Anan G2-ultra VFO running alone

[Bonin]

Hi,
today my G2-ultra show strange behavior, namely VFO running alone and VFO knob is barley responsive?
The same is in Thetis.
Anny idea what can be wrong?

Thanks

[Bonin]

On Discord is video from VFO behavior:

https://discord.com/channels/1271453528 ... 9700886611

or in Groups.io

https://groups.io/g/apache-labs/message/3880

[Trucker]

From your description of the problem it sounds to me like a hardware problem. Possibly the encoder is causing this. You may need to contact Apache Labs to get it resolved.
James
WD5GWY

[Bonin]

Thanks James,

do you know where - i am in Europe?

Best regards,
Boni, S50BN

[Trucker]

Thanks James,

do you know where - i am in Europe?

Best regards,
Boni, S50BN

Unfortunately, I don't know who handles service and repair for Apache labs in Europe. There may be a link on their website to someone or a dealer in Europe who can help you. Otherwise, you will most likely have to fix it yourself. Or find someone near you who is familiar with the Apache Labs hardware.
You might be able to fix it yourself. But, if your radio is still in warranty, it would be better for a company that is servicing Apache Labs radios to help you.
James
WD5GWY

[Svante]

You can try. AGV Radio in Spain. agvradio@agvradio.com
My Anan G2 black face was under warranty. The English Dealer sent it to a "Doug" in America
Best luck sm6usu Svante.

[Bonin]

Thanks a lot to all,

i will contact AVG Radio.
Has anybody schematics from G2-ultra.
I have already contact Apache labs, no response.

73, S50BN

[laurencebarker]

Do the other controls work OK?

If the other controls work OK, then it would suggest a problem with the encoder itself (which converts a rotating VFO control into a series of pulses).

[Bonin]

Hi Laurence,

yes, everything else work es it should.
I need a schematics, or does anyone know what encoder is used?

73, S50BN

[Bonin]

I've finally followed Doug's suggestion from Apache Labs and flashed the factory image — unfortunately, it didn’t resolve the issue.
I'm still experiencing the same behavior as before.

Could someone with expertise kindly advise me on the next steps?
Many thanks in advance for your help.

Best regards,
Boni, S50BN

[laurencebarker]

An arduino controls the G2 front panel. If the other controls are OPK, then the Arduino is communicating with the SDR software. The problem must be in the encoder, an arduino input pin, or a missing pull-up resistor.

The schematic will have to come from the factory: it is their commercial property.

[Bonin]

Hi Laurence,

first of all thank you very much -You are the only one who has taken my problem seriously, and I truly appreciate that.

I was previously in contact with Apache Labs—specifically with Doug. His only suggestion was to try making a copy of the SD card. I followed his advice, and I already had my own backups, but unfortunately, the issue remained unchanged.
Naturally, I asked Apache Labs for further guidance and also requested the schematic several times. So far, I have received no response.

Considering that the Anan is such a high-quality and advanced device, it's disappointing that service support is practically nonexistent. When something goes wrong, the owner is left to deal with it completely alone.

In my case, only the VFO behaves oddly—it's operating on its own. Everything else, including reception and transmission, works correctly with both Thetis and PowerSDR.
With the device open, I can see that the encoder is connected to the board via several wires. In my opinion, the simplest way to troubleshoot would be to disconnect those wires and see whether the VFO can still be controlled using the mouse. Would this be a valid way to narrow down the source of the problem?

Unfortunately, I'm not an electronics expert, so I’d appreciate any advice on how to determine whether the issue lies with the encoder itself, the Arduino input pin, or possibly a missing pull-up resistor.

Since I haven’t been able to obtain the schematic from official sources, I’m sharing my email address here in case someone is willing to send it to me:
bozidarms@yahoo.de

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions.

Best regards,
Boni, S50BN

Best regards,

[Bonin]

In the meantime, I cut the power wires going to the encoder, so it is now inactive—but the VFO still behaves the same.
It seems the problem is not with the encoder.

[Bonin]

I think the one we’re using is an Arduino Nano Every

[laurencebarker]

The encoder should be a rectangular component. Mine has 5 pins onto the PCB (not wires).

The pins are, starting at one end: ground, signal, +13.8V, signal, ground. The two "signal" pins should be pulled up to 5V by resistors (R42, R43) next to the encoder. You should be able to see them.

Can you measure the voltage on those two signals - with no power to the encoder they should be 5V. Be very careful not to touch 13.8V to either of those signals (or to anything else!)

[Bonin]

Mine is the same – 5 pins.
There is a small PCB on the encoder, connected to the main PCB via 5 rigid wires.

On the disconnected/cut rigid wire in the middle, I measure 5V on both sides of the resistors, and also on the second and fourth rigid wires (which are signal lines) on the encoder.
On the cut end of the middle wire, on the main PCB side, I also measure 5V.
In other words, on all three middle pins (signal, +13.8V, signal) on the main PCB side, I get 5V.

When the middle rigid wire is connected/soldered, I again measure 5V on the middle pin — never 13.8V!
On the other two (signal lines), I measure either 4.9V or 95mV, depending on the direction in which I turn the tuning knob.

[Bonin]

One more thing I’ve noticed now:

When I start P2App, I can control the G2 from Thetis without any problems.

However, when I enable G2 control in P2App (i.e. enable Front Panel Control, -p), the VFO in Thetis starts moving on its own.

So at the moment, I can control the G2 via Thetis — but I must not activate Front Panel Control in P2PApp.


This behavior is new, and I haven’t changed anything on my setup.

Previously, the same strange VFO behavior happened both when using the rig alone and when using Thetis.
Now, the behavior only appears after enabling G2 control (Front Panel Control) in P2PApp.
Without it, I can control the G2 from Thetis without any problems.

[Trucker]

Maybe you fixed the problem when you reconnected the pins. I seem to recall reading that there could be issues using the front panel controls to control Thetis on the pc. I don't know if that has been updated to not be an issue anymore.
James
WD5GWY

[Bonin]

This behavior is new, and I haven’t changed anything in my setup.

Until about two weeks ago, everything was working fine.
Then, suddenly, the VFO stopped working correctly — no changes were made on my side.

I'm not exactly sure which pins you're referring to, but I can confirm that previously the same strange VFO behavior occurred both when using the rig alone and with Thetis.
Now, the issue appears after enabling G2 control (Front Panel Control) in p2App, and on rig alone.

[laurencebarker]

I'm guessing here that the Arduino is sending out a stream of VFO tuning commands. If you don't select front panel control in p2app (with the -p switch), those commands will still be sent but will not be processed.

It sounds like the encoder is working correctly. The issue might be with the Arduino or its connection the front panel PCB. How is it connected please - I've never seen a factory front panel board.

It is possible to run a terminal emulator program on the raspberry pi and see the commands being sent across to verify what's happening but I will need to remember how to do that!

[ct1iqi]

Agree with Laurence that from the video it would appear that the serial communication between the Arduino and the 50 pin CM4/5 connector is working.
The Arduino, instead of sending one or a few ZZZU/D messages to the CM4/5 serial interface when the knob is turned, to be processed by Pihpsdr' rigctl.c, keeps sending them while the knob does not rotate.
It would indicate some issue with the connection between the knob's encoder outputs and the Arduino's CPU inputs that process the VFO encoder signals.
Or a supply voltage / signal level / noise issue that brings ambiguity in seeing logical ones or zeroes. The VFO encoder has pins 1 and 5 grounded, and pin 3 supplied by 5V.
This 5 V is produced on the front panel itself by U12 (RPM5.0-3.0) on basis of the 13.8V input there. So would verify the 5V to be there on the encoder and that it is clean.
Encoder pins 4 and 2 carry the encoder signals with 10k pull up resistors to 5V and connect to Arduino's A5 (pin 9) and A4 (pin 8) inputs.
The Arduino expects the same 5V as the encoder gets on its pin 12.
As you write that the rest is working normally one wouldn't expect a problem with the processor as such but something hardware related specific to the VFO encoder.
An oscilloscope would be a great help. @Laurence: the Arduino on the front that I got sent is soldered with 24 pins about a cm above and into the front's PCB.
In my experiments actually ruined an Arduino and it was a lot of work to solder the old one out and new one in.
I have the Arduino now with pins soldered to it but have put a 24 pin socket on the PCB side, just in case.

[laurencebarker]

Hi Martin

so far it is verified that the signals on the encoder pins are correct. We haven't determined that they get to the Arduino correctly. Could be a broken track, unsoldered joint or failed Arduino.

[Bonin]

Hello Laurence and Martin,
Thank you for your suggestions — I’ll give them a try and, of course, report back.
However, my G2 won’t be accessible to me again until November 8.
(And yes, an oscilloscope is available.)
Best regards,
Bonin,S50BN