Controller V2

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W4GM
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Re: Controller V2

Postby W4GM » Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:55 pm

Scott,

I knew that was coming :-). I just wanted to play with one of the V2 controllers and have not moved it to its permanent location. Once I get all of the functions mastered and setup completed I will move it. I am using the latest version of Thetis and love it. There is no way that the V2 Controller could ever replace the setup I have in my shack.

Mike
Apache-Labs Anan 7000DLE MKII Black -- P2.2.22 Thetis 2.10.3.6 dev2 Latest Edition -- Windows 10 Pro
vk3io
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Re: Controller V2

Postby vk3io » Sat Jun 04, 2022 10:51 am

Hello Apache Labs Community and those interested in the V2 Controller topic.

Yesterday June 3, 2022, I did finally receive, unexpectedly, without any notice, my Controller V2 unit, which I ordered in August 2021.

Eventually, all very nice, thank you.

Now for the "fun and games" to make it work for me.

After reading the revised User Manual for the Controller V2 many times, I now have some questions, if someone from the community could help me, that would also be very nice.

1. What are the connections at the top of the controller for? They don't get a mention in the User Manual. I think one of them is a mini-HDMI connector, HDMI enables you to drive an external LCD display monitor, if so desired, in addition to the touch screen display. This option was not covered in the User manual.

2. In the User Manual, what size DC power connector is required? What is the pin size? I can guess or compare it to other DC connectors I have, but if I want to buy a connector or make up a connector, it would be nice to have the connector size specified in the User Manual.

3. Can I use Thetis on a PC and the Controller V2 at the same time? Some functions, like the APF control panel, when on cw mode, does not seem to be supported in the V2 Controller. Sometimes it is easier to make changes to frequency or other operational parameters on Thetis and the PC than to do it on the Controller or vice versa. So when using the Controller V2, I could still use my PC LCD with the Thetis graphic display, rather than use an added extra LCD display and the mini-HDMI port, for which there is NO room on my radio table for such an extra display.

4. In the User Manual, it states that +12VDC is required for this controller display, but elsewhere it suggest +13.8VDC is ok. So what is the voltage supply maximum and for that matter, what is the minimum? Is this unit voltage over voltage protected?

5. For that matter, what is the maximum and minimum DC supply for the Anan7000DLE MK2? Is this unit over voltage protected?

6. I see in the User Manual some reference to using a LogiTech H800 wireless head set, where this controller can work with a USB Codec dongle.
As I am not familiar with this H800 head set, which seems to be a wireless "Bluetooth" headset. My question is will any wireless head set work with this Controller V2, which has a USB codec dongle, like my Corsair HS70, which I have been using extensively and find very comfortable? BTW, I hate "Bluetooth" headsets, with their typical horrible latency.

I hope these questions are of interest to other Controller V2 users.

Thank you, from Ron. vk3io
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Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Sat Jun 04, 2022 2:08 pm

vk3io wrote:1. What are the connections at the top of the controller for? They don't get a mention in the User Manual. I think one of them is a mini-HDMI connector, HDMI enables you to drive an external LCD display monitor, if so desired, in addition to the touch screen display. This option was not covered in the User manual.

It's a nice manual but it will never be all encompassing. It was a volunteer effort, not a production of Apache.

Given that the Controller uses a Raspberry Pi, and that the Pi is clearly mounted in the upper corner of the housing, you can see that the connectors are as follows (assuming they are using a Pi B3+):

introduction-to-raspberry-pi-3-b-plus-1-1024x692.jpg
introduction-to-raspberry-pi-3-b-plus-1-1024x692.jpg (75.75 KiB) Viewed 8007 times

2. In the User Manual, what size DC power connector is required? What is the pin size? I can guess or compare it to other DC connectors I have, but if I want to buy a connector or make up a connector, it would be nice to have the connector size specified in the User Manual.

A parts list and schematic can be found here, but there is no guarantee that this is exactly what Apache built:

https://github.com/g0orx/pihpsdr/tree/master/controller

If Apache is producing to that schematic the board side connector is an FC68148.

3. Can I use Thetis on a PC and the Controller V2 at the same time?

No. The current openHPSDR software/firmware architecture only allows a single client per radio.

Some functions, like the APF control panel, when on cw mode, does not seem to be supported in the V2 Controller. Sometimes it is easier to make changes to frequency or other operational parameters on Thetis and the PC than to do it on the Controller or vice versa.

It's unfortunate that you are discovering the main drawback of the Controller V2 and its underlying piHPSDR software. It simply does not have all of the functionality of Thetis, nor is it likely to given the disparity in processing power, Pi vs. PC.

So when using the Controller V2, I could still use my PC LCD with the Thetis graphic display, rather than use an added extra LCD display and the mini-HDMI port, for which there is NO room on my radio table for such an extra display.

Again, this is not possible. And it begs the question: if you have a PC with Thetis, why use a Controller V2 at all?

4. In the User Manual, it states that +12VDC is required for this controller display, but elsewhere it suggest +13.8VDC is ok. So what is the voltage supply maximum and for that matter, what is the minimum? Is this unit voltage over voltage protected?

If Apache is producing to the above referenced parts list and schematic there is no overvoltage protection. There is reverse voltage protection but it is liable to blow the surface mount fuse on the board. That fuse will not be easily replaceable.

5. For that matter, what is the maximum and minimum DC supply for the Anan7000DLE MK2? Is this unit over voltage protected?

The regulator on the schematic can accept 6-20VDC in, however it would probably not be wise to stress this condition beyond something more reasonable, like say 12-15VDC, and indeed that is the input voltage range shown on the Apache website.

6. I see in the User Manual some reference to using a LogiTech H800 wireless head set, where this controller can work with a USB Codec dongle.

Please provide a link to the manual you are using. The manual referenced in this topic, also to be found at the Apache web site, makes no mention of this. Nevertheless, it should be possible (see below).

As I am not familiar with this H800 head set, which seems to be a wireless "Bluetooth" headset. My question is will any wireless head set work with this Controller V2, which has a USB codec dongle, like my Corsair HS70, which I have been using extensively and find very comfortable? BTW, I hate "Bluetooth" headsets, with their typical horrible latency.

At this point you are entering the realm of "having to learn about Linux and Raspberry Pi". Anything you can do with Linux and a Pi might, might be compatible with the piHPSDR software. Certainly you can add any wireless headset for which you can find a Debian (the root flavor of Linux the Pi uses) driver for. Whether or not you can use the built-in features of Linux, portaudio and whatnot, to make the audio work is another story. I was able to do this on my old, home-built Controller V1, so it should be possible on V2.

It's not a toaster, it's a Linux computer, with everything that entails.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby david schoenwald » Sat Jun 04, 2022 7:29 pm

put another way, how do you monitor yourself so that you can make transmit adjustments to your audio?
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Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Sat Jun 04, 2022 8:50 pm

david schoenwald wrote:put another way, how do you monitor yourself so that you can make transmit adjustments to your audio?

Asked and answered already, David, in response to your first post on this.

Same answer this time: there is no way to do it with the Controller V2 (or V1) by itself. You'd have to set up a second radio to receive yourself on and listen to that. And if you did set up a second radio, be forewarned that the delay between the microphone input and the speaker output of the second radio will be in excess of 100ms, i.e. it will sound like an echo.

To solve the echo problem you'd have to record yourself, then play back the file as a loop into piHPSDR. I don't know how to do that, but it should be within the realm of the possible for Linux experts.

Note that people have to do this on Windows with Thetis, too. Even though Thetis has a built in monitoring facility it still has the delay issue.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby pa1hr » Mon Jun 06, 2022 7:41 am

Hello!

For several years I use ANAN SDR's, at this moment the ANAN-7000DLE MkII black with Thetis. And for about a year the Controller V2 with PiHPSDR.

End of July I will move to OE-country. However; I want to keep the ANAN-7000DLE in PA-country and controll the SDR by means of the Controller V2.

Is there someone in the group who has done like this before; controlling the ANAN7000 over a long distance with the Controller V2? Perhaps someone is able to help me with a kind of setup.

TNX in advance and 73, Hans PA0Q/OE3JRC.
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vk3io
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Re: Controller V2

Postby vk3io » Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:00 pm

Hello Scott for your detailed reply to my questions on the V2 Controller.

Firstly, my prime reason for buying the V2 Controller, was simply to use the rotary encoder VFO knob for tuning the spectrum, as I dislike using the scroll mouse of point and click to to select frequencies.

A few other switches would come in handy as well.

Something simple, like the Expert Electronics SUN Ecoder or Ecoder+ panel would suffice.

But secondly. the possibility of using using my Corsair wireless head set with possibly low enough latency so I can use it with cw mode, which I cannot do with Thetis and the VAC and my Windows 10 PC, very much interested me.

BTW, I also have the SUN SDR2DX, so you will probably ask why would I want the Anan7000DLE MK2? Simply because it is something extra to play with, a bit like wanting a Porsche and Ferrari sports cars. Obviously I have found the Anan is slightly better in some aspects and in other aspects the SUN is better, in my view.

Referring to V2.1 Controller User Manual.

With regards to the Logitech H800 wireless head set, there is no direct reference to it in the user manual, but on page 21, it shows how someone has used it as one of the available Audio Devices. As the piHSDR has a Bluetooth feature (NOT mentioned in the Controller User Manual) all is good here.
Om my V2 Controller there are four connectors on the top panel, one audio connector, one small C shell connector, I call it a mini-hdmi and two others, even smaller connectors, of the same type. As I cannot seem to post a picture, it is difficult to describe, but maybe it is a slightly different version on a Raspberry pi B3+ board. Either way, I don't know fully what they do, except for HDMI.

Now back to my Controller V2 "fun and games".

Here are some further questions and observations, in my attempt to get my V2 Controller working for me.

My controller seemed to discover and connect to my Anan7000DLE MK2, without seeing the discovery start up window described on pages 12 and 13. Once I select execut, it said "Discovering available devices" and then connected and I have receive audio and spectrum display.

I presume to two start buttons described on pages 12 and 13, where if you had more than one available device to select from, like VA7QI and his Anan7000 and Anan10.

When first connected and the piHPSR program is "Executed" and after "Device discovery" is completed, it connects to the Anan7000 successfully, but it initially starts on 14.010000 Mhz cw mode (cw usb 16wpm) and I hear band noise in the headphones connected to the front audio jack of the Anan7000Dle and I see spectrum display. All good you say!!

But at this time, all I can do is use the rotary encoders and yes, change VFO A frequency, do RIT and XIT adjustments and choose functions of the other three rotary encoder/switch functions, which BTW the functions are not the same as what is indicated by the writing on the display front panel.

OK, I discover the MENU and how I can reprogram the function of the rotary encoders and all switches for that matter, so they line up with what is written on the front panel and how it is best to use mouse pointer to do this.

Now for the crunch observation, of which there are three and somewhat disturbing.

1. When switch off my Controller, all my changes are lost.

2. Secondly, when turning the power off, with the RED switch, after a short time, maybe 10 seconds, it powers up again, without touching the power switch. The only way to make sure it stays off, is to pull the DC plug out.

3. None, not one of the push button switch do anything. All dead.

I found from the MENU, I can program the function of the push button switches, but the physical switches don't work and when I power down all my settings are lost.

If I setup the sliders and the Tool bar graphical switches, I can select, with the mouse, band changes and other functions successfully, but then again when I power down all setting changes are lost.

So at this point in time, I think my unit is faulty.

Any suggestions, of course would be appreciated.

Thank you, from Ron.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:23 pm

vk3io wrote:Firstly, my prime reason for buying the V2 Controller, was simply to use the rotary encoder VFO knob for tuning the spectrum, as I dislike using the scroll mouse of point and click to to select frequencies.

A few other switches would come in handy as well.

Something simple, like the Expert Electronics SUN Ecoder or Ecoder+ panel would suffice.

Have you looked at the discussions in this sub-forum:

viewforum.php?f=33

There are a great many control surfaces available for Thetis. True, they are not pre-engineered, but they do exist. The MIDI solution merely requires some careful labeling ;)

But secondly. the possibility of using using my Corsair wireless head set with possibly low enough latency so I can use it with cw mode, which I cannot do with Thetis and the VAC and my Windows 10 PC, very much interested me.

Certainly you can use a Corsair headset with Thetis. However, if the latency associated with the Corsair MME or WDM drivers is too great, then you are likely to be disappointed with its performance on Linux as well. Your best bet for low latency is a professional ASIO interface from Behringer, M-Audio, Presonus, etc., and that is only going to be available on Windows.

BTW, I also have the SUN SDR2DX, so you will probably ask why would I want the Anan7000DLE MK2? Simply because it is something extra to play with, a bit like wanting a Porsche and Ferrari sports cars. Obviously I have found the Anan is slightly better in some aspects and in other aspects the SUN is better, in my view.

Agreed. It's quite frustrating that there is no best-of-breed solution. Sun, ANAN, Flex and Elecraft: each has some particular areas they excel in, but no radio has everything.

With regards to the Logitech H800 wireless head set, there is no direct reference to it in the user manual, but on page 21, it shows how someone has used it as one of the available Audio Devices. As the piHSDR has a Bluetooth feature (NOT mentioned in the Controller User Manual) all is good here.

As I previously noted, I was able to get my H800 to work with my old, home-built Controller V1 (http://wu2o.dyndns.org/wu2o_pi_4.html). As you can tell from my article, at the time I had very high hopes for piHPSDR. Unfortunately development stalled and it never became the Thetis rival I desired. If I want to sit on the couch and play radio I use a Windows laptop.

Om my V2 Controller there are four connectors on the top panel, one audio connector, one small C shell connector, I call it a mini-hdmi and two others, even smaller connectors, of the same type. As I cannot seem to post a picture, it is difficult to describe, but maybe it is a slightly different version on a Raspberry pi B3+ board. Either way, I don't know fully what they do, except for HDMI.

It sounds like it's using a Pi 4:

Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (116.89 KiB) Viewed 7928 times


Unfortunately I can't help you with the rest of it as I have no Controller V2 here to experiment with.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:27 pm

pa1hr wrote:End of July I will move to OE-country. However; I want to keep the ANAN-7000DLE in PA-country and controll the SDR by means of the Controller V2.

Is there someone in the group who has done like this before; controlling the ANAN7000 over a long distance with the Controller V2? Perhaps someone is able to help me with a kind of setup.

It is impossible to do this over the internet because of the thick client architecture of the radio.

It is possible to use tools like VNC to remotely operate a Controller V2 over the internet, but VNC and other tools like it do not support the custom user interface (knobs, switches) on the front panel of the Controller V2, so you would be limited to mouse and keyboard at your remote location.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby pa1hr » Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:34 pm

Thanks Scott!
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Hans Remeeus (PA0Q/OE3JRC)
https://pa0q.nl
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Re: piHPSDR -- Latest Releases and Release Notes

Postby david schoenwald » Mon Jun 06, 2022 5:52 pm

Where will I find a control to adjust transmit bandwidth? I found receive bandwidth, but I would like to increase
transmit band
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Re: piHPSDR -- Latest Releases and Release Notes

Postby w-u-2-o » Mon Jun 06, 2022 6:31 pm

david schoenwald wrote:Where will I find a control to adjust transmit bandwidth? I found receive bandwidth, but I would like to increase
transmit band

Page 22 in the manual.

You do have a copy of the manual, right?
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Re: Controller V2

Postby vk3io » Wed Jun 08, 2022 9:04 am

Thank you SAM for the Raspberry Pi version 4 info and info on the MIDI device. I will check it out.

Also great info and Pics on yours and others Controller builds. It is not as complex as I thought.

With regards to my V2 Controller issues.

I did send an email to Tony, at Apache Labs support and asked for assistance with my issues outlined previously and to my surprise he replied very quickly, as shown below.

Hello Ron,

Here are some inputs:

1. Please go to menu on the Pi main screen----Preferences-----Raspberry Pi Configuration, this will open a panel with a number of Tabs, go to Interfaces and enable I2C, click ok to exit.

2. To power off the unit you need to press the red power button for a few seconds (7-10 seconds), this will power off the device and it will not power back up till you press the power button (power on requires only a brief push).

3. How are you exiting the application? You need to exit out of PiHPSDR using the exit button and then select if you want to completely power off or exit the app.

Try these and if you still have a problem let me know,

Regards,

Tony

Well I checked suggestion 1, and sure I2C was OFF. How could this be? If this is OFF, how would such a Controller V2 be tested fully before being dispatched?

So I switched I2C ON and all switches work now.

Of course it was still necessary to change some switch functions, so they match up with the panel switch labelling. If I change the function of any push button switch, I will have to re-label the front panel. Pretty ugly, I think.

With regards to piHPSDR not remembering any setup changes I had make, suggestion 3 put me on the right track.

Yes select MENU in piHPSDR, then select EXIT piHPSDR, then you will see a piHPSDR-EXIT Window and here you must select SHUTDOWN.

If you select EXIT at the piHPSDR-EXIT window, then again all changes will be lost.

It is only when you select SHUTDOWN, that all changes are saved.

Yes all very obvious all you piHPSDR long time uses, you say. but such basic operational steps were not outlined in the User Manual V2.1.

I feel that my problem of NO Buttons working and Tony's solution of checking Raspberry Pi configuration should be included in the User Manual under the heading of "Trouble Shooting".

Lastly, I notice the bottom row of push buttons do not sit up above the front panel, not as much as the right hand side push buttons.

The switch buttons seem to bow down in the middle of the front panel, higher to the left where MOX is located and higher to the right, where SNB is located and lowest in the middle where PS ON and 2 TONE buttons are located. None of them sit above the panel surface like the buttons on the right side.

It seems to me that the PCB is easily distorted when the middle buttons are pressed, especially if pressed too often or too vigorously and or that the buttons are touching the panel cut outs and so stopping them from achieving the correct height above the panel surface.

I think the PCB support posts are spaced too wide for this PCB thickness, without some middle support.

A simple plastic support could be glued or held by double sided tape and placed mid way between the PCB supports, inside the case, around the position of the PS ON and 2 TONE push button switch and of a suitable size, will be sufficient to solve this problem.

I have passed this observation and suggestion to Tony.

I hope, this information will be of assistance to other V2 Controller users.

Cheers, from Ron.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Wed Jun 08, 2022 1:51 pm

vk3io wrote:Thank you SAM

Who's SAM?

Thanks for posting all that good info, Ron. That will undoubtedly be valuable for others.

Lastly, I notice the bottom row of push buttons do not sit up above the front panel, not as much as the right hand side push buttons.

The switch buttons seem to bow down in the middle of the front panel, higher to the left where MOX is located and higher to the right, where SNB is located and lowest in the middle where PS ON and 2 TONE buttons are located. None of them sit above the panel surface like the buttons on the right side.

It seems to me that the PCB is easily distorted when the middle buttons are pressed, especially if pressed too often or too vigorously and or that the buttons are touching the panel cut outs and so stopping them from achieving the correct height above the panel surface.

I think the PCB support posts are spaced too wide for this PCB thickness, without some middle support.

The same thing happened when the 8000 was introduced, in that case on the rear panel connector board. Apache eventually added more fasteners to the design.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby vk3io » Sun Jun 12, 2022 1:10 pm

Hello V2 Controller Users and other interested community members.

I have been using my V2 Controller for almost one week and slowly getting it to work to my satisfaction, but I now have some questions I need help with.

1. Why is my RaspberryPi screen and Audio Device Settings options so different, to what is shown on page 21 of the V2.1 User Manual?

I have just discovered the answer to part of my question 1. It depends on what Bluetooth and USB Codec device you plug into the USB ports.

I found this out by plugging in my Corsair HS70 Wireless Head set, the system did discover it and listed it when I did a right click the Audio Icon. even though Corsair support people said there were NO Linux drivers for this model headset.

Before plugging in this USB Wireless dongle (Codec), all I got was 1. AV Jack and 2. Device Profiles.

I gather BTS-06 and H800 Logitech Headset are Bluetooth devices, so yes I don't have these,

Going back to question 1. Why don't I see V2 or the CPU Usage percentage indicator on the top toolbar of my screen?

Even though I was very happy in getting my Corsair HS70 wireless headset working with the V2 Controller, as it is so much more comfortable than my Heil Pro Plus, it does not work on CW mode, obviously because there is too much latency and piHPSDR disables the delayed side tone, just like Thetis does.

Maybe this disabling of the side tone issue, could be included in the User Manual and or maybe someone can tell me how to reduce the latency to as to use this Wireless Headset on cw mode.

On another matter, it seems that changes to my setting are now saved, when selecting MENU/Exit piHPSDR/EXIT. So I don't know why before, I had to use SHUTDOWN. But makes sense now and behaving as expected.

On even another matter, I discovered the ANAN will transmit what seems to be full power on 472KHz band. Does anyone know if this 472KHz band has a band filter, TX and or RX? Also how much output power is possible on 136KHz band and are there TX and or RX filters for this band?

On even another matter again, when I select ANT and try to program RECEIVE antenna for any band, say 60 metre band, I lose RX on 40 Metres or any band. If I change RX ANT for 472KHz band from antenna port 1 to 2, the RX goes almost dead (no antenna), even though I am listening to 40 Metre band. What is going on here?

Lastly, it seems my NR physical button has failed, It does not work, no matter what function I assign to it.

Not a big issue and not worth getting it repaired under warranty, but a little annoying.

Regards, from Ron. vk3io.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun Jun 12, 2022 1:49 pm

vk3io wrote:Going back to question 1. Why don't I see V2 or the CPU Usage percentage indicator on the top toolbar of my screen?

Because you didn't modify your Raspberry Pi operating system like the author of the manual did before he took those screenshots.

Remember that you have a Pi based computer there running LInux. You can do anything you want to it, just like the author of the manual did. Clearly he:

- Installed RealVNC (that is a stylized "VNC", not a "V2").
- Changed the default taskbar settings to show the CPU load panel.

You can do both of those things if you like, but you'd be better off taking that discussion to a Raspberry Pi forum as those are very Pi-centric things and not at all related to piHPSDR.

Maybe this disabling of the side tone issue, could be included in the User Manual and or maybe someone can tell me how to reduce the latency to as to use this Wireless Headset on cw mode.

AFAIK there is no way to do this in piHPSDR. If you want low-latency CW then you will have to use Thetis on Windows. It also requires the ANAN to be loaded with Protocol 2 firmware.

Does anyone know if this 472KHz band has a band filter, TX and or RX?

If you mean preselector the answer is "No". There is also no dedicated LPF. Having never operated on that band I can only assume it selects the 160M LPF on transmit.

Unfortunately I have no answers for the rest of your questions.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby david schoenwald » Sun Jun 12, 2022 5:00 pm

Re: Latency noted in discussion of the apache labs controller,

That did not seem to be an issue when I used the apache labs anon 100 with a laptop, before I acquired the controller.
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Re: Controller V2

Postby vk3io » Tue Jun 14, 2022 7:45 am

Hello V2 Controller Users and other interested community members.

I would like to share with you, that I have discovered my Corsair HS70 Pro Wireless gaming headset works with my V2 Controller, even though Corsair Technical support people, said there are no Linux drivers available for this headset.

It seems, the RaspberryPi system was able to find suitable drivers from the internet, or from somewhere, once I first plugged the wireless dongle in a USB port, to see what would happen.

I would also like to say, the V2 Controller user manual was not clear on page 21, about what to expect when right clicking the Loudspeaker icon on the desktop screen, to see what Audio Device Settings, were available.

On page 21, this example, is when a whole range of audio devices are activated.

But, with no audio devices plugged in, the basic audio options you will see is 1. AV JACK and 2. DEVICE PROPERTIES.

The Sound Card control window example on page 21, only shows up when you plug in a USB CODEC (Sound Card) device.

When I plugged in my USB wireless dongle for my Corsair Head set, I found the audio options list expanded to include 1. Audio Outputs, 2, Audio Inputs and 3. Device Profiles.

To get it set up correctly, so it is useable by piHPSDR, you now have to select Audio Outputs and select (Check) Corsair HS70 Pro Wireless Headset and also then select Audio Inputs and select (Check) Corsair HS70 Pro Wireless Headset.

If you look at Device Profiles here, you will now see various options, relating to Digital audio modes, which are for surround Sound 7.1 and these are not relevant to piHPSDR. We just want the default settings, such as Analog Stereo Output (Earphones) and Mono Input (Microphone), which are by default, already selected for you.

Then run piHPSDR and go to Menu/ TX and select Local Microphone and select Corsair HS70 Pro Wireless Gaming Headset Mono and then select MENU/RX and select Local Audio Output and select Corsair HS70 Pro Wireless Gaming Headset Analog Stereo.

Then don't forget to save changes by selecting Menu/EXIT-piHPSDR/ EXIT.

To get the transmit audio working to my liking. I had to go to Menu/TX and activate the Compressor to about +4 dB and also go to Menu/Equalizer and Enable TX Equalizer.

Being a gaming headset, I found I had to reduce the low end to -5dB and boost the high end to +9dB and left the mid to 0dB. You can use the transmit spectrum scope view to see your microphone audio energy levels and set the equalizer so the energy peaks are approximately constant through the TX audio spectrum.

I have not found a microphone gain control on the piHPSDR, but I presume, here in the TX equalizer, you can change the preamp levels, which will be like a microphone level control, I think.

I do see a Microphone Level Meter on the piHPSDR, when in TX mode and here you will see a Green level indication on voice peaks, but it does not deflect much. Never-the-less, there is plenty of transmit audio volume on my transmission, so I have yet to find out how this indicator should work. Maybe it is mentioned in the User Manual, which I yet to fully read.

Lastly, I do much prefer to use this wireless headset (or a wireless headset), as it is so much more comfortable than my Heil Pro Plus. Obviously the Heil is a really nice radio communications headset, but the people I talk to on the HF bands (DX or locals), say the Corsair HS70 sounds just as good.

Again, I hope this information will be of interest to others.

Cheers, from Ron.
vk3io
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:41 am

Re: Controller V2

Postby vk3io » Tue Jun 21, 2022 10:48 am

Hello V2 Controller Users and other interested community members.

My V2 Controller continues to work well and all seems good, so far, except my NR button continues to be "Unresponsive", that is it DOES NOT WORK.

But I have found another issue, which maybe a piHDSDR problem and I would like some assistance with, before I make it an Apache-labs support issue. But most likey it is a piHDSDR issue and so I don't expect much support from them.

When I enter the menu and select ANT, I see all the band antenna port selections and by default they are all set to Antenna Port 1 for RX and TX.

If I have the Anan7000 set for the 40m band and listening to the band activity and then decide to make a change of the Ant port selection from Port 1 for any other band, say 160m or 6m to Port 2 or 3, my RX signal on 40m drop way down, like I have no antenna connected.

This does not happen when I use Thetis,

In Thetis and selecting settings/antenna, I can change any other band antenna port selection to port 2 or 3 without affecting my 40m RX signal.

So any suggestions would be appreciated as to what is going on here?
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w-u-2-o
Posts: 5525
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2017 1:47 pm

Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:12 pm

Although I don't have Controller V2 hardware, I've installed both linHPSDR and piHPSDR on a laptop here, just to keep up with the conversation.

The inoperative button problem is a hardware issue and thus an Apache warrantee issue.

I was able to reproduce your antenna switching bug here. It's a piHPSDR issue.

The principal author of piHPSDR, John Melton, G0ORX, maintains a Github site dedicated to piHPSDR. You can add the issue to his issue tracker there: https://github.com/g0orx/pihpsdr/issues.

Unfortunately it does not appear that these issues get worked off, or that many updates get made to the code. The repository shows the last updates were made 7 months ago. Perhaps that situation will change now that Controller V2's are shipping.
david schoenwald
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:37 am

Re: Controller V2

Postby david schoenwald » Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:39 pm

Do Anon 100 owners, with the v2 controller, usually listen to themselves on separate receivers (other than the anan transceiver) to know what their transmit signal sounds like?

Thanks
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n1gp
Posts: 175
Joined: Sun Apr 09, 2017 6:34 pm

Re: Controller V2

Postby n1gp » Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:18 am

It appears that ANT bug has been fixed in Christoph's pihpsdr repository
(which was forked from John's/g0orx official pihpsdr repository).

I tested both repos this morning and found the ANT bug only in g0orx's repo.

You can download (git clone) Christoph's repo from here:
https://github.com/dl1ycf/pihpsdr

If you have never built the pihpsdr application from source you may want to
read Christoph's document: Linux-CompileFromSources.pdf from this repo:
https://github.com/dl1ycf/piHPSDR-compile-from-sources

73s

-Rick / N1GP
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w-u-2-o
Posts: 5525
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2017 1:47 pm

Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Wed Jun 22, 2022 3:37 pm

Thank for that pointer, Rick! I was unaware of Christoph's work. Most appreciated!

Now I have to wait for a rainy day to rebuild Christoph's version of piHPSDR and WDSP on my Linux laptop :)

Christoph used to post a little here. It would be nice to see him a little more on the forum... @dl1ycf
vk3io
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:41 am

Re: Controller V2

Postby vk3io » Wed Aug 31, 2022 11:57 am

Re: Controller V2
Postby david schoenwald » Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:39 pm

Do Anon 100 owners, with the v2 controller, usually listen to themselves on separate receivers (other than the anan transceiver) to know what their transmit signal sounds like?

Thanks

Hello David.

The answer to your question is yes.

When listening to yourself, it is also necessary to use headphones with strong noise cancelling ability, that means headphones with a good seal on the ear cuff, so the sound of your voice being reproduced in the earphones cannot reach the microphone or you will suffer feedback and so disturb your sound check.

Today I did this sound check and I did use my old Heil Headset Pro +, but any suitable headphone/Headset will do.

I prefer to use another receiver, with off air recording ability and play that recording back, so I can listen to this recording without me talking at the same time.

If you don't have a suitable receiver you can log into a remote SDR local receiver via the internet and some of these SDR's can send to your email address a wave file or MP3 file so you can listen to the recording with your sound system.

Regards, from Ron. vk3io.
david schoenwald
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:37 am

Re: Controller V2

Postby david schoenwald » Tue Mar 07, 2023 12:43 am

The andromeda transceiver which looks like its related the controller v2 had a monitor function see page 25 Transmission
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Controller V2

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Mar 07, 2023 1:25 am

Andromeda runs Thetis and is not related to the piHPSDR software that runs the Controller in this way.
david schoenwald
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2022 12:37 am

Re: Controller V2

Postby david schoenwald » Sun Jul 30, 2023 11:47 am

The way I dealt with the monitor function was to buy a Flexradio 6400M and use the flex fhm2 PTTmixeophone
va7qi
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Location: Quadra Island, BC
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Re: Controller V2

Postby va7qi » Wed Aug 02, 2023 4:48 am

All,

I would like to point you to dl1ycf's latest variant of piHPSDR. It can be found at:

https://github.com/dl1ycf/pihpsdr

You do need to download and compile the source code, but he has provided scripts for everything and also very detailed instructions.

The scripts also compile and install wsjt-x, fldigi and free-dv. I haven't tried to run the digital modes from the Controller, but everything else seems to work very well. The software also supports the new G2 hardware.

73 de va7qi, ....Erik.

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