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FDM-DUO/SW2 Active VRX Transmit Frequency?

Robert
 

I might be missing something obvious or the functionality I’m envisioning simply isn’t available.

I have 3 instances of WSJT-X each pointed to a different VRX:

WSJT-X Instance #1 – VRX1

WSJT-X Instance #2 – VRX2

WSJT-X Instance #3 – VRX3

Everything works great for monitoring; it’s transmitting where I start to run into problems.  Instance #1 transmits fine because it’s connected directly to the rig for CAT control.

Instances 2 and 3 can’t transmit on their frequencies since transmit only seems to work on whatever RX1 is set to.  How do I get the instance that’s transmitting to set the desired transmit frequency? Can the active transmitting VRX not set the transmit frequency?

 

-Robert

 
Mike Black
 

Seems to me you need separate CAT control for each VRX.
Doesn't the software allow that?

Mike W9MDB




On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 01:23:57 AM CDT, Robert <robert@...> wrote:


I might be missing something obvious or the functionality I’m envisioning simply isn’t available.

I have 3 instances of WSJT-X each pointed to a different VRX:

WSJT-X Instance #1 – VRX1

WSJT-X Instance #2 – VRX2

WSJT-X Instance #3 – VRX3

Everything works great for monitoring; it’s transmitting where I start to run into problems.  Instance #1 transmits fine because it’s connected directly to the rig for CAT control.

Instances 2 and 3 can’t transmit on their frequencies since transmit only seems to work on whatever RX1 is set to.  How do I get the instance that’s transmitting to set the desired transmit frequency? Can the active transmitting VRX not set the transmit frequency?

 

-Robert

 
Robert
 

I've got CAT control working for each rig.  I've tried it a few different ways:

1. Setting the rig to an FT-897 in WSTJ-X for VRX 2 & 3.  This is buggy though as there seems to be a problem with hamlib in WSJT-X
2. Using flrig
2. Using Omnirig

Using Omnirig seems to be the most stable option, but regardless of which one I use, the rig won't transmit on the frequency of the active VRX.
Mike Black
 

There's an ELAD entry in the rig list....try it.




On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 09:44:08 AM CDT, Robert <robert@...> wrote:


I've got CAT control working for each rig.  I've tried it a few different ways:

1. Setting the rig to an FT-897 in WSTJ-X for VRX 2 & 3.  This is buggy though as there seems to be a problem with hamlib in WSJT-X
2. Using flrig
2. Using Omnirig

Using Omnirig seems to be the most stable option, but regardless of which one I use, the rig won't transmit on the frequency of the active VRX.

Robert
 

That's for RX1 which is hardware controlled and is set to ELAD.  The virtual receivers implement the FT-897 command set.  It's the virtual receivers where I'm running into problems with transmit frequency.
Robert
 

Maybe this makes more sense if I visually show my configuration...

The main instance is connected via the DUO's USB CAT connection
Instance VRX2 is set to Omni-Rig RIG 1 using the Elad-FDMSW2 rig type
Instance VRX3 is set to Omni-Rig RIG 2 using the Elad-FDMSW2 rig type

This all works great. I can select my freqs from the dropdown and it sets the frequency as expected.  My virtual serial port pairs and virtual audio chain are working beautifully. It's perfect... for monitoring.

When I transmit from the main instance, it works as intended.  What I want to happen is when I transmit from instances VRX2 and VRX3 is for the transmitted frequency to adjust accordingly, but it only seems to transmit on whatever the hardware VFO frequency is set to.

Now... in remote split mode, setting the correct transmit frequency when manually activating a VRX in the SW2 software works as I would expect it to, but it seems that this functionality doesn't extend to the virtual CAT interfaces. Unless I'm missing something, additional CAT controlled VRX rigs can really only be used for feeding additional software and can't be utilized for transmitting since the frequency selection via VRX CAT control doesn't work correctly.  This leads to to believe that this is a simple software problem and not a hardware limitation.

 

From: EladSDR@groups.io <EladSDR@groups.io> On Behalf Of Michael Black via groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2023 11:18 AM
To: EladSDR@groups.io
Subject: Re: [EladSDR] FDM-DUO/SW2 Active VRX Transmit Frequency?

 

There's an ELAD entry in the rig list....try it.

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 09:44:08 AM CDT, Robert <robert@...> wrote:

 

 

I've got CAT control working for each rig.  I've tried it a few different ways:

1. Setting the rig to an FT-897 in WSTJ-X for VRX 2 & 3.  This is buggy though as there seems to be a problem with hamlib in WSJT-X
2. Using flrig
2. Using Omnirig

Using Omnirig seems to be the most stable option, but regardless of which one I use, the rig won't transmit on the frequency of the active VRX.

2023-03-22 15_07_14-.png

PF1JM
 

Robert,

If you click on the yellow TX just below the freqency, you make RX2 the active TX.
Xmit should now take place on the frequency of VRX2.
Clicking in TX opens a sort of submenu where you can chose input. This should be USB.

The FT879 implementation is buggy indeed. I use flrig as an intermediary.
I have set up virtual com pairs with com0com.
For example com12 and com22. In SW2 VRX2 is assigned to com22.
Flrig is configured with FT897 as rig, com12, speed 38400, 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.
In wsjtx rig is flrig, port 127.0.0.1:12345
127.0.0.1 is loopback IP address, portnumber 12345.
 
I have configured 4 different flrig profiles, each VRX it’s own. Read the manual how to do that.
Each flrig profile must have an unique port number, which must be set in the flrig settings.
12345 is default, I used that for VRX1. For VRX2 12346 and so on.

This is what works for me.

73, Jeroen PF1JM
Robert
 

That was helpful.  I think I have it figured out now. I had “Use FDM-DUO TX Control Panel” selected in the advanced options, which kicks it out of USB transmit and into mic input mode resulting in a wrong mode error message when I tried to click on the VRX to transmit.  Disabling that seems to have corrected it.

 

It’s still mildly annoying I need to click on the VRX I want to use before transmitting in the program linked to that VRX.  I feel like this could and should be completely automated.

 

Yeah, I’ve tried multiple instances of fldigi to control the VRX’s as well, but I still run into bugginess with occasional errors or kicking out of transmit periodically.  I might have to revisit it, but using Omni-Rig with the SW2 profile seems to be the most stable setup I’ve found so far.

 

From: EladSDR@groups.io <EladSDR@groups.io> On Behalf Of PF1JM via groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2023 4:23 PM
To: EladSDR@groups.io
Subject: Re: [EladSDR] FDM-DUO/SW2 Active VRX Transmit Frequency?

 

Robert,

If you click on the yellow TX just below the freqency, you make RX2 the active TX.
Xmit should now take place on the frequency of VRX2.
Clicking in TX opens a sort of submenu where you can chose input. This should be USB.

The FT879 implementation is buggy indeed. I use flrig as an intermediary.
I have set up virtual com pairs with com0com.
For example com12 and com22. In SW2 VRX2 is assigned to com22.
Flrig is configured with FT897 as rig, com12, speed 38400, 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.
In wsjtx rig is flrig, port 127.0.0.1:12345
127.0.0.1 is loopback IP address, portnumber 12345.
 
I have configured 4 different flrig profiles, each VRX it’s own. Read the manual how to do that.
Each flrig profile must have an unique port number, which must be set in the flrig settings.
12345 is default, I used that for VRX1. For VRX2 12346 and so on.

This is what works for me.

73, Jeroen PF1JM

Matthew Phillips
 

Hi,

Essentially in the FDM-DUO/SW2" system there is one hardware receiver and one hardware transmitter. 

The hardware receiver can 'receive' a wide bandwidth which in software can be divided up and simulate 4 parallel receivers. This is as long as the frequencies used fit within the overall wide bandwidth sub-band being received. 

The transmitter is narrow band and so has to switch to the desired frequency. It can't transmit multiple signals in parallel only one narrow channel at a time. 

As mentioned the 'switching' is done in the SW2 software by making one of the 4 VR receivers the active transmitter by clicking the display. I do not know another way to do this. This is a manual setting and does not move dynamically. 

I can imagine it is possible to simulate a dynamic switch with a custom Python script. 

Setup each 4 virtual com port pairs one connected to each VR in the SW2 settings (you have done this already)
Connect the python script to each 'other end' of the VR com ports.
Define 4 more virtual com ports pairs and connect each one of those from the python script to each instance of WSJT-X
Finally connect the script to the hardware com port on the DUO

In this way the script can:
  • Activate 'split' mode on the DUO so the centre receive frequency of the DUO (and the centre frequency of the wideband hardware receiver for the SW2) is VFO 'A' and the transmit frequency is set by VFO 'B'
  • Receive cat commands from each instance of WSJT-X and 'sniff' and forward them on to each VR
  • When it 'sniffs' a TX cat command from one of the instances of WSJT-X note the active frequency of that VR and change the frequency of VFO 'B' on the DUO to that frequency over the hardware COM port
  • Send the correct cat command to the DUO to put the DUO in TX
  • The DUO will now TX on the newly set 'active' frequency. 
  • When TX finishes from the instance of WSJT-X kill the TX on the DUO
  • Loop

Please note of when in TX all the active RX's will be blocked. 

This would do what you want I think. It is just a suggestion unfortunately my python programming skills are not up to actually doing it :-)

73 Matt - G6WPJ

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