[hpsdr] questions about the protocol (v1.36)

[Erik Anderson]

Okay, thanks.  I kinda guessed that MOX meant "transmit" from how it was
used, but when KK sets/clears a bit described in the protocol as "MOX"
based on whether a variable named "MOX" is set, which is changed using a
button named "MOX" with a label of "MOX" you kinda get the impression that
you should already know what it means.  I've heard of "VOX" before at
least...

As for multiple receivers vs multiple cards, from the sound of your
response there's no way for the software to know or care whether it's
addressing one or the other.  I'm guessing that if i turn on/off the
attenuator (i.e. "preamp") for one receiver that it turns it on for all of
them (if they're really one card) but otherwise there's not much difference
from the software perspective (as long as you don't try to search for
nulls).

> If C0 is (binary) 0000 001x, the content of c1, c2, c3, c4 specifies the
frequency for Penelope, PennyLane and (future) Apollo ATU.
>
i> f c0 is 0000 010x, c1,c2,c3,c4 specifies the frequency (in Hz) for
receiver 1 (numbering starts with 1)
> similarly
> c0
> 0000 011x   receiver 2
> 0000 100x  receiver 3
> 0000 101x  receiver 4

To confirm, these statements are only true if "Duplex" [00]C4[3] is set,
otherwise all frequencies are set forced to be the same?

That leaves two questions remaining (for the moment):

(*) How do I interrogate the CC bits (for merc/penny/alex autodetection
purposes) without actually fully turning the radio on?  I'm assuming that
it's inherently impossible to do this (unless [00]C1[67]=00 has any
meaning), in which case I'm curious as to whether there is a neutral
configuration that I can send that would work in all cases so I can turn it
on long enough to get the CC codes (i.e. without unnecessary clicking, alex
filter swaps, conflict with custom clock rewriting, blowing out the ADC,
etc)

(*) Should the PC reset its sending sequence number on every EFFE04
command?  The documentation makes multiple references to "start" and "stop"
commands, although after sending an EFFE0401 command, there is no really
clear indication as to whether EFFE0402 is a "stop" or a "start" command
(it's both).  Am I resetting only when the board is going completely idle
(i.e. only after EFFE0400)?


On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 11:59 AM, David McQuate <mcquate at sonic.net> wrote:

> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
>
>  (4th question):   --
>
>   If multiple Mercury boards are to be used some jumpers on the boards
> must be set.  These identify which Mercury is #1, etc.  If multiple
> receivers on a single Mercury are to be used, no jumper changes are
> needed.  (See info on diversity setup)
>
> (from USB_protocol_V1.36.doc) --
>
> The low order bit of c0 (the MOX bit) switches the radio to Tx if the bit
> is 1.
> If you click the "MOX" button on PowerSDR or KISS Konsole, that program
> sets this bit, which controls the T/R relay.
>
> If C0 is (binary) 0000 001x, the content of c1, c2, c3, c4 specifies the
> frequency for Penelope, PennyLane and (future) Apollo ATU.
>
> if c0 is 0000 010x, c1,c2,c3,c4 specifies the frequency (in Hz) for
> receiver 1 (numbering starts with 1)
> similarly
> c0
> 0000 011x   receiver 2
> 0000 100x  receiver 3
> 0000 101x  receiver 4
>
> (While this document shows that there are provisions in the PC to HPSDR
> data protocol for more receivers (up to 7), there is no Mercury firmware
> that supports more than 4 receivers.  The Mercury FPGA usage is near 100%,
> so, unless there's a major change in algorithm and re-writing, 4 will
> remain the upper limit.
>
> When using more than one receiver on a single Mercury, when c0 = 0000
> 000x,   in c4, the 3 bits indicated by "rrr" xxrr rxxx should be set as
> follows:   000 means one receiver, 001 means two recevers, etc
>
> 73,
> Dave
> wa8ywq
>
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