[TenTec] PSK31 and OMNI 5 summary of information (Yup.. Long!)
p.brice-stevens@zeiss.co.uk
p.brice-stevens@zeiss.co.uk
Mon, 28 Jun 1999 9:28:22 +0000
Er...e-mail overload !!
Rather than reply directly to the many, many requests I received for the PSK31
and OMNI V information I have decided to post to the list instead, otherwise I
suspect my emplyer would get a tad disgruntled if I spent all day on the
matter...."Brice-Stevens..What exactly are you doing?"..."Sorry Sir, can I have
another lump of coal on the fire" etc etc...
I think this wil be OK as there is quite patently a desire on the behalf of
TenTec Listee's to see the summary of this information...for those of you whose
teeth have dropped out with boredom regarding this subject, or slipped into
catatonia through disinterest about matters digital, please I ask your
forbearence in these times of distress when receiving rather large undesired
e-mails ;)
I hope you all the following of use...
===================================================================
"This LONG message (sorry) contains information on starting PSK31 with an
Omni V and Windows 3.11 (486DX2/66). I'll make the brash assumption that
others might benefit from my experience.
1. PSK-31. Try it! Loads of fun. . In preparation, read the article in
May QST and examine the information from Peter Martinez (G3PLX) at
http://aintel.bi.ehu.es/psk31.html, in particular the article in December
1998 RADCOM magazine, availble as PDF file from the PSK31 home page.
a) When you're ready, download the latest version (1.06); it's a
zipped file, 180Kb, one single version for Win 3.11, 95/98 and now NT.
b) IMPORTANT: read through the complete help files for PSK31.
2. PSK-31 w/ Omni V: (Applies to PSK31sbw ver 1.05)
General comments: Omni V is great for PSK-31 . . no surprise; lack
of RIT is actually a benefit in this mode (Omni VI etc,always leave RIT off
- do your incremental tuning with the program to avoid on-the-air
embarrassment.)
To configure Omni/Computer/Soundcard for PSK:
a) Take the Omni audio output, (rear panel phono jack),
making it an input to the "Line in" "stereo" jack on the back of the sound
card on the PC. Radio Shack has a great "stereo to phono" single piece
plug; you don't care which stereo channel goes to the TenTec; but don't wire
them together, and use shielded cable.
b) Route the sound card's line out, using small stereo
plug, to the "Audio In" phono jack on the back panel of the Omni V.
c) Remember your Sound Card basics: The INPUT signal for
PSK TRANSMIT is Peter Martinez PSK31sbw program or its equivalent -- it uses
the channel that's probably called "Wave" on your sound card mixer control
panel. Output from Wave is to the Line Out jack on the back of the card;
feed it to Audio In (Phono jack) on the back of the Omni V. Set level on the
mixer at about 20-30% fs for starters.
INPUT signal for PSK31 RECEIVE is the Line In channel of the
soundcard, as taken from Audio Out phono jack on rear of the Omni V.
The Wave and Line In channels have individual level controls on the sound
card mixer panel; there's a separate master volume to be set at an
appropriate level for all channels. So there are three active volume
controls on the Mixer. You don't need to set Audio Level from the Ten Tec
going to the Sound CArd-- it's fixed from the rear panel Audio Out. Front
panel audio cntrl has no effect, as one would want.
The settings I use on the Mixer Panel (only three channels are used):
Main Level Wave Line In
- -------------------- --------------- ----------------
80% f.s. 20% f.s. 50% f.s.
d) On the Omni V: Disconnect the mike. For receive, the
audio input is controlled ONLY from the sound card, as noted above.Once set,
you'll probably never need to adjust it.
e) To enable transmit on the OMNI V: Disconnect the mike
and set the PTT/VOX switch on the front panel to VOX; The microphone gain
pot (lower left) controls the audio drive level to the TX, assuming you've
set the WAVE and Master gains above zero on the mixer panel. After tuning
your Omni V for a particular band, and setting a power level in Omni Tune. .
. , with PSK31 in its TUNE mode, slowly advance the MIC gain control until
the ALC light comes on, and the power meter registers approx the output you
obtained in Omni V tune. [OR: set the mic gain to what ur accustomed to, and
slowly advance the Wave level on the Mixer Panel until ALC just lights].
This simple adjustment gives great signal quality. Resist the temptation to
turn it higher; note that 5-10 watts will be plenty for most QSO's. Exit
tune and hit a space bar. You should get about 1/2 the full power during
idle.
NOTE: If you turn off the computer while TX is enabled, turn off the VOX
inut by depressing the VOX/PTT switch, else you may transmit a .wav file as
your computer shuts down. In any case , the TX will be "keyed".
3. Use of PSK31sbw.exe with Win 3.11.
a) PSK31sbw runs fine on Win 3.11 with a 486DX2/66; probably less
Mhz ok, but not a 386. Must be 16-bit Sound Card, so SB Pro WONT work.
b) I bought a Creative Labs Soundblaster SB16 card for $38. For
use with Win 3.11, you MUST configure for Plug and Play (PnP) prior to
enabling the card; fortunately, Creative Labs provides two great Win 3.11
programs: a configuration manager, CTCM.exe and a Conflict Resolver,
CTCU.exe, both available on their Web Site.
(http://support.soundblaster.com/ then
http://support.soundblaster.com/files/download.asp then click the box for
your particluar SB Product e.g. SB16, AWE 32 etc plus box for Win 3.11; then
select the file ctmbbs.exe , 706,033 bytes for downloading, which contains
drivers CTCM.exe and CTCU.exe; NOTE the down-loaded file may have a .htm
extension -- change it to .exe before running it).
These programs mimic PnP with Win 3.11. First, run CTCM, then CTCU
to ck for interrupt confilicts, finally a standard Windows iinstall from
your SB disks, making sure you choose the Win 3 install. I had one
problem: The command "C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q", in autoexec.bat, hung the
system during boot. If this happens, ^C after MS-DOS starts, then EDIT
autoexec.bat to comment out the offending command. Later , I ran "mixrset
/p /q" after boot-up, and it worked fine, and have now moved it nearer the
end of autoexec.bat, whre it runs successfully on boot=up. Of course take
the usual precautions of saving your old config.sys and autoexec.bat files!!
4. Final comments:
Note added 6/24/99
*******I'm not really sure if (a) is a valid way to adj sound card rate. .
. there are methods if you don't have a scope, specifically beating the
signal with WWV. See various reflector messages in the archives.*************
a) Instructions in PSK31sbw suggest you calibrate your sound card's
actual digitizing rate. (Rate is set in the Setup window.) My particular
card (SB-16) runs well around 8000 Hz, maybe as low as 5000. Initially I
set the rate to 8500 Hz, then looked at several PSK signals using the
waterfall display while adjusting the Tuning in 10 Hz steps on the Omni,
getting the signals as close as possible to the alignment bars.. With the
PSK receive (audio) freq at 1000, and the frequency lock in the PSK prog
"off", vary the Sound Card frequence in Setup until the "skid marks" line up
with the guide lines. Try this on several signals, and you'll quickly get
an appropriate value. 8550 is correct for my particular card. This effort
isn't a big project.
b) Remember: mode is USB.
c) Monitor can be on or off; the family thinks the sound is a little
annoying, but the cat loves it.
d) You will need to adjust Pass Band Tuning control while watching
the skid marks on a PSK signal. 3:00 o'clock was optimal for my Omni V.
e) Of course other 16 or 32-bit sound cards will work. I felt the
extra few $'s for a Creative Labs Soundblaster was worth it. But others
indicate that many of the $20+ cards seems to work fine.
Bill N6ZFO
===========================================================
I asked a similar question (OMNI VI+) a few days ago and got 5
responses.
All 5 use the rear-panel Mic connector. To control the audio level, 1
uses the PC audio controls, 1 uses 1.74K/49.9 attenuator, 1 uses xfmr
w/ pot, 1 uses Radio Shack attenuator cable. For receive audio, 1 uses
the front panel to get enough audio for his Mac, the other use the rear
panel audio output. 1 uses VOX, 1 uses serial port to PTT because he
couldn't get VOX to work well enough.
Other comments were "piece of cake", keep power down to avoid heat
problems, uses 10-20 W, uses PSKGNR addon software.
My experiments so far (listened a bit, adjusted TX level, no attempt at
contact yet) is that Radio Shack audio cables between the PC audio line
jacks and the OMNI rear jacks should work. I also have a pot in the TX
audio line. VOX seems hard to get setup, but I had a utility power
failure just when I was trying to get it working last night, so I quit
for then.
73, Ed WX4S
===========================================================
I used shielded cables between my omni 6+ and my mac-8500.
for the audio out of the computer, i connected resistors to
attenuate the audio in to the omni. i grabbed a couple of resistors out of
the junk bag and tried 1.74K ohm in series to one of the computer
(mac-8500) audio out rca jack, and 49.9 ohm in shunt going to the omni rear
panel mic input. i'm sure they are not the optimum sellection but it worked
ok with the mic control of the omni set to abt 9 oclock where the alc lamp
just starts to flicker. (i usually have it set to about 2 oclock for the
mic that i'm using) i'll probably change it to an adjustable pot so the
omni mic cotrol doesn't have to change -- even though i rarely operate ssb.
also added a .001 uf cap right at the audio out jack of the computer because
when the amp was on it picked up a lot of hum/buzz.
for the audio in to the computer, i connected the audio from the
front of the omni directly to both (sterio) inputs of the mac. the omni
rear audio out is not loud enough to drive the computer (i'll probably add
an op-amp & use it later.)
i wish there was some psk activity on 80 and 160. i don't like 20.
73, fred
aj1h
========================================================
Complete and very detailed instructions for PSK31 and the Omni V
posted on this forum on Apr. 28, '99 by William F. Haddon. His e-mail
address is haddon@pw.usda.gov or you could try Bill Haddon,N6ZFO
hounds@dnai.com. Unfortunately I deleted the rather lengthy message after
printing it out. If you don't have any luck let me know. Perhaps I can
(ugh) type it out for you. Also, if available, see QST, May '99. 73,
Charlie K0GPF
========================================================
73
Paul Brice-Stevens
G0WAT
G-QRP 8472 and Chiltern DX Club Member
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