PowerSDR-SR40
and Digital modes Setup
PowerSDR SR40 Setup
There is many branches of Flexradio's open source PowerSDR. One of most suitable for xtal controlled simple SDR radio (like Avala-01) is PowerSDR-SR40 by PE1NNZ that can be download from http://powersdr-sr40.sourceforge.net/. After standard installation it will be necessary to setup some parameters. In setup menu choose audio settings and choose your sound card. If it is not on supported audio card list (as my Sound Blaster Audigy SE) set it as "Unsupported Card" and set other audio parameters per audio card technical specifications (see picture). In general setup choose Soft Rock and if you use fixed LO frequency, set central VFO to this frequency.
General/Options menu should look lie this:
If you plan to use PowerSDR for digital modes it is necessary to set Virtual Audio Cable support. In Audio/VAC menu enable VAC and set a pair of Virtual cables that you created as shown before. You can play with Sample rate to choose best audio. In my case it was 48000 but 22050 or 44100 should be good to. If you need VAC only for digital modes you can auto enable VAC for this modes and disable for others by setting this option. In my case, I use USB for digital modes so I leave this option unchecked. BTW, If I set DIGU or DIGL (at a main screen) for digital modes, I got a one or two seconds "delayed" RX/TX switching ?! Maybe someone know what I need to change to get non delayed RX/TX switching ?
In DSP/Keyer menu set "real" (NOT VIRTUAL!!) COM port for remote control of Avala-01 TRX and disable monitor operation. Set "Semi Break In" option for CW key and "Delay" according your CW skill and speed.
This part is essential for paring PowerSDR with other HAM radio software. If you install and set Virtal Com ports as I explain before, choose COM7 for CAT control and COM6 and RTS line for PTT control. Set CAT ID according your CAT software. I use Hamradio Deluxe/DM780 with native support for CAT control SDR-1000, so I just choose SDR-1000 from this menu.
Full working PowerSDR-SR40 should look like this:
PowerSDR SR40 and Ham Radio Deluxe (DM780) setup
Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) is a suite of free Windows programs providing computer control for commonly used transceivers and receivers. HRD also includes mapping, logging, satellite tracking and the digital mode program Digital Master 780 (DM780). You can obtain a fresh instalation from http://www.ham-radio-deluxe.com/. It is a great suite. I use it for everyday operation. It is very handy to have all necessary software in one package. Many thanks to
PowerSDR SR40 and WSPNet setup
One of the things that makes communicating with amateur radio more fun than using the Internet or the phone is that you never know where your signals will be received. Short wave radio propagation is never completely predictable, and can often surprise you. If this is an aspect of radio that fascinates you, then you'll enjoy using WSPR.
WSPR is a piece of software that enables you to participate in
a world-wide
network of low power propagation beacons. It enables your radio
transceiver to
transmit beacon signals, and to receive beacon signals from
similarly-equipped
stations in the same amateur band. Because participating stations
usually
upload spots that they receive in real time to a web server,
you can find out within
seconds of the end of each transmission exactly where and how strongly
it was
received, and even view the propagation paths on a map.
It is vitally important that your computer clock is accurate, as this governs when WSPR starts each transmit or receive period, and nothing will be decoded if your clock is more than a couple of seconds out.
If you are using Windows XP, open the Date and
Time window
in Control Panel and select the Internet Time
tab. There, you
should see an option to synchronize the clock using an Internet time
server,
time.windows.com.
Select this option,
and do an immediate sync to see if it works.
Once you have your computer clock set it's time to install
WSPR. You can download
WSPR from
here. It installs in the usual way for a Windows application.
StartPpowerSDR SR40 as we set before and set frequency to 7.0386Mhz USB
(valid
for G40 and Avala-01). If you need some other band choose one of the
frequency
from table below.
| Band | Dial freq (MHz) | Tx freq (MHz) |
|---|---|---|
| 160m | 1.836600 | 1.838000 - 1.838200 |
| 80m |
3.592600 | 3.594000 - 3.594200 |
| 60m |
5.287200 | 5.288600 - 5.288800 |
| 40m |
7.038600 | 7.040000 - 7.040200 |
| 30m |
10.138700 | 10.140100 - 10.140300 |
| 20m |
14.095600 | 14.097000 - 14.097200 |
| 17m |
18.104600 | 18.106000 - 18.106200 |
| 15m |
21.094600 | 21.096000 - 21.096200 |
| 12m |
24.924600 |
24.926000 - 24.926200 |
| 10m |
28.124600 |
28.126000 - 28.126200 |
| 6m |
50.293000 |
50.294400 - 50.294600 |
| 2m |
144.488500 |
144.489900 - 144.490100 |
Once WSPR is installed, start it. Note that a console window will
appear just
before the user interface window shows. This is normal. Don't close it!
However, console will display
some vital information about installed audio devices at your PC. Among
other,
notice our previously created Virtual
Cable 1
and 2. One pair (audio device 4 and 5 in my case) for
input, and second
pair (audio device 9 and 10 in my case) for output. Take a
paper and make
notice with Audio device number for each cable. Now, you can
minimize console
window.
In main window open Setup, Options.
Enter
your callsign and full six-character locator. Enter the number of the
serial
port that will be used to control PTT (for COM16, enter 16.)
Enter 0 to disable PTT control.
According your notice with Audio device numbers set Audio in and Audio out. For Audio
in set Virtual
cable 2 with inputs (in my
case no.5), and for Audio out set Virtual cable 1 with
outputs (in my
case no.9).
Select the power you will be using, in dBm. The dBm values are encoded in the software, so you can only use the values listed, e.g. 30dBm (1W), 33dBm (2W), 37dBm (5W), 40dBm (10W). In case of G40 or Avala-01 use 37dBm. From Band menu choose 40m band.
Receiving
Now click the Rx radio button in the T/R cycle control, and wait. When the next even numbered minute starts, WSPR will display Receiving in the bottom right of the status bar. It will continue receiving for one minute and 54 seconds, during which nothing will appear in the waterfall display. After that, it will display Waiting to start, and a couple of seconds after that a chunk of waterfall will appear in the display. If you see any faint (or not-so-faint) horizontal traces, these are probably signals from other WSPR users, and if you are lucky, WSPR will have decoded them and will have displayed the details in the Band Map and in the log list in the lower half of the window. As the clock ticks over to 00 seconds, WSPR will start receiving again.
If nothing is received then look hard at the waterfall segment that was displayed. If it shows faint "noise" then it is probable that no stations were transmitting. If it is completely blank then there may be a problem with the VAC connection from your radio, or your mixer settings. Since using a waterfall that only updates once every two minutes to check the result of changes can test your patience. Important! Check "RX Noise" at bottom, status line of WSPRNet window. If it is red, and showing high dB numbers (20 - 30dB) , then audio level of incoming signal from PowerSDR is to high. You should reduce AF gain in PowerSDR to 10 or 15. That will solve a problem. Remeber, be patient, waterfall updates once every two minutes!
If you have more than one sound card you will probably need to specify the soundcard number in the setup options as well. The console window mentioned earlier will help you decide what number to put.
When you have verified that your receiver is working
correctly, tick the
checkbox marked Upload
spots. This will
cause details of the spots you receive to be uploaded to the WSPR Spots Database
at WSPRnet.org.
This is what makes WSPR fun, interesting and useful. It enables
transmitters to
know where their signals have been received, and at what strength. It
also
helps you get a picture of what propagation is like.
Transmitting
Now you are almost ready to send your first MEPT transmission. Before you do, you must enter your transmit frequency in the Tx freq box of WSPR. The easiest way to do this is to double-click in the waterfall. Pick a spot that is not being used by any of the stations you have already received. This should result in a frequency somewhere between 7.040000 to 7.040200.
Now click the 20% button in the T/R cycle control and wait. Eventually, when a new 2 minute segment starts, WSPR will display something like Txing: YT1DL KN04 37. This means that it is sending the information specified - your call, locator and transmitter power, as you entered in the Setup window when you started.
After one minute and 54 seconds it will display Waiting to start again, and then go back to receiving. At each new 2 minute segment your station will transmit with a probability of 20%. If activity is low, you can increase the frequency of transmissions by selecting 25% or 33%.
After your transmission has finished, wait a few seconds and then open (or refresh, if it is already open) the WSPR Spots Map. With luck, your signal will have been received and decoded by other WSPR users, and will appear as spots in the database and map. Congratulations! You are now a fully fledged member of the WSPR Network!
PowerSDR SR40 and MultiPSK setup
