[Skimmertalk] Transition from SDR-IQ to Red Pitaya

[Bob Wilson, N6TV]

On Tue, Jun 4, 2024 at 8:56 AM Ignacy Misztal <no9e at arrl.net> wrote:

> If I change to Red Pitaya, how much time does it take to set up everything
> for an expert, and for a casual user who knows Linux?
>

Setting up the RP16 as an 16-band SDR is easy using Pavel Demin's Alpine
Linux image:

https://pavel-demin.github.io/red-pitaya-notes/alpine/

copy apps\sdr_receiver_hpsdr_122_88\start.sh to the root directory of the
SD Card, and you are done with the Linux part unless you want to use both
antenna ports with different antennas.  Of course you have to start with a
blank or reformatted SD Card; you can't simply use the SD Card that is
included with the RP since it has the Ubuntu OS partitioned in a way that
is incompatible with Alpine Linux.

What takes more time to configure is CWSL_Tee and CWSL_Tee2 on the Windows
side so that you can skim 16 slices in two receivers and use a program like
HDSDR to get a band scope to look for broadcast band overload while
simultaneously skimming RTTY, FT4, FT8, WSPR etc., using the same shared
receiver slices.

Start with these instructions for simple 8-band skimming

https://pavel-demin.github.io/red-pitaya-notes/sdr-receiver-hpsdr-122-88/

Automatic the rest usually requires my help since it's quite
complicated and there are a lot parts to configure to make it all start in
the right order.

Since Red Pitaya has no bandpass filtering, is it easily blocked by TX
> signals on any band?
>

Yes.  A Receiver Guard like the DXE RG5000HD is essential to protect the
front end of the RP.

I gave up trying to block all the bogus spots and I simply terminate
everything whenever I operate a contest here.

73,
Bob, N6TV
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