[hpsdr] Questions

[Jim Sanford]

All:

I've been collecting HPSDR pieces over the years, but not had much 
chance to do anything with them.  Hoping to do so this winter.

In my ultimate end state vision, I'd like to be using HPSDR components 
on HF/6m and possibly 2m with transverter, AND with UHFSDR as IF for my 
microwave stack. (I want separate 2m and microwave/uhf rigs, so that I 
can independently run 2m liaison and whatever other vhf/uhf/microwave band.)

This leads to several questions, remember from a guy who's only 
peripherally aware of what's been going on.
1.  I have Metis, Penny, Pennywhistle, Linear power supply, Pandora, 
Atlas, Mercury, Janus, and Ozy.  It appears that I could use Atlas, 
Janus, and Ozy to interface with UHFSDR, which wants a Flex1000-like 
interface.  Is this correct?
2.  In the HPSDR documentation I read today, there was a reference to an 
"Atlas-light" which would only take 2 boards (Janus/Ozy).  Did that ever 
come to fruition?  If so, how do I get one?
3.  If 1 is true, could I use USB<==>Ethernet extenders to put the 
equipment 300 feet away from the computer?  (Acknowledge that I might 
have to do something about geting audio out and back.)  Any experience 
with this?
3.  Separately, could I use a second Atlas,  Metis, and 
Mercury//penolope on HF, controlling over ethernet 300 feet away? Any 
way to do I/Q in the computer and send audio on the ethernet path?
4.  I have seen a bunch of traffic about updates to the various board 
FPGAs, installed using Metis. Is there a guide out there somewhere for 
somebody who's late to the party? While I'd be inclined to assemble what 
I bought over the years as-is to avoid corruption and to minimize 
variables in the system, the QuickStart guide I read today suggests that 
the firmware versions may be incompatible and I should update each board 
as soon as I install it.  What is the definitive answer on this?
5.  I've seen a lot of traffic on this reflector recently about the new 
SVN and new versions of firmware and PowerSDR software.  Is a dedicated 
HPSDR version of PowerSDR still required?  Where do I get it?  Is there 
a web-based access to board firmware or must I select and download an 
SVN client?
6.  I see the info about multiple receivers in a single or multiple 
Mercury boards.  Is there an easy way to get the latest SINGLE receiver 
version?  I'd like to keep it simple initially.  Multiple receivers can 
come later.
7.  Excalibur is clearly a great way to get good frequency accuracy, 
either through onboard TCXO or external GPS stabilized oscillator.  The 
METIS documentation /suggests/ that it has all those features, and 
Excalibur is not necessary.  Can anyone confirm, this?  Especially, is 
the onboard TCXO as good as in Exclalibur?
8.  The documentation suggests that the line audio in and out are 600 
ohm.  I assume single-ended, since two channels are on 3 pins.  In my 
broadcast days a couple of centuries ago, we moved high quality signals 
for miles on 600 ohm balanced lines.  Does anyone have any experience 
remoting HPSDR using 600 ohm balanced lines for audio or for I/Q?  If 
so, how did you transition from single-ended to balanced -- the 
transformers I used to buy cheap are now horrendously expensive.
9.  The QuickStart document specifies chapters of the Flex 5000 manual 
to read, which I did.  Does the HPSDR version of PowerSDR support the 
virtual comm port and virtual audio cables referred to in the Flex manual?
10.  Any experience running one instance of PowerSDR for HPSDR and 
another instance for "softrock" on the same computer at the same time?
11.  Linux:  I have a Linux computer which was given to me.  Looks 
capable, runs a RedHat flavor of linux.  QuickStart guide suggests 
Ubunto, which I'd be willing to install. This computer would live on my 
network only to be able to move upgrades and communicate with the HPSDR 
hardware.  Question:  What is minimum performance required of this 
computer if I went with a Linux version of PowerSDR or other SDR software?

Thanks & very 73,
Jim
wb4gcs at amsat.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openhpsdr.org/pipermail/hpsdr-openhpsdr.org/attachments/20120212/422ad8fa/attachment-0002.htm>