[hpsdr] RA utility testers, please

Tue Feb 16 07:11:53 PST 2016

Hello Georg, 

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.  George Byrkit has given me some suggestions as to how to clean up the code a bit and that should fix the error you observed.  I’ll make those changes and post the modified version to my website and pass the code along to Doug for possible inclusion in his next public release of OpenHPSDR PowerSDR.

I can certainly display the date and comment on files that are read in from disk and I’ll add that feature.  However, there is a finite limit that must be specified for the maximum number of points recorded due to the design of the program and the fact that it writes to disk as data is being collected, even without explicitly selecting the “write data to file” option.  I’ll think about maybe perhaps putting a control on the front panel to allow the user to select among various choices for the maximum number of points if that would be helpful, but it can’t be open-ended without significant rework I think.  

Hans DL2MDQ kindly reported to me offline that it all worked fine for him in his tests.  

I’m happy to hear that the Global Regions changes seem to work in the program for the EU region with its different decimal delimiter from the US region.  

Thanks for the testing and feedback!

73, Joe K5SO

On Feb 16, 2016, at 3:27 AM, georg Prinz wrote:

> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
> 
> Hello Joe,
> 
> now I am back again in Germany and started testing the RA_Utility v. 1.3 (15. Feb 2016).
> 
> I recorded one file, which I can read with my win7 Explorer. It looks fine, so far. But
> when loading from hpsdr: "read data file" following error comes up:
> 
> I have to translate it, as it is in German:
> 
> - An exception was not handled
> - The number 643395 for "Value" is not valid.
> - "Value" shall be between "Minimum" and "Maximum"
> - Parameter name : Value
> 
> - Exception Text:
> 
> ************** Ausnahmetext **************
> System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Der Wert 643395 ist für Value ungültig. Value sollte zwischen 'Minimum' und 'Maximum' liegen.
> Parametername: Value
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown.set_Value(Decimal value)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDownTS.set_Value(Decimal value)
>   bei PowerSDR.RAForm.button_readFile_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
>   bei System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
> 
> 
> Further more I have following remark referring to the output of recorded file in the RA-window:
> 
> 1. Would it be possible to display the recorded date and time and the comment, too?
> 2. To drop the restriction to 10 000 recorded points?
> 
> The last time I tried to record a pulsar, I had to record more than 10 hours of data. The storage device should not be the problem,
> as we have Terabytes for storage space. The only thing would be, to have the ability to select the device and the directory for writing the data.
> And not to forget, that you have to check the end of media, when writing the data. Oherwise the system will stall or hang up.
> 
> 
> Best Regards
> 
> Georg,
> 
> dl2kp
> 
> 
> 
> Am 15.02.2016 um 22:15 schrieb Joe Martin:
>> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>> 
>> All,
>> 
>> I have modified the RA utility in OpenHSPDR_v3.3.6 to address the issues recently brought up, including the following changes:
>> 
>> 1)  The RA utility now reads exactly the same as the PowerSDR main display S-meters for both RX1 and RX2.  Therefore, please note that the RA utility will plot whatever signal you have selected as the source in the “RX1 Meter” and “RX2 Meter” input selections on the main display.  For “normal” S-meter readings select “Signal” for both.
>> 
>> 2) The signal averaging is now correct, in that the RA utility computes the dBm averages as “ logarithm of the averaged power values” instead of the (incorrect) “average of the logarithms of the power values”.
>> 
>> 3) I have added eight lines at the beginning of the data files in the form of a file header which include in plain text (data is also in plaintext):
>> 
>> 	(1) RA utility version information
>> 	(2) OpenHPSDR version information
>> 	(3) blank
>> 	(4) date and time the data file was created
>> 	(5) blank
>> 	(6) Comment:  (user may optionally add an arbitrarily long comment when using the “write data to file” option)
>> 	(7) blank
>> 	(8) data column ID info (i.e., time (seconds), RX1 signal (dBm), RX2 signal (dBm))
>> 
>> 
>> 4) I have attempted to make the RA utility disk read/write feature independent with respect to the slection of Global Regions (EU region, US region, etc) on your computer.
>> 
>> I need a bit of testing to be done, especially in the EU region, on the file read/write RA feature to determinewhether I have been successful in implementing George’s suggestions for this global feature, before generally releasing this version and shipping the RA file over to Doug for inclusion in the next public release of OpenHPSDR PowerSDR .
>> 
>> File read/write works fine here for me for my US region settings.  I am wondering if the “,” comma delimiter between the data columns will cause any difficulty in this new scheme or not; your testing will reveal the answer.  If it does cause problems, I can make a semicolon the delimiter instead to perhaps cure that possible issue.
>> 
>> The modified OpenHPSDR executable code is here:
>> 
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/nm3j3qavqvi20cu/PowerSDR_v3.3.6_RA_v1.3_test_Release.zip?dl=0
>> 
>> Please let me know as soon as possible if this file read/write scheme works or doesn’t work for the EU region.
>> 
>> Thank you!
>> 
>> 73, Joe K5SO
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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