Hello Tony,
>Would it be possible for me to run the SDR feature without actually having and
>SDR rig attached? If so, how can I activate it?
The SDR feature in Multipsk is only doing a I/Q processing, shifting in base
band, in USB or LSB, a selected band (inside the 48, 96 or 192 KHz SdR band).
Now as I discovered, thanks to Andy, is that professional SdR are controlled
through a defined protocol, something as a Cat system protocol.
Perhaps, Dave (AA6YQ) will add, in the future, through Commander, the necessary
commands to control the different SdR...
In the next version, I will add possibility to send a COM and EXEC command at
initialization/RX/TX/finalization. But for a complex protocol when you are
supposed to send/listen/send, it will not be sufficient.
73
Patrick
----- Original Message -----
From: Tony
To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 12:04 AM
Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Multipsk- CPU tests with SDR-IQ Direct active.
Andy,
Thanks for posting your CPU test results with Multipsk. Patrick mentioned
that he doesn't think RAM is important in this case and adding more than the
minimum memory requirement wouldn't change anything; I guess that leaves the
processor.
It just seems odd that there would be a large disparity in CPU usage since
both processors run similar clock speeds (yours is actually faster). My Dell
has a Pentium dual core E2200 and I'm wondering if the difference is due to the
dual vs. single core?
>The CPU demand is based on maximizing Multipsk's tasks (SDR-
>Direct active, with full RS-ID on and regular waterfall at 4 Khz)
Would it be possible for me to run the SDR feature without actually having
and SDR rig attached? If so, how can I activate it?
Tony -K2MO
----- Original Message -----
From: Andy obrien
To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2010 7:22 AM
Subject: [digitalradio] Multipsk- CPU tests with SDR-IQ Direct active.
Interesting data , Tony. I am was surprised that our similar computers have
so dissimilar results. So , I checked a few things on different PCs here at my
location. Here are my results, The CPU demand is based on maximizing
Multipsk's tasks (SDR-Direct active, with full RS-ID on and regular waterfall
at 4 Khz) . Casual readers of this thread should note that Multipsk under most
common scenarios for ham radio, uses much less CPU than below.
Shack Computer (Dell Opitiplex GX260 , 2.3 Ghz CPU single core , 1 gig RAM.
Windows XP. Multipsk = 95-100+ % (not usable)
Home PC (Dell Optiplex GX270 , 2.7 CPU single core , 512 RAM, WIndows XP.
Multipsk = 65% , worked well.)
Low end Acer Latop , 3 gig RAM, Windows 7. . Multipsk = 75%, worked fine.
Ironic that the one PC I want to get Multipsk to work on is the one PC that
it does poorly on ! The good news is that when maximizing Multipsk on a basic
PC , with not a lot of other things multi-tasking, Multipsk will work. I am
especially pleased to see it work well on the Windows 7 laptop which only cost
$247.00
So while the desktop computers do not have identical parameters (different
system files, ect) , I am intrigued about the 30-35% less CPU demand on the PC
with only 512 RAM but .4 Ghz more processing speed . Does .4 ghz more speed
usually make that much difference.. Your outcomes , Tony, also intrige me
about what difference I might discover if I add another gig of RAM to my 2.3
CPU ham PC.
Andy K3UK
On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 10:25 PM, Tony <d...@optonline.net> wrote:
[Attachment(s) from Tony included below]
Andy,
I configured Multipsk as you described and the CPU usage seems to average
about 5 percent. Panoramic mode is about the same. I've included a few screen
shots so you could see the results.
Mixw seems to tax the CPU the same way as Multipsk does, but Fldigi needs a
bit more to run - CPU usage jumped to 10%. I guess it's the difference in RAM.
Would like to hear how the Vista laptop works out. Please let use know.
Tony -K2MO
PS: We're about the same here Andy, thanks for asking. Still waiting for
research to catch up with type-I. Hope all is well with you and yours my
friend.
----- Original Message -----
From: Andy obrien
To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 3:55 PM
Subject: Re: [digitalradio] SDR-Radio with DM780 20M Digital Band
Tony, my shack PC sounds like yours. A Dell P4, 2.3 CPU , but only 1 gig of
RAM. Perhaps we can compare current system resource utilization for regular
Multipsk ?
Regular Multipsk in PSK31 mode with a 4,3 Khz waterfall uses 25 % of CPU.
With RS ID on , about the same 25-26%
With Panoramic decode.. CPU increases to around 30%.
Then Multipsk with Direct I/Q mode invoked , CPU increases to 60%
Then RS ID in SDR /IQ direct invoked, Multipsk uses 90% of my CPU.
The above is JUST Multipsk related, obviously other applications , like a web
browser being open, add more demand.
My daughter is away skiing this weekend, so I may "borrow" her Vista laptop
and do a comparison. I do not know what is realistic for Multipsk with all
its SDR receive capability and RS ID. I don;t really understand what actual
performance increase one could expect if CPU was 3.0 Ghz rather than 2.3, Also
not sure what performance improvement going to a dual core around the same
clock speed would produce. On my shack PC, Multipsk seems "close" , I am
guessing if I could eek out another 10% it would run just fine. I'm reluctant
to put more RAM in to an old machine, but I do have a compatible 1 Gig memory
chip that i could pilfer from another PC and see if 2 gigs of RAM ease demand
on the CPU. I'm guessing it would not make much difference. I do have plenty
of HD space.
Hope you and the family are all OK,
Andy.
Andy
On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 2:36 PM, Tony <d...@optonline.net> wrote:
Andy,
I plan on switching to SDR in the near future. My current PC is a dual CPU
2.2GHz Dell with 3 GHz RAM. Any idea what the minimum PC requirement is to run
Multipsk with SDR? Could you also tell us what processor you're running now?
Thanks,
Tony -K2MO
----- Original Message -----
From: Andy obrien
To: digitalradio
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 9:11 AM
Subject: [digitalradio] SDR-Radio with DM780 20M Digital Band
One of the things that I wanted to accomplish with an SDR receiver,
is the ability to keep an eye on the whole 14065 to 14115 frequency
range. If I was down on 14074 monitoring ALE 400 traffic, I would
miss Olivia signals that popped up in the 14109 area. I would also
miss Hell signals at 14068. Now the SDR affords the opportunity to
keep an eye all all at once. My venture in to SDR from a digital mode
perspective has led to a discovery that, other than Multipsk, the
current state of the art does not support direct monitoring of wider
I/Q data. I'm also challenged in that my PC cannot cope with the
Multipsk CPU demand when I try direct monitoring. So, at the moment I
am visually monitoring signals with the SDR and using traditional
software methods to decode the 3-4 kHz of audio that is fed from the
SDR to applications like DM780 or Fldigi.
At this screen shot http://www.obriensweb.com/sdrdm780.jpg
you will see how it appears. I am simply using DM780 and SDR-Radio
software together. When I need to transmit, I just use my TS2000
after dialing in the signal discovered by the SDR receiver. Simon
HB9DRV will likely "integrate" these two applications later in 2010.
I did catch a Russian on RTTY this morning that I would have otherwise
missed while I was slumming it in PSK31-land.. Multisk does RS-ID
over this entire 14065-14115 portion, and DM780 is likely going to
include this ability in the future. If people use RS-ID often enough,
it will be really "cool" to monitor 14065-14115 and get RS ID alerts.
So, just over a week playing around with the SDR receiver... I see the
potential... digital mode applications are not quite "there" yet.
When they are "there" (as in Multipsk) my PC isn't. This $41.00 Ebay
PC may eventually get retired for a slightly improved one with better
CPU. OK, back to keeping an eye on 14065-14115. A-ha, an SV3 calling
CQ RTTY, 14082.
Andy K3UK
