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PowerSDR Software For Software
Defined Radio I.F. Stage Use
Here is my first pass at writing
software for Softrock
lite users who are using the kit as an
I.F. stage with a radio that is capable of being (CAT)
computer controlled. I have taken a version of the
PowerSDR (v1.9.0) software and modified the source code.
The PowerSDR software now communicates with the Ham Radio Deluxe or LP
Bridge software
to control and keep in sync with the radio being used. As long
as Ham Radio Deluxe supports your radio (and it supports most
all) - you should be able to use this software.
Here are
the current features I added to the
PowerSDR software:
-
Full tuning control
from the PowerSDR software.
You can changes bands, modes,
frequency, click to tune from the panadapter, etc. as
usual from the PowerSDR software and the tuning updates will
be tracked by your radio in real time
-
Full tuning control from your
radio. You can spin the VFO, change modes, etc. and the
tuning updates will be tracked by the PowerSDR software
-
PowerSDR automatically
mutes audio output when
the radio goes into TX mode. This allows you to still
see the panadapter while in TX mode - unlike using the mute
line on the Softrock lite kit to mute when going into
TX mode. This feature can be disabled by clicking the "MON"
button
-
New menus added to the PowerSDR
setup menu for Softrock IF Stage use
-
You can select the IF frequency
by mode
-
You can offset the radio's VFO
frequency from the PowerSDR's VFO frequency by mode
-
You can enter the frequency
range of the external radio
-
PowerSDR window title indicates the
model of the radio
its connected to (ex. "WU2X PowerSDR/TS-940S IF Stage")
-
Additional soundcard support - larger buffer size
supported and I/Q sample offset correction
I chose
to use Ham Radio Deluxe to control the
radio because its
a well written piece of software with an
easy to use, well defined, high performance interface for third party software
interfacing that already can control almost every rig that supports
CAT commands. There are plenty of radios out
there such as the Yaesu FT-1000D, Kenwood TS-950SDX and
the
Elecraft K3 that have IF outputs and support
CAT control that can easily and cheaply pickup some modern
features and performance that Software Defined Radio and the PowerSDR software
has to offer.
Telepost
has released a SDR I/Q board specifically for
the Elecraft K3 called LP-PAN . This can be used instead of
a the Softrock kit. He plans to build LP-PAN versions for
other common IF Frequencies, so
if building a kit isn't your thing, this
is another option.
I have personally been
using my Softrock lite kit with a Kenwood TS-940S and its been
a great combination. The TS-940S has a
buffered 8.83 Mhz IF output and has the
ability to switch the AGC circuit off in SSB and
CW modes - both necessary for good performance. Figure 1
shows my setup.
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Figure 1 - Softrock kit configured for IF use
on a Kenwood
TS-940S. |
Getting Started
-
Select an external rig control
program. The currently supported rig control programs
are:
Ham
Radio Deluxe -
To get started, you need to get the latest
version of Ham Radio
Deluxe ( HRD ) installed and
controlling your radio (if you haven't already!). HRD has very
good documentation
and a good support
forum. Please ask
any questions about HRD in the HRD support forums. Make sure
you have HRD correctly controlling your radio before you
continue. My software depends on HRD working
properly! -OR-
LP Bridge - Get the latest
version of LP Bridge
installed and controlling your radio.
Make sure you have LP Bridge correctly connected to
your radio before you continue. My software depends
on LP Bridge working properly! This program
is currently geared towards the Elecraft K3. Its provides more
features for the K3 than HRD does
and is recommended if you are using the
K3.
-
Download
and unzip the PowerSDR.zip -
OR-
run the
PowerSDR.exe file (self-extracting
zip file) and extract the setup files into the directory of your
choice. Then run setup.exe.
If you are not already familiar with
the PowerSDR software, then please visit the FlexRadio
website to read
about the setup. Step 1, skip
downloading the PowerSDR software from the FlexRadio website
as you just downloaded it above from my website. The
"SDR-1000 Operating Manual" contains detailed information on
the PowerSDR software usage.
-
After installing the PowerSDR
software, but before running PowerSDR, ensure that
the rig control program
you are using (HRD or LP Bridge)
is running and connected to the radio you wish PowerSDR
to interface with.
-
Start up PowerSDR and run through
the wizard - you can go back into the setup menu after the
wizard runs to make any changes afterwards (i.e. if you have
already selected different hardware). Select the
"Softrock 40" as your radio
model.
-
Once you have started the PowerSDR
software - if you are successfully connected to Ham Radio
Deluxe or LP Bridge, you will see the type of radio you are controlling in
the window title - see figure 3 for an example.
If you do not see the radio model, then PowerSDR is unable to
establish a connection to the rig control program. You will
receive a pop up warning message when PowerSDR/IF Stage
cannot establish a connection to the rig control program.
-
Enter the Setup menu (top
left hand menu on PowerSDR menu). Click on the
"General" tab and ensure that "Softrock IF
Stage" Radio Model is selected. Also note
Softrock center frequency is grayed out because this
information isn't needed for IF use.
-
Next click on the "Softrock IF
Stage" tab.
Enter the IF (center) frequency to
be used for each mode. Some calculations and a little
trial and error are needed to find the exact IF center
frequency needed for each mode. The values depend on
the type of radio used, mode, IF output frequency of the
radio and the Softrock center frequency. Figure 2.
shows the IF conversions involved for my TS-940S
and will serve as the demonstration for calculating
required values.
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Figure 2 - Frequency conversion from the IF
output of rig to baseband.
|
The IF output of the
TS-940S is 8.83 Mhz. The center frequency of
the Softrock is ~8.817 Mhz.. Since
the Softrock lite converts the IF output to baseband,
we need to calculate the frequency where the center IF
output of the TS-940S falls on the baseband (green
line). We take the TS-940S center IF output and
subtract the Softrock's center frequency:
|
8.83 Mhz -
8.817 Mhz = 0.013
Mhz
|
.
This gives us
the ball park baseband IF frequency we must enter into
setup menu for the IF Frequency for each mode. The IF
frequency is entered into the setup menu in Hz, so we must
convert Mhz to Hz.:
|
0.013 Mhz X 10^6 = 13000
Hz
| After you have
entered these values into the setup menu, you will then need
to tune in a strong signal where the exact frequency is
known. For instance a local AM broadcast station, WWV or a
signal generator will work. Use the panadapter to view
the strong signal and make corrections to the IF center
frequency for each mode to perfectly align the signal
with the PowerSDR's VFO display. Figure 3 shows the
peak of the carrier of WWV centered right at 15 Mhz.
|

Figure 3 - WWV carrier centered @ 15
Mhz, the result of tweaking the IF center
frequency. |
If your
external radio is also a transmitter, you can put the
radio into transmit mode and view the panadapter
to make corrections to the IF center frequency. Given my setup above, I ended up
with a value of 13950 Hz for LSB and 17000 Hz for
USB, for example. If the IF output frequency of the radio
is less than the center frequency of the Softrock kit, you
will end up with a negative number. You specify a
negative IF center frequency in this case:
|
(8.804
Mhz - 8.817 Mhz) X 10^6 = -13000
Hz
| The above alignment is
useful if you intend to use the PowerSDR for receiving and
the radio for transmitting - your received and
transmit frequency will be aligned this way (make sure
XIT/RIT and split mode is off on your external
radio!). If you wish to use a certain baseband IF
frequency and do not care if the external radio's VFO
matches the PowerSDR VFO, then you can choose to offset the
radio's VFO to align the target RX frequency with a
particular baseband IF frequency. Enter the desired IF
center frequency (default is 11025 Hz) and then enter the
desired VFO offset for each mode. Enter the
frequency limits in Mhz of the radio you are controlling
through HRD. Select the
default modes appropriate for your external rig for CW and
DIG modes. This is radio dependent. For example, the
Elecraft K3 would used CW-LSB and DIG-USB. The Kenwood
TS-940S would use CW-USB.
Finally, select the rig control program you will
use. EIther "Ham Radio Deluxe" or "LP Bridge"
-
Setup any
additional soundcard tweaks necessary
for your soundcard hardware. A higher buffer size
is provided in this version than is available in the stock
version of PowerSDR. This can reduce pops/clicks in the
audio, but increases audio latency . Enter any I/Q sample
offset correction needed for your soundcard. Note this
is rarely needed.
s
Current State
of the Software (Version 0.92)
(Updated
7/28/2008)
-
This is alpha
software.
-
I have not tested this software
with a FlexRadio SDR-1000. I don't have one. As such, I
don't know if I have introduced any bugs when you select the
Flexradio hardware. You should not install this software
over your existing installation of the PoweSDR Software if
you
are already using
a SDR-1000/5000. I will correct any issues I find,
but see #1 again.
-
The playback of a wave file
is currently
not working - you can't tune around while playing it
back.
-
I have tested this on a few
machines, both Intel and AMD
processors. I have used several different
soundcards including
a M-Audio Audiophile Firewire and a Roland FA-66 with good
results.
-
I used PowerSDR v1.9.0 SVN 1175 as my
base.
-
If you select a mode that isn't
in the Softrock IF Stage menu (LSB,USB,CW,AM,FM),
then the IF center frequency and
the VFO
offset will stay be the last "supported" mode you had
selected..
-
Certain controls should not be
used - "Spur Reduction", "BCI Rejection" do not serve any purpose for
the Softrock IF stage. No attempt
has been
made to disable or remove controls that may cause adverse
effects.
-
There are problems where the
PowerSDR can't communicate with HRD if you have setup
Windows to use something other than an English-US
codepage. I thought this might have been my code, but I
couldn't get it to work with a unmodified version of the
PowerSDR software either, so I think this is a limitation
inherit in the PowerSDR software.
-
Setting the Windows process
priority
of the PowerSDR
software to a setting
higher than HRD can cause the two programs to get
out of sync. This allows PowerSDR to send more updates to
HRD than it can process. If you only tune with the
radio then this is not a problem. If you click and drag the
panadapter with the mouse, you will likely get the VFOs
out
of sync. Keep the process priorities equal if you change
them
-
Auto calibration of "Frequency", "Level" and "RX Image Reject" do not work.
They just hang when you try to use them.
Release Notes, PowerSDR/IF
Stage v0.92
Notes
-
This is alpha
software.
-
PowerSDR/IF Stage v0.91 is based on v1.9.0 SVN
1175
New
Features
-
Rig control program now
selectable. Can choose between HRD
(default) or LP
Bridge
-
On the audio setup menu, a buffer
setting up to
4096 is now
selectable
-
On the audio setup menu, there is
a setting to
correct I/Q offset
values
-
Global IF Offset correction,
allows for a global correction of
all IF offset values.
This is useful to correct for small frequency drift between the
IF SDR RX and the rig being controlled across all
modes after the IF Frequency for each
mode has been
established.
-
Default modes
for CW and DIG are now selectable.
This means if CW mode is selected on the external rig,
you can have it default to either CWU or CWL mode
in PowerSDR/IF Stage. Ditto
for the DIG
modess
-
LP Bridge supports one additional
feature beyond HRD - LP Bridge sends IF Frequency
information to PowerSDR/IF Stage automatically. Any
value entered in the softrocjkIF Frquency setup menu is
added to the IF frquency sent by LP Bridge along with the
global IF fresquency value! See LP Bridge documention
for the full set of additional function provided by LP
Bridge
-
PowerSDR/IF Stage will now synchronize its
frequency and mode to the external rig's frequency and
mode when it initially connects - instead of the reverse
where the external rig's frequency and mode would switch to
PowerSDR frequency
-
VFO frequency does not shift for the CW pitch when
changing between SSB and CW modes. The default behavior of
PowerSDR was to offset the VFO frequency readout by the CW
pitch when toggling between SSB and CW modes
Bug
Fixes
-
IF frequency values up to +/-96000
can now be entered in the setup menu (needed
for the Elecraft K3
Softrock)
-
PowerSDR/IF Stage doesn't attempt
to connect to rig control program until power button is
pressed and will only try to
reconnect once every 5
seconds
-
Toggling standby button will
reconnect to rig control program. Selecting a rig
control program will also reinitialize the connection
to the rig control
program.
-
Initial values for these settings
have changed- Default IF Frquencies are now zero -
Default
max frequency changed to
54Mhz.
-
Miscellaneous performance
improvements and
fixes
Release Notes, PowerSDR/IF
Stage v0.91
Notes
-
This is alpha
software.
-
PowerSDR/IF Stage v0.91 is (still) based on v1.9.0 SVN
1175
-
I have started support for radios
that invert the IF output above a certain frequency (like
the Elecraft K2). You will set a frequency that you wish the
PowerSDR/IF Stage to swap the I/Q Channels at. When
you are greater than or equal to the specified frequency, it
will automatically swap the I/Q Channels. This support is
unfinished because I need to create another IF entry table
on the setup menu for when the I/Q channels are swapped. I
was hoping that I would just need
to take the
current IF settings entered
by the user and switch the sign of the IF
Frequency if the I/Q was swapped, but K2 user's are reporting
the IF setting needs to be custom set when the IF
inverts. The behavior now is that it will invert the sign on the specified
IF frequency when it swaps the I/Q (i.e. if the
IF
is 13950, when it swap I/Q, it will then use
-13950).
Bug
Fixes
-
Band buttons now work
properly.
-
You can now enter a negative value
for the IF frequency in the setup
menu.
-
Frequency limits and IF frequency
is now honored when you first start the problem. There was a
bug where until you would alter a value in the menu with the
program already running, the value didn't actually take
effect.
-
The "Display" window will now only
show frequencies that are in your total passband, according
to the current sample rate set. There was a bug where the
display was showing frequencies outside of the passband. You
could see signals at these frequencies, but these were
actually phantom signals that were occurring at a higher
frequency within the
passband.
-
Miscellaneous performance
improvements and
fixes
Bug Reporting
Please report any issues or bugs you
find in version 0.92 here
. Click
here to email
.
Please include as much relavant information as you can in the
email.
PLEASE DO
NOT REPORT BUGS ON THIS SOFTWARE
TO FLEXRADIO SYSTEMS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THE FLEXRADIO
REFLECTOR TO DISCUSS ISSUES RELATED TO THIS SOFTWARE.
If
a need arrises for a forum, I will
create one, but it would not
be fair
to use the FlexRadio reflector with topics related to this
software.
Future
Versions
I am now tracking all bugs and feature
requests on this website
. You will need a
Google userid to open a feature request or
bug report. I intend to track
all future
work done to PowerSDR/IF Stage via the Google code project
website.
Older Versions
Here are previous
versions of the software. Please
use the newest version of the software if you are just
starting out.
IAcknowledgements
First off, I would like to thank
Tony Parks, KB9YIG, for developing and
producing the Softrock line of SDR kits. Building the
stand-alone RXTX and the lite kits to interface with my
TS-940S has been one of the most rewarding projects I have
done in ham radio. The Yahoo! forum is very active and a
good place to get started. Second, thanks to FlexRadio
Systems for releasing the PowerSDR software source code
under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Also thanks to
Eric Wachsmann of FlexRadio Systems for practically
instantaneous email responses to any question I could throw
his way. Lastly, thanks to Simon Brown, HB9DRV,
for producing Ham Radio Deluxe. I consider this to be the
definitive logging and rig control program out there. His
well designed third-party interface allowed quick
interfacing of PowerSDR with any rig that supports CAT
control. I think the true spirit of ham radio is alive and
well!
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