Messages

1

General discussion forum / Re: Keying Tomeout

« on: 2016-02-28, 02:39:49 »

Many thanks for your reply and sorry for the delay Jan.

I'm quite pleased when we don't have freezing rain, but I need it to test things properly  . I am however certain of some things:

The condition only occurs when the link is error prone and marginal - the link will have been completely lost for some period and then have recovered;
I have thought that the radio RRC thinks it is being continuously keyed and therefore stops the keying. However, I realise that I don't actually know which RRC decides the keying has been going on too long;
There is definitely no continuous physical keying input to the control RRC;
The problem is cured by rebooting both the local and remote RRC - either one alone will not fix it - and no other changes are necessary for a fix.

My memory is that the control RRC is not showing that it is continuously keyed, but that is a year ago and my memory could be wrong. I will check when we next get some horrible weather.

73 Roger
VE3ZI

2

General discussion forum / Keying Tomeout

« on: 2016-02-16, 23:10:26 »

Remote Rig will only allow a maximum 1s CW key down, and this is fine. However, it has occasionally caused me some problems.

My remote station is controlled over a 900MHz radio link which is usually very good, but tends to fail with freezing rain/wet snow on the remote yagi antenna (which is very high). Although Remote Rig is the key part of the system there is also a homebrew controller to allow antenna and power switching. There have been times when the remote RRC1258 has thought that the key has been down for more than 1s and prevented any more keying - even though the remote radio has not actually been on. When the link has recovered I have tried to operate and found no keying. The solution is to reboot each end, but that only works when I remember what the problem is!

I wonder if it would be possible to make the RRC1258 try to confirm that key down really is happening after a period rather than the remote end has got some garbled data at some point?

Sorry if this has already been addressed. Sorry also that I'm bad at updating the firmware - I'm using 2.80 - but I can't get to the remote site at all in the winter.

Thanks
Roger VE3ZI

3

General discussion forum / Re: RRC 1258 versus Yaesu Remote rig

« on: 2013-07-23, 19:42:25 »

Just one comment on Mitch's last post.

The Digi PortServer 16 is NOT a tunnelling device - it is a serial server exactly as described by Mitch.

 (I probably confused matters by saying that it is possible to get limited tunnelling, but that is not specified by the manufacturer.)

73 Roger
VE3ZI

4

General discussion forum / Re: RRC 1258 versus Yaesu Remote rig

« on: 2013-07-23, 03:23:02 »

Hi Fred

The model is 'Digi PortServer 16 RJ45 Domestic, Part No 1P 50000260'. However, the part number is not terribly useful - Digi seems to have multiple numbering systems. You can find it on their website under legacy systems.

If you let me have your email address I can send you a copy of the manual (9028700c.pdf ) and the wiring cable guide (90000253_d.pdf). I also have the drivers for Windows (up to XP only I think) and Linux (up to Kernel 2.6). At one point I had 2 ports controlled by a Windows machine, another 2 by a Linux machine and another 2 tunnelling between two devices. So it is quite flexible, although not very user friendly... Tunnelling is not officially supported, but does work in a limited way . (Tunnelling is where you have one serial device and it is connected to another serial device at a remote site - just like a very long serial cable.)  The PortServer is really intended so that a PC can have lots (up to hundreds ) of remote serial ports, and yes the ports are RS232 although they use 10 way RJ45 connectors - the pin-out is cunningly arranged so that if you only want RXD and TXD you only need a 4 way connector and so on. The device needs 5V and +/-12V - sorry I don't have a spare psu.

The Remote Rig does support serial tunnelling on its 2 ports and that is probably enough. The PortServer could be used for your amplifier and rotor control (logging program with rotor control built in). I strongly agree with your wish to not have a computer at the remote end. In my case the remote station is a km from the nearest road, and as you know it snows quite a lot up here....

I will coming to Toronto on Wednesday with the XYL, staying overnight down-town, so I could possibly bring it then as I see you are in Markham. Yes, I do know Don VE3RM, nice guy.

73 Roger
VE3ZI

5

General discussion forum / Re: RRC 1258 versus Yaesu Remote rig

« on: 2013-07-21, 04:13:22 »

Fred

Not sure whether  you want 8 serial ports as remote virtual ports on a PC or serial tunnelling between two 8 port devices.

If it is the former, I have several  Digi PortServer16 terminal servers which will provide 16 remote virtual serial ports and you are welcome to one gratis. It is not the newest device but works perfectly well. Unlike some other devices (including RemoteRig), it does not support serial tunnelling except in a very limited way.

73 Roger
VE3ZI

6

General discussion forum / Re: Audio level range and input impedance

« on: 2013-06-03, 02:57:00 »

I think the schematics show the audio input circuitry.

I was faced with a similar problem, and although it would have been easy enough to remove the resistors I decided to build a small audio amplifier instead Has been working fine for a a long while now.

73 Roger
VE3ZI

7

General discussion forum / Re: How Much ACTUAL Bandwidth Needed to support reliable operation

« on: 2013-02-03, 17:08:41 »

I can get full duplex speeds of better than 500kbps over a 15km NLOS 900MHz radio link. As Mitch says, that is way more than adequate. However, while the latency is usually only a few ms, it is sometimes up to a second or so for no apparent reason. This tends to mess up CW!

I have wondered whether it would help to reduce the MTU from 1500 to some lower number, but I am a little dubious about trying that before the spring in case the radios are then not able to talk to each other as I can't get to the remote site until the snow goes.

73 Roger

8

General discussion forum / Re: Remote Rig UK to USA legalities?

« on: 2013-01-16, 02:13:05 »

Mitch is certainly correct in practical terms - nobody and least of all Ofcom gives a hoot! Correction - some contests disallow remote operation from a different entity.

I am not so sure legally (although I am most certainly not a lawyer). My British licence says that I can set up and operate a station in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. I am in Canada, so I don't really think I am covered by that wording. But I could easily be wrong.

73 Roger
VE3ZI/G3RBP

9

General discussion forum / Re: RRC1258 software suggestion

« on: 2012-03-24, 00:48:47 »

That seems a good idea, but from my point of view I would prefer it to be optional. I use a 900MHz link between home and radio sites, and find that unless I keep the spectrum busy other users detect no activity and start using it. It then takes up to 60 minutes for me to grab it back again - which is a most inconvenient delay in being able to use the system effectively. (I have to keep a continuous link to the remote site anyway for security reasons.)

Nothing to do with the previous question, but how necessary is it to upgrade the firmware? I am using 2.41 and it does everything I need, so I am inclined not to rock the boat. Is that reasonable?

73 Roger
VE3ZI

10

General discussion forum / Re: Audio

« on: 2011-08-10, 22:53:07 »

My problem was not related to RemoteRig. In order to interface my remote transceiver to the Radio unit, I had to build a small audio amplifier. The audio IC in this decided to die after a few weeks of use. I really have no idea why it should have died - the amplifier only has to drive a 50 Ohm load with a few mW.

73 Roger

11

General discussion forum / Audio

« on: 2011-08-08, 01:28:41 »

My system has been working very nicely for several weeks now. The RemoteRig units are connected 100% of the time over my UHF link. My separate control system turns the remote equipment on, etc.

Today I have lost audio from the remote end. I have tried resetting both units with no difference. The CW sidetone still works fine, and I see something around 200kbs of data being sent - and this switches direction with ptt. (This seems rather more data than previously - it was about 160kbs.)

My first thought is that I have lost the audio input to the Radio unit. My second is that the audio at the Control end is VERY quiet - and I seem to remember some white noise even with no input when I was setting things up. But all the circuitry following the sidetone injection must be working properly.

I don't see that any of the settings on the units have changed. Probably it is my homebrew part somewhere that is broken, and I will take a trip to the tower tomorrow to check it out.

Any other suggestions please?

73 Roger

12

General discussion forum / CW Keying

« on: 2011-06-09, 02:25:13 »

Most things working now.

I notice that when using the external key input that the longest dash is about one second. This is not a big problem by any means, but I wonder if this is normal behaviour?

Thanks

Roger
VE3ZI

13

General discussion forum / Re: Interface

« on: 2011-06-02, 00:47:24 »

Thanks for the information.

I can see why you made the units interface directly to a loudspeaker output as it is obviously better for those radios with detachable front panels. If you were ever to remake the PCB it would be nice to have the 50R load(s) jumper selected. 

Whilst it would be very straightforward to disconnect the resistors I don't want to start hacking around a brand new unit, so I will build a small LS amplifier for the remote site. I don't want to use the remote radio's internal LS amplifier as I am bound to leave the volume set at zero when I am there leading to hair pulling and cursing.

It would still be good to have detailed interface specs somewhere in the User Manual - it just makes it so much easier for slightly non-standard applications.

Am I correct in my listing of the functions of the internal header?

Thanks

73 Roger
VE3ZI

14

General discussion forum / Interface

« on: 2011-05-31, 02:14:14 »

Please excuse me if these questions have been answered before, but I really have tried to RTFM...

I can't find a definitive level for audio input and output at each end of the link, only in unreferenced dBs. At the remote end I am using an Icom transceiver and want to connect to the accessory socket - which has a vague 'few hundred mV' (high impedance) in and out. It would be nice if I could set the levels to use the highest possible dynamic ranges.

I think that the internal Aux/Mic configuration header just defines which connections go to which pins on the Aux/Mic connector? So it should be (pin numbering as if header was an IC):

Pin 1 (control) - audio output from remote receiver;  Pin 1 (radio) - audio input from receiver
Pin 2 (control) - 8V (9V) to power local microphone; Pin 2 (radio) - power on - not sure what power???
Pin 3 (control) - data from remote radio;                 Pin 3 (radio) - data from radio <for detachable front panel radio>
Pin 4 (control) - ptt from local microphone              Pin 4 (radio) - ptt to radio
Pin 5 (control) - audio from local microphone           Pin 5 (radio) - to radio microphone input
Pin 6 (control) - data to remote radio                     Pin 6 (radio) - data to radio <for detachable front panel radio>
Pin 7 (control) - GND                                           Pin 7 (radio) - GND
Pin 8 (control) - mic GND                                     Pin 8 (radio) - mic GND
Pin 9 (control) - I think related to connecting/disconnecting the link by grounding this pin?

My application is improving the operation of an existing remote controlled station. Specifically, to allow audio to be sent over the ethernet link (rather than a 440MHz radio), and to improve the CW keying. The remote station is 14km away over a 900MHz ethernet radio link. The link is usually quite fast (~1.5Mbs simultaneously in both directions), but sometimes slows, I think due to interference.

I'm sure there will be any number of other questions, but answers to these would be a great start.

Thanks

73 Roger
VE3ZI