[Skimmertalk] Fwd: Decode range? Skimmer and PowerSDR ?

[Andrew O'Brien]

There was an error describing a comm port in the Skimmer help file , my
brain caught  it finally .  I now have it looking like it works, Skimmer
frequency matches PowerSDT frequency.. takes a second for skimmer to catch
up but I will work on that (using an i7 CPU so should be fast enough,
Skimmer reads 10% and PowerSDR shows 25% CPU).  Now to play around and see
how it works.  Skimmed CQs, so far are all 7030 to 7050 with dial at
7038, intriguing that no CQs below 7030 .  I see some wavy unsteady CW
lines in Skimmer waterfall that I usually do not see when using Skimmer
with the SDR-IQ.  Will play around more.


On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 9:06 PM, Andrew O'Brien <k3ukandy at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks again Bob.  I will try again later tonight, busy at work so not as
> much continuous time as I would like for this project.  Part of the issues
> (aside from my old brain) is slightly conflicting help files.  Some saying
> use WDM, some saying MME, .  Some saying set radio to "none" some saying
> set radio to PowerSDR. I am fairly certain I used the article you
> reference, above. One odd thing this morning, that you may
> have partly answered, is what I saw on the PowerSDR screen did
> NOT correspond to what I saw on CW Skimmer screen   Example, I had a CW
> signal calling CQ on PowerSDR at around 14022.  On CW Skimmer, his CQ came
> in as "-11".  ON several occasions, despite many CW signals in PowerSDR,
> there was nothing on the CW Skimmer screen.  So the two screens seem
> totally unrelated.  That is where I left things when I needed to go to the
> office this morning.  I have successfully set up CW Skimmer with Omni rig
> in the past, for 3Khz mode using a Kenwood TS2000 in sync.  I have
> also frequently used CW Skimmer with an SDR-IQ  and Spotcollector.  This
> morning , briefly,  I had the CW Skimmer frequency change from 0.0 to a
> match with my PowerSDR frequency but when I then changed frequency in
> PowerSDR, CW Skimmer stopped following it.
>
> I suspect that I need to get them both fully sync'd, and then things will
> work as they should.
>
> Andy'
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Bob Wilson, N6TV <n6tv at arrl.net> wrote:
>
>> You need to feed the I/Q "IF output" of the Flex radio to the VAC sound
>> card, not the "AF audio" output.  Did you select WDM or MME?
>>
>> From http://kc.flexradio.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50357.aspx:
>>
>> *VAC Installation*
>> Please refer to the KC article, How to Setup Virtual Audio Cable (VAC)
>> 4.0x
>> with PowerSDR 1.x <http://kc.flexradio.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50230.aspx
>> >,
>> for instructions on how to configureVAC.
>>
>> NOTE: For this configuration, select the Windows WDM-KS driver in the
>> PowerSDR VAC Cable setup described in step 6.
>>
>> The text in blue is really important.  The linked article describes that
>> as
>> an option, but you must select it, apparently.
>>
>> Set the CW Skimmer Signal I/O to VAC 2 as shown in the first link.
>>
>> Also, CW Skimmer needs to communicate to the PowerSDR to determine the
>> true
>> HF frequency.  Is the frequency display on CW Skimmer correct?
>>
>> 73,
>> Bob, N6TV
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 3:26 AM, Andrew O'Brien <k3ukandy at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Duh, found another of my mistakes.  I needed to activate VAC1 in
>> PowerSDR
>> > when in CW mode. So, next issue is the decode bandwidth range of CW
>> SKimmer
>> > when interfaced with a Flex 1500 and power SDR .  It seems to me that I
>> am
>> > only getting CQs from Skimmer from signals within the audio range of the
>> > PowerSDR filter width rather than decode CQs from the entire 48 Khz of
>> > spectrum that I see on the PowerSDR.
>> >
>> > Andy K3UK
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 5:56 AM, Andrew O'Brien <k3ukandy at gmail.com
>> >wrote:
>> >
>> >> Thanks again Bob.  I am making progress.  I did have a few things wrong
>> >> in VAC.  I have now set VAC to the settings suggested by Flex knowledge
>> >> base.  CW Skimmer now works without error , set as Softrock IF.   I
>> don't
>> >> see CW working (CW signals not  visible in Skimmer waterfall)  if I
>> have
>> >> PowerSDR in a non-digital mode.  I do get signals in the Skimmer
>> waterfall
>> >> if I am in a digital mode on PowerSDR.  Perhaps the settings for VAC
>> need
>> >> something different for Skimmer compared to those suggested on the
>> Flex web
>> >> site.?
>> >>
>> >> An
>> >>
>> >
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>
>