How to tell what FPGA thus firmware goes on Orion MK-III board
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 7:04 am
Greetings, all.
Long story short, I have what started life as an Andromeda, but turned out to not be usable due to thermal issues.
I pulled the front panel off thinking I'd revert it to something like a 7000DLE-MKII. It works for the most part, but there are some things I'll detail later on in this message that are a little "strange" without the front panel.
My main reason for posting is that the chassis has a "Orion MK-III HF & 6M 2W SDR Transceiver" board. I apparently need to know what FPGA it has before I change the firmware. Why change it? My assumption is that the behavior(s) below have something to do with the firmware loaded. Please note the radio does NOT have a serial number on it that I can find. The Thetis version (just) installed on my bench PC is 2.10.0 . According to the Setup screen, the firmware is 2.1.26, which I haven't found any reference to - so assume it was part of the Andromeda program. ??
Behaviors:
(1) When first started, the radio speaker output will not fire until the "Radio Model" is toggled to Anan G2 then back to Anan 7000.
(2) When run as a "G2" RX2 does not operate and reads an impossibly low level, something in the -400's. (note I fixed RX2 (an oops with a bias tee fried the ADC2 packaged LPF) RX2 works fine when other models are selected.
(2) The S-meter runs 5-6dB or so "hot" on all bands when run as a 7000 or 8000DLE
(3) PTT on the "extender" board (sorry, don't know what else to call it) doesn't work unless PTT is activated in the "Hardware Options" - and even then if used it will cut TX audio applied to the 3.5mm socket on the Orion MK-III board. Un-check PTT again from the Hardware Options and use the Thetis MOX button and TX audio from the 3.5mm socket is fine.
There may be other oddities, that's just what I've noticed so far.
I suppose the bottom line is "Is there a way to positively identify what FW I should load on the board?"
If a new "extender" board needs to be designed I can handle that, I just need a known place to start from.
Thanks,
Jim N7CXI
Long story short, I have what started life as an Andromeda, but turned out to not be usable due to thermal issues.
I pulled the front panel off thinking I'd revert it to something like a 7000DLE-MKII. It works for the most part, but there are some things I'll detail later on in this message that are a little "strange" without the front panel.
My main reason for posting is that the chassis has a "Orion MK-III HF & 6M 2W SDR Transceiver" board. I apparently need to know what FPGA it has before I change the firmware. Why change it? My assumption is that the behavior(s) below have something to do with the firmware loaded. Please note the radio does NOT have a serial number on it that I can find. The Thetis version (just) installed on my bench PC is 2.10.0 . According to the Setup screen, the firmware is 2.1.26, which I haven't found any reference to - so assume it was part of the Andromeda program. ??
Behaviors:
(1) When first started, the radio speaker output will not fire until the "Radio Model" is toggled to Anan G2 then back to Anan 7000.
(2) When run as a "G2" RX2 does not operate and reads an impossibly low level, something in the -400's. (note I fixed RX2 (an oops with a bias tee fried the ADC2 packaged LPF) RX2 works fine when other models are selected.
(2) The S-meter runs 5-6dB or so "hot" on all bands when run as a 7000 or 8000DLE
(3) PTT on the "extender" board (sorry, don't know what else to call it) doesn't work unless PTT is activated in the "Hardware Options" - and even then if used it will cut TX audio applied to the 3.5mm socket on the Orion MK-III board. Un-check PTT again from the Hardware Options and use the Thetis MOX button and TX audio from the 3.5mm socket is fine.
There may be other oddities, that's just what I've noticed so far.
I suppose the bottom line is "Is there a way to positively identify what FW I should load on the board?"
If a new "extender" board needs to be designed I can handle that, I just need a known place to start from.
Thanks,
Jim N7CXI