apache-labs.com

For the guys having trouble, are the two devices on the same broadcast network? E.g. 192.168.1.2 as one device with a mask of 255.255.255.0 with the other being somewhere between 192.168.1.3-254 ? If not, are you sure the router between the networks is configured to permit traffic to flow?

Ernst,

I downloaded the EESDR s/w and setup per your instructions and it worked. My RF2K-S amp is now showing TCI, nothing showed up in log.

Dave
k4em

Ernst,

Also, toggling 'enable' causing the amp to revert to UNIV and the message 'no TCI available' displays. Toggling 'enable' it goes back to TCI. All looks OK to me.

Dave
k4em

If the amp is connecting to Thetis, ie TCI client count is going up, then the connection is made. The websocket handshake is complete so the amp has successfully sent the necessary keys to Thetis. Thetis has moved into sending the initialising state as can be seen by the outgoing in the log.

As everything as been tested, then it is probably something that Thetis is not sending out that the amp requires.

One thing to check. If the amp connects to the Thetis, in that the client connected count increases to 1, does it drop to 0 if you switch the amp off? You will probably have to wait 20 seconds or so for this to happen.

Richie.

Ok, I guess there are some TCI commands involved, which aren't implemented yet.

I contacted Reinhard (rf-kit), to send me the TCI-commands which are needed for the RF2K.

73 Ernst

I switched off the amp and the Client count dropped to ZERO, took almost 2 min.

When I had EESDR3 up, TCI enabled, LOG enable. I tried several scenarios to get some info to show up in the log, it remained empty.

Dave
k4em

This can be solved with Wireshark in between EESDR and the amp, but Reinhard will probably answer first

SunSDR installed. RF-Kit configured to match. TCI connects, amp tracks band changes perfectly, nothing ever shows up in the log box.

Ok, the PA does not send TCI commands...that seems to be normal.
I have a reply from Reinhard. He sent me the commands that are used in the RF2K.
Seems to be a undocumented "feature" (not in TCI-Specifications): EESDR sends the split-status on init, Thetis currently not.
Afaik Richie is taking a look into that.

73 Ernst

Thanks for sorting that out Ernst.

There will be a version out at some point over the weekend which will include the split state as part of the initialisation. Hopefully that will resolve things.

Richie.

ok, a couple of reports to say it now works. It seems that the RF_Kit amps require split_enable to be sent to them before they will do anything. Ideally the amp would query for this, because sending it on connection is not part of the TCI spec.

oe3ide wrote:Ok, the PA does not send TCI commands...that seems to be normal.
I have a reply from Reinhard. He sent me the commands that are used in the RF2K.
Seems to be a undocumented "feature" (not in TCI-Specifications): EESDR sends the split-status on init, Thetis currently not.
Afaik Richie is taking a look into that.

73 Ernst

Hello Ernst!

From what you are writing, the commands Reinhard sent you would not work with Thetis until Richie got necessary changes implemented, correct?

I would be very interested in learning about other ways to get this PA and Thetis to talk.

Best!
Juha
NI2M

JJ4SDR wrote:

oe3ide wrote:Ok, the PA does not send TCI commands...that seems to be normal.
I have a reply from Reinhard. He sent me the commands that are used in the RF2K.
Seems to be a undocumented "feature" (not in TCI-Specifications): EESDR sends the split-status on init, Thetis currently not.
Afaik Richie is taking a look into that.

73 Ernst

Hello Ernst!

From what you are writing, the commands Reinhard sent you would not work with Thetis until Richie got necessary changes implemented, correct?

I would be very interested in learning about other ways to get this PA and Thetis to talk.

Best!
Juha
NI2M

Should all work with the latest Thetis version.

73 Ernst

Great! I have it installed!

Gute Nacht aus Amerika!
Juha
NI2M
(OH1HX)

ramdor wrote:ok, a couple of reports to say it now works. It seems that the RF_Kit amps require split_enable to be sent to them before they will do anything. Ideally the amp would query for this, because sending it on connection is not part of the TCI spec.

Hi Richie!

Enormously important work that you do.

Now, I have Thetis v2.9.06 x64 installed. Can you confirm that this version works with RF_Kit amps and that Thetis sends the "split_enable?"

Juha
NI2M
(OH1HX)

I don't think Richie is reading the forum regularly over the summer. At any rate, as is plainly evident from the post you quoted, he can't confirm anything since he apparently doesn't have an RF2K amp to test with. He is relying on anecdotal reports. There would need to be a post from an actual RF2K owner in this topic confirming operation.

Do you have an RF2K amp to test?

Hi Scott,

Yes. I received my brand-new RF2K-S (fully assembled and tested and FCC certified) a few days ago. I will see if I could get a fellow who has it working (his ANAN 7000 DLE MKII is older than mine, but the Thetis version is the same) to post exactly how he did it.

Cheers,
Juha
NI2M

If you are using TCI or TCP/IP CAT, then the ANAN version doesn't matter. It could be an ANAN-10 and it wouldn't matter. The interface is between Thetis and the amp.

Using TCI.

...

I didn't think and wasn't suggesting you were tricking me at all, but I am a dummie when it comes these sorts of things and was merely asking here too in hopes of finally getting it. No need to get personal.

73!
Juha

JJ4SDR wrote:

ramdor wrote:ok, a couple of reports to say it now works. It seems that the RF_Kit amps require split_enable to be sent to them before they will do anything. Ideally the amp would query for this, because sending it on connection is not part of the TCI spec.

Hi Richie!

Enormously important work that you do.

Now, I have Thetis v2.9.06 x64 installed. Can you confirm that this version works with RF_Kit amps and that Thetis sends the "split_enable?"

Juha
NI2M
(OH1HX)

I can't confirm if it works as I don't own an RF_kit amp, however others have. However, I can confirm, yes that split_enable is sent on TCI initialisation when the amp connects up as a tci client.

Thanks Richie!! Apologies for late response.

I ended up going the USB cable route.

Juha
NI2M

I have been enjoying using my RF2K-S amplifier with TCI interface for some time now, but all that being said, I wonder if someone would be able to "summarize" the benefits that TCI brings, compared to UNIV, CAT, UDP? From the little I "know" TCI makes it easier to do station integration, such as logging software, rotor control for antennas etc. and that you don't have to mess with setting up virtual COM ports.....

On second thought this is a topic that probably belongs on the RF-KIT groups.io page, but perhaps there are benefits that are more "directly" related to use of this amp with ANAN radios? Will re-read the current RF-KIT manual as I remember seeing information on some of the benefits. I don't know whether using TCI is any better than, say, UDP or CAT when used with ANAN? The "UNIV" interface turns out to be VERY basic, with no data being exchanged between the amp and ANAN (the PA is able to sense the frequency that the exciter is tuned to only) and is used with radios that offer no CAT or UDP functionality.

Best,
Juha
NI2M

Sorry to reincarnate this thread after all this time.
With the possible exception of Juha above, no one has reported successfully running TCI with the RF-KIT amplifiers. If there are successful users out there anywhere, will you please kindly post a screenshot of your Thetis setup tab to help me get started? I have tried everything I can think of with no luck
73,
Bryan W4WMT

W4WMT wrote:Sorry to reincarnate this thread after all this time.
With the possible exception of Juha above, no one has reported successfully running TCI with the RF-KIT amplifiers. If there are successful users out there anywhere, will you please kindly post a screenshot of your Thetis setup tab to help me get started? I have tried everything I can think of with no luck
73,
Bryan W4WMT

I’ve used it since Richie added it, works great.

I’m away from my PC but the settings have been outlined.

The one thing to mention is that 50001 port can conflict with other software so I changed my ports to 20001 on all devices. In my case it was Remote Desktop VDI software using port 50001.

Had RFTKS amp a few months. Set up TCI early on and all fine. Think 50001 port is working for me. 200D Thetis Prtocol,Win 10 Dell I5 and old HP Win 7 laptop also worked.

For using TCI (or also TCPIP-CAT) "outside" the local machine (PC) it is important, that you bind the TCI-Server in Thetis not to the loopback-address (127.0.0.1) but to the actual IP-address of your PC (mostly 192.168..... or 10.0.0....).

127.0.0.1 is only reachable ON the current PC, not from other devices in the network. On Chris's screenshot you see "192.168.16.1". So the TCI-Server in Thetis is bound to that IP-address.

sidenote:
There was once a problem with the TCI connection between Thetis and RF2K. The reason was a non-standard transmission of the TCI-api in RF2K. This was fixed very quickly by Richie (workaround in Thetis)

73 Ernst

kc2rgw wrote:rf2k-tci.pngsetup-tci.png

My PC has a network card dedicated to only SDR traffic.

The PC is connected to a switch and the network adapter is set to 192.168.16.1 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0

I have a SunSDR2DX with an IP of 192.168.16.2 and a netmask of 255.255.255.0

I have the Anan set to an IP of 192.168.16.3 and a netmask of 255.255.255.0

I have the RFKit set to an IP of 192.168.16.4 and a netmask of 255.255.255.0

All devices are on a common switch that has no other connections.

Essentially I have a closed network on 192.168.16.0/24 that is purely for my SDRs and the amplifier, all are wired connections.

The RFKit has to have its networking configured properly in addition to the TCI settings, I'm wondering if that isn't the underlying issue for people with this.