant, I'm going back through all the prerequisites, again.
I believe you'd also have to use an older version of Linux,?or at least older versions of Python and Qt.? On Fedora 41 with Python 3.13.1 and Qt6 yields this:
[user]@[machine]:~/QtTinySA/src$ ./QtTinySA.py
QSocketNotifier: Can only be used with threads started with QThread
Database QtTSAprefs.db found at /home/[user]/.config/QtTinySA
QtTSAprefs.db open: True ?Connection = "settings"
QtTinySA v1.0.2
Traceback (most recent call last):
? File "/home/[user]/QtTinySA/src/./QtTinySA.py", line 1805, in <module>
? ? checkboxes.mapWidget('checkboxes') ?# uses mapping table from database
? ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
? File "/home/[user]/QtTinySA/src/./QtTinySA.py", line 1191, in mapWidget
? ? self.dwm.addMapping(eval(gui), int(column))
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ~~~~^^^^^
? File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: 'Ui_MainWindow' object has no attribute 'marker1'
On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 3:57?PM Ian Jefferson via <ian.jefferson= [email protected]> wrote: On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 07:59 PM, JCR wrote:
I have Windows 7 professional 64 bits and the QtTinySa program does not work. Error: api-ms-win-core-path-l1-1-0.dll. Is there a solution?
?
It doesn't work on Windows version < 10 and it's 5 years since Microsoft ended support for Win-7.
You could install Linux as a dual-boot system if you do not wish to upgrade Windows.
--
Tate
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." ? -- W. C.
-- Tate
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." ? -- W. C.
|
I believe you'd also have to use an older version of Linux,?or at least older versions of Python and Qt.? On Fedora 41 with Python 3.13.1 and Qt6 yields this:
[user]@[machine]:~/QtTinySA/src$ ./QtTinySA.py
QSocketNotifier: Can only be used with threads started with QThread
Database QtTSAprefs.db found at /home/[user]/.config/QtTinySA
QtTSAprefs.db open: True ?Connection = "settings"
QtTinySA v1.0.2
Traceback (most recent call last):
? File "/home/[user]/QtTinySA/src/./QtTinySA.py", line 1805, in <module>
? ? checkboxes.mapWidget('checkboxes') ?# uses mapping table from database
? ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
? File "/home/[user]/QtTinySA/src/./QtTinySA.py", line 1191, in mapWidget
? ? self.dwm.addMapping(eval(gui), int(column))
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ~~~~^^^^^
? File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: 'Ui_MainWindow' object has no attribute 'marker1'
On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 3:57?PM Ian Jefferson via <ian.jefferson= [email protected]> wrote: On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 07:59 PM, JCR wrote:
I have Windows 7 professional 64 bits and the QtTinySa program does not work. Error: api-ms-win-core-path-l1-1-0.dll. Is there a solution?
?
It doesn't work on Windows version < 10 and it's 5 years since Microsoft ended support for Win-7.
You could install Linux as a dual-boot system if you do not wish to upgrade Windows.
-- Tate
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." ? -- W. C.
|
On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 07:59 PM, JCR wrote:
I have Windows 7 professional 64 bits and the QtTinySa program does not work. Error: api-ms-win-core-path-l1-1-0.dll. Is there a solution?
?
It doesn't work on Windows version < 10 and it's 5 years since Microsoft ended support for Win-7.
You could install Linux as a dual-boot system if you do not wish to upgrade Windows.
|
Re: How to find this signal with all its harmonics
Ericd, you are one of the few these days!!? THANK YOU!!!
My experience over the past decade (retired) and the last three decades (working the previous 2 to retirement, I have had many.....many instances of China just printing labels.? The last 4.5 + decades, I worked as an EMC/RFI engineer for a number of companies including HP and finally StorageTek (the last one I was actually requested to cheat - which I refused and led to firing).? Not on my watch but at HP, our scanners in Germany big-time failed due to "overlooking" and completely creaming reception of TV channels 2 through 6, including commercial FM due to radiated emissions.? Of course, that put us under the microscope and forbid HP from selling scanners in the whole EU for a year.?
Another instance:? We upgraded our test computers to test our storage libraries at StorageTek (we had a good OATS).? They came with no regulatory stickers from SuperMicro.? We contacted their West Coast storefront about the issue.? They immediately ask, "How many do you need?"? A week later we received a business envelope full of "just printed" regulatory stickers.
And another:? Requesting reports of products which failed formal testing.? Of all my requests, I received usually around 30% of those requested.? What's even more disgusting, none of the reports applied to the product I had requested.? All.....ALL.....of them were just compilations of pages from other unrelated regulatory reports with appropriate title pages.??
More yet:? I have tested, both officially and pre-compliance, many Chinese produces which miserably failed both radiated and conducted emissions per FCC and/or the EU regulations. ?
Appliances:? The ultimate responsible party is the integrator of "components" (SMPS) which sail through customs as components.? Except for the German products we have in our 10-year old kitchen,? everyone fails both conducted and radiated emissions.? I had to install an extremely robust common mode choke on our second frig/freezer, a Kitchen Aid, to reduce both radiated and conducted emissions.? They go together as once the conducted emissions are violated, the whole house wiring lights up.? No surprise.....
To make things worse, I'm an amateur radio operator and pursue radio astronomy as yet another hobby.? Get the point???!!!
In my experience over the decades, China has taught even some of the good and upstanding companies the risk of cheating isn't that great with an FCC that no longer cares about enforcement.?
Have a read of my QRZ page for a bit more.? I could fill anyone's email inbox with stories addressing China and the regulatory world.? And let's not mention S. Korea that uses the regulatory world as a trade barrier.
Dave - W?LEV? ?
On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 10:38 AM, W0LEV wrote:
China just prints labels and applies them appropriately with absolutely no attention or testing to international RFI/EMC regulatory laws.?
Dave,
This may be a bit too general.
Much of the modern electronic equipment is manufactured in China, including from very well respected brands.
It may be better to state that very cheap stuf you can buy on Aliexpress and similar webshops may lack attention to international RFI/EMC.
But even that is not always true.
An example is the tinySA. It is cheap and available on Aliexpress and we took great care it is adhering the international RFI/EMC regulatory laws.
So, as a kind request, please do not generalize too much as it does not help uncertain buyers.
--
Designer of the tinySA
For more info go to
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I have Windows 7 professional 64 bits and the QtTinySa program does not work. Error: api-ms-win-core-path-l1-1-0.dll. Is there a solution?
|
Re: How to find this signal with all its harmonics
On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 10:38 AM, W0LEV wrote:
China just prints labels and applies them appropriately with absolutely no attention or testing to international RFI/EMC regulatory laws.?
Dave,
This may be a bit too general.
Much of the modern electronic equipment is manufactured in China, including from very well respected brands.
It may be better to state that very cheap stuf you can buy on Aliexpress and similar webshops may lack attention to international RFI/EMC.
But even that is not always true.
An example is the tinySA. It is cheap and available on Aliexpress and we took great care it is adhering the international RFI/EMC regulatory laws.
So, as a kind request, please do not generalize too much as it does not help uncertain buyers.
--
Designer of the tinySA
For more info go to
|
Re: Invitation: How high will your tinySA Ultra go?
Why not just set the "STEP" to the fundamental frequency.? Then, everything you request "STEP" in center frequency, the SA will increment to the next whole number multiple of the fundamental.?
Dave - W?LEV
(pertaining to TinySA Ultra? non-+, type 405):
EXPERT CONFIG activates the expert configuration menu
? ? HARMONIC sets the harmonic to use in harmonic mode. Leave at 3 unless you absolutely need to be able to see higher frequencies
The link EXPERT CONFIG takes me to:
HARMONIC does not appear here.
I would like to know the behavior of HARMONIC and it's settable range (the text above only suggests leave at 3; as I absolutely need to see higher frequencies, what range exists and what does this do?
Thanks!
Dave
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Re: How to find this signal with all its harmonics
QUOTE:??
In my opinion, the signal strengt and the way it acts on the band is uncommon for CE signed devices. It should not be there, . . . . . .
If it comes from China, do NOT believe any of the regulatory markings!? China just prints labels and applies them appropriately with absolutely no attention or testing to international RFI/EMC regulatory laws.? Believe me, I was in the business of RFI/EMC until a few years ago.? I've experienced this practice for at least 2 to 3 decades.
Dave - W?LEV
In my opinion, the signal strengt and the way it acts on the band is uncommon for CE signed devices. It should not be there, and it it better to find the source and solve the issue.?
?
?
But is the signal really there? That depends on the quality of the receiver. If it is a RTL-SDR dongle it is very likely that most of it is the result of the dongle beeing overdriven, and producing a lot of internally generated mixing frequencies. e.g. At my home I have to live with a strong repeater, P2000 (*)? and broadcast stations. Plus the occasional air-band when a Liveliner (*) passes overhead. And locally there is hdmi. All of these give me signals on my dongle that are not really there.
So question one is: what receiver is used in owrx? If it is indeed the infamous dongle you might reconsider putting much effort in finding the source. Instead build a band-filter to limit the signals coming in.
?
(*) for non-dutch: P2000 is a paging system for emergency services, Lifeliners are MMT choppers.
?
regards,
?
Henk
?
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This is a also true with other devices that use surface mount jacks instead of through hole mounting. I would also recommend applying a little Deoxit D5 on the plug as a lubricatnt.
Mike N2MS
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On 02/02/2025 8:57 AM EST Prawlin via groups.io <prawlin10@...> wrote:
The 3.5 Jack socket on these tinySA does seem to be a teeny bit small in diameter. The Jack plugs available also do vary in diameter. Try to find a plug which is not at all tight, or maybe take a fine file and carefully reduce the plug diameter until it slides in without much friction. If it is too tight you will likely break the surface mounted socket soldering. That happened to me and some others. HTH Peter
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In the US, Switchcraft made a very popular line of 3.55 mm mono plugs and jacks that are still in production and are often found on older cables and equipment. They were frequently used for custom cables because they were easy to wire. They are not really compatible with modern stereo jacks and can sometimes do serious damage.
?
They were more or less standard for many years as they were very high quality. premade molded cables from places like Radio Shack often were built to this dimension as a result.
?
It's best to get rid of any old mono cables you have.
?
Since they are still available, some folks unwittingly make new cables with them.
?
M
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The 3.5 Jack socket on these tinySA does seem to be a teeny bit small in diameter. The Jack plugs available also do vary in diameter. Try to find a plug which is not at all tight, or maybe take a fine file and carefully ?reduce the plug diameter until it slides in without much friction. If it is too tight you will likely break the surface mounted socket soldering. That happened to me and some others. HTH Peter
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Thanks for the quick reply. ?You were spot on. ?I made the bad assumption that the scope input was 50ohms. ?I used a tee with a 50 ohm terminator and the readings are correct now.
On Sun, 2025-02-02 at 01:15 -0800, pa3cqn via groups.io wrote:
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Just fiy:
?
Nice Youtube video on terminators:
?
For low frequencies you could also use a BNC-T terminated with 50 Ohm on one side.
?
?
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I ended up opening the TinySA Ultra case and pinching a 3 conductor 90° male audio jack into the female socket between my thumb and forefinger to avoid putting pressure on the board. No damage was done, and the audio is working well.
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Re: Issues with TinySA USB Connection in C#
One little issue i'd like to raise regarding the scanraw:
My python skript is constantly asking for scanraw, waits for the answer and asks again. The data is arriving pretty fast and the communication seems to stay robust over the time.
Unfortunately it seems to block some other serial communication as the screen freezes. I can wake it up by touching it, but then this error occurs: unpack requires a buffer of 1350 bytes
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So I would like to use the data command, but according to this topic this isn't flawless? either?
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FW: tinySA4_v1.4-151-g31a89ce.
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Thanks for this Ian,?
Library was hidden on my Mac got there in the end :) On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 10:02?PM Ian Jefferson via <ian.jefferson= [email protected]> wrote:
/home/username/.config/QtTinySA
or in Windows 11:?C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\QtTinySA
or in macOS:?/Users/username/Library/Application Support/QtTinySA
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Just fiy:
?
Nice Youtube video on terminators:
?
For low frequencies you could also use a BNC-T terminated with 50 Ohm on one side.
?
?
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On Sun, Feb 2, 2025 at 08:09 AM, Rick Stanback wrote:
-33dBm
First question: did you use a 50 ohm termination on the scope? It appears you didn't. So the generator is putting out 10 mV into the 10 meg or so scope.
If you had a 50 ohm termination that would halve to 5 mV (the generator has an output impedance of 50 Ohms so the voltage would halve).
5 mV in 50 Ohms is .5 microwatt is -63 dBW is -33 dBm. That is spot-on.
?
You are measuring a square wave on the scope. A square wave can be seen as the sum of infinite odd harmonics of a sinewave. The SA is only measuring the fundamental? sinewave.
Than the power in that sine is .707*5 mV == -66 dBW or -36 dBm. Or in a quick manner: -33 - 3 == -36 . -37 is well within the specs of the SA in your settings.
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Your measurements are correct.
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regards
?
Henk
?
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/home/username/.config/QtTinySA
or in Windows 11:?C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\QtTinySA
or in macOS:?/Users/username/Library/Application Support/QtTinySA
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Rob, W9LOT
WyoHam
JCR