[hpsdr] PowerSDR v2.2.3.triple_Mercury (K5SO 1NOV2011)

[Joe Martin K5SO]

All,

If you are interested in helping to develop a directional steering  
program using multiple coherent Mercury receivers, or simply want to  
try one out,  PowerSDR v2.2.3.triple_Mercury (K5SO 1NOV2011) is  
available for download from

http://www.k5so.com/Triple-Mercury%20Directional%20Steering%20Program.html

Keep in mind that this program is under active development and testing  
and the versions can be expected to change frequently as we study the  
performance and versatility of the present controls.

This particular version is my initial attempt to implement the beam  
steering concepts described by Victor Kean, Jr., K1LT in his article  
in "Beam Steering on 160 Meters", QEX - November/December 2009 pp.  
25-39,  for in-line antenna arrays.  The article provides an excellent  
introduction to the subject of directional steering and details the  
approach taken in the PowerSDR program noted above.

The PowerSDR program assumes that three omni-directional antennas are  
used and lie along a North-South line with antenna #1located furthest  
North, however sufficient calibration controls are provided on the  
steering control display to accommodate and calibrate any directional  
orientation of the in-line array.

If you are simply curious as to how the program controls appear and  
behave, you may run the program successfully with only a single  
Mercury board on the Atlas bus, but of course the steering  
functionality will not be there unless you use multiple Mercury boards.

New firmware downloads are provided on the download page, as well, as  
this program expects the user to be using the latest test firmware.    
The test firmware versions in the download are compatible with  
existing PC programs, as far as current testing shows, but must be  
used as a complete set for all boards.  The test firmware set is  
currently being tested by others as a potential new general release  
for all HPSDR boards as it implements not only normal single Mercury  
operations but also multiple Mercury board operations and multiple- 
receivers-on-a-single-Mercury board operations and 1PPS GPS input for  
Chirp program applications all in a single set of firmware versions.

In addition, for those using multiple Mercury boards I have posted  
photos of a cleaner/more robust connection method of the 122.88 MHz  
clock between the Mercury boards at

http://www.k5so.com/Clock%20connections.html    (photos at the bottom  
of the page).

Have fun!

73,  Joe K5SO