[hpsdr] SWR Problems with PennyLane

[Mark Leone]

I forgot to mention: I still see 0 power level indicated on LEDs 2 
through 6 (i.e. none of them lit) when I key down or Tune with the Dummy 
Load connected.

Mark - K4XML

On 2/5/12 12:04 PM, Mark Leone wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> Thanks, Phil. After posting I noticed that the external tuner requires 
> 1 watt minimum input, and the LEDs are indeed indicating no RF. 
> However, I tried again with the 50 ohm dummy load connected to the 
> output of PennyLane, and there still seems to be a problem.
>
> Using PowerSDR, when I press Tune on the GUI or key the transmitter in 
> CW mode, I see 0 Watts Forward and Reflected Power. I measure the 
> voltage across the dummy load's diode detector, and I see it go up 
> slightly, from 2 milliVolts (TX off) to 12 milliVolts key down). This 
> equates to less than 1 milliWatt PEP, so something's not right.
>
> I have the Drive control on the main screen set to 100, and I tried 
> adjusting the per-band gains on the PA Settings screen. Setting the 
> minimal value in the latter gave me a slight increase in TX-on voltage 
> from 10 milliVolts to 12 milliVolts. I also found some settings on 
> other screens that pertained to transmit level, but increasing these 
> did not make any difference.
>
> Perhaps I've mis-configured PennyLane. I didn't find a manual 
> explicitly for PennyLane, so I used the Penelope manual. I understand 
> the differences are minimal, but when I look at the picture of the 
> circuit board showing the jumper settings, I see different jumper 
> locations on my board compared to the picture in the manual. 
> Nevertheless, I didn't muck with the factory jumper settings other 
> than the PTT, Bias, and Aud jumpers. For those, I have them all 
> removed per the manual instructions, since I have no mic connected to 
> PennyLane. I have only a CW key connected to the DB-9 port on Metis.
>
> FWIW I get different behavior when I boot into Linux and run ghpsdr. 
> When I key the transmitter, I see rapidly-changing SWR values in the 
> GUI, never settling down to a usable value. I'm happy to work with 
> PowerSDR to figure out the problem, but perhaps the ghpsdr behavior is 
> a clue. I'm surprised to see this behavior with only a dummy load 
> connected. It's behaving as if there's a tuner in-line when there isn't.
>
> Mark - K4XML
>
> On 2/4/12 9:41 PM, Phil Harman wrote:
>> Hi Mark,
>>
>> First test your PennyLane board by connecting it directly to a 50 ohm 
>> dummy load. Your PC code should indicate 500+mW output in Tune mode 
>> and the LEDs on the board (which form a power bar graph) should all 
>> be on.
>>
>> The change in flash rate of LED 7 happens when the PTT is active - I 
>> need to add this to the documentation.
>>
>> It may be that 500mW is not enough power for your ATU to  tune 
>> correctly  - I suggest you check the specification.
>>
>> 73 Phil...VK6APH
>>
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