[hpsdr] transverter setup issue

[Joe Martin K5SO]

Hi Wayde, 

Okay, I think I see what the issue is now.  First, the Alex switching appears to work fine, however, the way in which it works is a little different from what you and I were expecting.  

To use the XVTR feature with, as in your case, a 432/28 MHz transverter: 

1)  connect the 28 MHz IF output of the transverter to the ANT 1 connector of Alex, 

2)  connect your normal 10 meter antenna to the XVTR connector on Alex,  

3) on the PowerSDR Alex Ctrl menu, on the 10m band line, select the ANT 1 button and check the XVTR box,  

4)  on the XVTR menu, set (as you already have done) the LO Freq to 404.0 MHz, Begin Freq to 432.0 MHz, and End Freq to 434.0 MHz. 

Now when you select the 10 meter band on your PowerSDR front panel you receive 10 m signals from your 10 meter antenna.  When you select your 70 cm band button (VHF+ option) you receive the 28 MHz IF signal from your transverter, as you expect. 

What messed you and I up in our thinking is that we expected that when you check XVTR on the Alex Ctrl menu you should put the transverter IF output onto the XVTR connector.  That's incorrect the way things are currently coded.  The way the switching is coded in PowerSDR is that when you select one of the connectors RX1, RX2, or XVTR on the band-of-interest line in the Alex Ctrl menu you are indicating to PowerSDR that you wish to receive that band normally on the selected connector instead of the ANT1 (or ANT2 or ANT3) connector.  When using a transverter the transverter signal must be applied to the ANT 1 (or ANT 2, or ANT 3, whichever you have selected) connector and not the XVTR connector.  

I know this seems a bit non-intuitive but it is an acceptable method of switching, just not what you and I expected to find, hihi.  

At least this is what I think is the situation based upon how Alex/PowerSDR appear to interact.

I hope this clears up the issue for you and you are now able to interface with your 70cm successfully armed with this info. 

73,  Joe K5SO

  


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