I'm wondering...why should the CW Skimmer/PowerSDR interaction care if
PowerSDR's SR is On or Off? It shouldn't.
I'd hope that any external program should be working with frequencies
from PowerSDR that have already compensated for the state of SR
(compensated internally within PowerSDR). But, from the reports, it
would seem that this is not the case, and this points to a possible bug
within PowerSDR, rather than within CW Skimmer.
Again, just wondering as to the root cause of this problem...
- Jeff, K6JCA
Tim Ellison wrote:
Hi Joel.
I hope you are doing well.
Let me explain the SR issue a little bit. If I get something wrong, Eric will
jump in and correct me.
When you change frequency, with SR OFF, the radio hardware (DDS) is changed
every time you change frequency. With SR ON, the radio hardware is only tuned
every ~3.051kHz. PowerSDR does the fine tuning using software oscillator.
The reason it is recommended to keep SR ON, is that it minimizes the number of
radio control messages sent from PowerSDR to the radio hardware when you are
tuning and for that 3 KHz window, the radio will change frequency much faster
since it is the software oscillator that is changing the frequency and it will
reduce the number of spurs seen. The spur issue isn't very applicable with the
FLEX-5000, but it is with the SDR-1000.
There can also be audio artifacts induced when SR of off when tuning across the
band. When SR is off, the hardware has to tune a lot more often and it can
happen in the middle of a audio sample causing blips or holes in the audio.
When the software tuning is used, it only tunes in between audio callbacks,
thus ensuring that samples are not dropped/skewed during the change.
Apparently, having SR on adversely effects CW Skimmer by that ~3 KHz offset, so
that is why it is recommended to turn it off.
Also there is a notation in the KC article about using CW Skimmer with direct
I/Q to turn SR off. It is in the PowerSDR / Main console setup section. I'll
make it a bit more prevalent in the article.
http://kc.flex-radio.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50357.aspx
-Tim
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joel Harrison
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 9:31 AM
To: flexradio@flex-radio.biz
Subject: Re: [Flexradio] CW Skimmer.....Again!
OK...CW Skimmer problem solved here at W5ZN.
Ed, N5DG, just dropped me a note and said to make sure spur reduction is not
checked.
It was.
As soon as I "unchecked" it everything is working FB.
I don't recall seeing this in the write up on the Flex site, so whoever has
access and control to that may want to put a note in there about SR.
No I have the question of what is it with SR that causes this problem. I
have been told to run SR on CW. It is confusing to me so I need to do some
study, but obviously you can't run SR on CW if you are going to run CWS.
Anyway, as usual many, many thanks to everyone for their help and mucho
thanks to Ed once again (he got me going initially with Skimmer) for his
help.
73 Joel W5ZN
-----Original Message-----
From: Neal Campbell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 7:31 AM
To: Joel Harrison
Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz
Subject: Re: [Flexradio] CW Skimmer.....Again!
Hi Joel
Are you using CW-L? If so I think you have to set the IF freq in Skimmer at
6400 for it to work correctly. I was having similar problems until Ed set me
straight!
73
Neal k3nc
Neal Campbell
Abroham Neal Software
Programming Services for Windows, OS X and Linux
(540) 242 0911
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On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 7:46 AM, Joel Harrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A few days ago Gary, W7FG, posted a problem to the group that he was
having with CW Skimmer. I originally have had CW Skimmer working great
here with PowerSDR, however as of late I am having issues with it to
the point I am about to throw in the Skimmer towell.
The specific problem is this:
The frequency readout on PowerSDR and CWSkimmer are the same. If I
change frequency they both track and agree and are correct. I can see
stations on the CWSkimmer display, they are decoded and all is
fine...except that the frequency where the station is shown on the
vertical frequency scale on the right side in the Skimmer display is
off by more than 3 KHz...sometimes a lot more, and if I click on a
station in the CWSkimmer disply, PowerSDR will change to that
frequency and the digital frequency display window in Skimmer will
change to that frequency also (same freq as displayed in PSDR), but
that ain't where the station actually is. The stations traces moves
somewhere else when I click it.
I've gone through the settings a hundred times on several different
days, I've completely uninstalled Skimmer and reinstalled it, changed
settings, rebooted, rechecked and recussed many times, so now I am
seeking professional help.
Any assistance and advice is greatly appreciated. All other 3rd party
programs and applications work fine, PowerSDR is working fine,
CWSkimmer is working, just the freq issue.
My stuff:
PowerSDR 1.14.0
CWSkimmer 1.3
VAC 4.09
Dell Quad Core Puter
73 Joel W5ZN
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