[hpsdr] Using CW Skimmer with HPSDR - the good oil!

[Steve Ireland]

Hi Glen

Nice to hear from you.  Attached is the check list from W5WC, which will
help you to use CW Skimmer in Softrock IF mode, in conjunction with PowerSDR
and VAC software.

In this set-up, clicking on a signal in CW Skimmer doesn't work (for me, at
least) - CW Skimmer works as a bandscope centred around the frequency to
which PowerSDR is tuned and can only be used as a guide to what signals are
appearing +/- 9.5kHz from the frequency selected on HPSDR.

Say you see KH2L on CW Skimmer 2.5KHz up in frequency from where your
PowerSDR is tuned, you have to (re)tune PowerSDR to 2.5KHz up to bring KH2L
into your passband.

Looking at this another way, your SDR transceiver is really using PowerSDR
for its receive and transmit functions - not CW Skimmer.  CW Skimmer is
being 'tricked' into providing you with a bandscope/CW reading facility, as
if your HPSDR was a conventional superheterodyne analogue radio and there
was a Softrock SDR attached off  the IF strip of the analogue radio.

As I understand it, if you just have a Mercury receiver (plus Ozy), you
apparently can use CW Skimmer directly with Mercury.  The problem is if you
want to transceive with HPSDR, you need to use PowerSDR directly to control
Mercury and Penelope etc and thus can only use CW Skimmer in 'add-on'
Softrock IF mode by means of the VAC.

I think this is how it works in simple terms - please someone correct me if
this is wrong.


Vy 73

Steve, VK6VZ   

-----Original Message-----
From: afghound at roadrunner.com [mailto:afghound at roadrunner.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, 21 March 2012 3:31 PM
To: Steve Ireland
Subject: Re: [hpsdr] Using CW Skimmer with HPSDR - the good oil!

Hi Steve,
I've been trying to get CW Skimmer to work with HPSDR for a week now.
I'm getting garbage out of the decoders.
Also wen I click on a signal, it jumps up to a higher frequency. I could
chase it right out of the band map.
Please send me the W5WC check list.
Thanks and 73

Glen  K8CZC



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