CW skimmer with DAX IQ

W5UN_Dave

Does anyone have this working?  I selected WDM,  DAX IQ RX 1 for signal I/O, and Soft Rock IF, but I get no waterfall display. Can someone help?

Tim - W4TME

Did you assign the DAX IQ channel 1 to the Panadapter by clicking on the DAX option in the Panadapter menu and selecting the proper channel? 

This is like selecting the real (non IQ) DAX channel for a slice receiver.

Also for wide band operation, in CWSkimmer, you can use the SoftRock setting by setting the LO frequency to the frequency readout in the DAX Control panel beside the DAX IQ channel when it is operational.

And....

Make sure to set the sampling rate for the DAX IQ channel to the same value in CWSkimmer.

Al_NN4ZZ

Tim,
Can you point me to the TELNET documentation to address the Slice/Panadapter tuning issue.  I didn't see it in the release notes or users guide but may have missed it.  

I noticed that unless I keep the panadapter center frequency and the slice frequency exactly the same the decoding doesn't work and the and frequency scale in CWS is off.   I think this is the issue you described so looking tor and easy way to have CWS track the slice.

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ

Tim - W4TME

Setting the LO via telnet a CWSkimmer feature; it is documented there.  Look in the CWSkimmer Help->Telnet Server->Telnet Commands to see how to set the LO frequency.

"I noticed that unless I keep the panadapter center frequency and the slice frequency exactly the same the decoding doesn't work and the and frequency scale in CWS is off." 

Yes, that is one of the "two degrees of tuning freedom" issue I referenced above.  As of now, there is no convenient way for CWSkimmer to track the panadapter and tune the slice (these are two separate functions) .

We have contacted Alex about working on a better integration solution.  We now have 8 receiver radios which never existed before. I in-vision the ability to have CWSkimmer open 4 independent instances, communicating with the radio using FlexLib via Ethernet  to track each panadapter and keep track of the TX slice so that you can operate 4 bands at the same time seamlessly.  Now that would really be cool.

Hopefully we can achieve that level of integration.  Time will tell....

Al_NN4ZZ

Tim,
Thanks, the telnet process seems a bit cumbersome.  Maybe I'm missing something.   Anyway I found another way that seems to work.  I'm using  SoftRock-IF setting and the CAT commands.  

To sync the slice and panadapter frequencies, I press the the one of the zoom controls ( - or + ).   Pressing either the plus or minus will center the slice.  CWS is happy.  I use the  a "plus, minus, plus" sequence to center the slice in the panadapter and return to the original zoom level.  

Not perfect but pretty fast.   If you retune the slice from the radio side (mouse or flexcontrol) or by clicking in CWS, you have to do the "minus, plus, minus" sequence to re-sync.  

Potential Solution - Another option to consider would be to offer a slice tuning option that moved the panadapter display under the slice line keeping them in sync.  In other words, the slice would stay centered in the panadapter and the background would move.  Some  knob radios (e.g. FTDX9000) offer this tuning option.  I think that would fix CWS without a code change at least as a temporary solution.  Some folks may actually like the "keep slice centered" tuning option.     Hope I explained it okay....thoughts?

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ

Tim - W4TME

This is an idea, not an answer to the topic problem Please reference the new topic here: Idea for CWSkimmer integration with SmartSDR

W5UN_Dave

Al, this will work for me if I can figure out where to set Audio-IF Hz in the skimmer radio setting.. Any suggestions?

Tim - W4TME

BTW, the reason to use the Softrock setup configuration rather than Softrock-IF is that the later can only decode 24 kHz of bandwidth were the Softrock mode can decode the entire bandwidth streamed from the radio (48, 96 or 192k)

Greg

When using skimmer server with the qs1r you won't even have a normal skimmer display. As is, I would set up a couple pan adapters strictly for skimming and use telnet to send the skimmed spots to your spot collector software. Anyone know if you can run two instances of cw skimmer?

Tim - W4TME

"Anyone know if you can run two instances of cw skimmer?"

Yes.  It is in the CWSkimmer doc. Search for "multiple copies"  Each instance needs it's own .ini file

Al_NN4ZZ

Dave,
I posted my setup here.    Hope it helps.  

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/cw_skimmer_with_v1_1_using_the_softrock_if_hardware...

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ

Greg

Where is this doc? I searched the downloads are on the frs site but came up empty.

Ed - W2RF

Here's a screen shot of my 6700 connected to 4 instances of Skimmer.

Greg

Thanks Ed. That is what I was working on yesterday. I created four installs of CWS. I have not looked at the ini files mentioned by Tim. Are they in each separate folder or is it in an appdata folder? During a contest I would open two more pan adapters for VFOs A and B slices.

Greg

It would be nice if you could minimize the pan adapters used for the skimmers.

Ed - W2RF

They go in the Skimmer program folder. The default CWSkimmer.ini is there.

The procedure is to first start Skimmer with the ini="MyIQConfig.ini" option. Next configure your settings. Then exit the program.

It doesn't work to just copy the default ini file to a new name.

Ed - W2RF

Would also save considerable CPU resources by not having to draw the panadapters.

Greg

Ed.  Where do I make those ini option settings.  This is where I found the only skimmer ini config file:
C:UsersGregAppDataRoamingAfreetProductsCwSkimmer

There are no ini files in the program folders.

Greg

Is there something that I add to the target file path to set the myIQconfig setting?

"D:ham programsCwSkimmer_1CwSkimmer.exe"

Greg

When I select Data folder in Help all three instances go to the same folder:

C:UsersGregAppDataRoamingAfreetProductsCwSkimmer

Ed - W2RF

Where ini files is operating system dependent. So I think wherever you found the default ini file should be where other ini files are located. On my system they are in the program directory. It appears that on your system they should go in AppDataRoaming....

Greg

But that means all instances will use the same ini file.  The data folder for each one points to the same folder where the ini file is.  Are you running XP?  I am trying to do this on Win7.

Ed - W2RF

All the ini files are in the same folder, and have different names. Mine are IQ1.ini, IQ2.ini, IQ3.ini, and IQ4.ini. Then on the shortcut that starts Skimmer put

"C:Program Files (x86)AfreetCwSkimmerCwSkimmer.exe" ini=.IQ1.ini

or whatever path is appropriate for your computer as the target.

Greg

OK I think I have it going.  Now I have to shake off the cobwebs and remember how to configure WinTelex to tie them all together.

Tnx a bunch Ed.

73
Greg