SDR-Bridge 1.0.1 available for download

W5UN_Dave

Hi Ed, any luck with the N1MM boys at Dayton?

Ed - W2RF

Hi Dave,

I went to the N1MM presentation and learned a lot about the state of the new program. They do have UDP broadcasts that SDR-Bridge could use to follow the logger, but they do not have a UDP receiver. That means there is no way to control N1MM except via CAT.

Their team is very involved in getting a beta out so they are not receptive to new feature suggestions at this point. There are also some indications that they are currently not interested in specialized SDR support. We need Flex-6000 users to explain to them what is needed and why.

It is not clear to me why using N1MM is so important. What is it that their program can do that WriteLog doesn't? Especially when N1MM is a conventional CAT based program.

In the meantime it is easy to use N1MM via CAT, and synchronize the radio with Skimmers using SDR-Bridge. They are compatible.

73 Ed W2RF

W9OY

I spent a lot of time a few years ago trying to optimize N1MM with the F5K for SO2R operation.  My conclusion is the program is a kluge, slow and clunky and not well thought out especially for a software defined radio.  It may be OK for a couple of Icoms or something but even then it's klugy.  I contacted the N1MM team to see if we could get some CAT commands defined as you need a TX freq feed to control TX vfo in the F5K.  I found the team to be almost derogatory regarding Flex products.  The team however had no problem rewriting the CAT library for the Elecraft radio.  We were able to get something working but only because Steve K5FR (DDUTIL) is a **** of a programmer.  

This past CQ-WPX I spent a lot of time wringing out the WriteLog program using 2 skimmers, SDR-bridge, VE7CC client and SSDR all married together.  The experience was night and day in favor of WriteLog over N1MM.  The interface, even driving a 6300 (which only has one SCU and a very simple antenna switch) was not SO2R but **** close to it for stations that intend to run single op assisted category.  The operation was flawless, fast and completely predictable.  The only real flaw I found was the way the RIT works especially with the FlexControl in SSDR.  It takes one button press to turn RIT on (good) but 4 button presses to turn it off (bad) and the state of the RIT is not practically displayed in the slice flag.  The other thing that worked the best was to have multi-band antennas, like a tri-bander, not a bunch of single band antennas controlled by coax switches.  That approach might be possible if we had some way to automatically control the switches via BCD.  I've had that going with the F5K but my station is in a bit of a transition so playing with that again may require a more robust BCD solution.

Frankly I think it's totally reasonable to support authors who are committed to supporting Flex radio and SSDR (W5XD/writelog) and to eschew those who consider us barely an also ran and not worth their time to improve our contest experience. (N1MM)  I wrote a couple of blog posts about my experience with writelog/skimmer/sdr-bridge.ve7cc/ssdr/flex6300 over on sdr-w9oy,blogspot.com

73  W9OY

Ed - W2RF

The link is http://sdr-w9oy.blogspot.com/2014/05/cq-wpx.html ... other posts are also excellent. Thanks, Lee!

W5UN_Dave

Wow, Lee! I have used N1MM for years with great success with my K3, 5000, and now, my 6700. In fact I use N1MM on my K3 computer, and a second instance on my 6700 computer (side by side operating positions) and they are networked together. A great way to have redundant logs.  I do agree that the 8 comport limitation is frustrating, but easily dealt with by using DDUtil. and, if necessary, vspMgr. WriteLog is a great program, but what irks me about it is that  I cannot use it on 2 meter eme, where reports are not RST, but rather "RO" in place of the 599. I spoke to the author about this and he informed me that Writelog is not meant for general purpose logging, but rather, for contesting (isn't N1MM). I also like to have the ability to go back and edit a single previously logged entry. Easy for N1MM, but how does one do this with Writelog? I guess I need a mentor on writelog.

I have writelog running, and have imported my N1MM log to it. I now run them both side by side, until I can see some advantage to using writelog exclusively.

Dave, W5UN

W9OY

For general logging I keep coming back to DX lab.  

Writelog is a contest program although it has some advantages like the band map.  Writelog ve7cc and skimmer all communicate meaning a skimmer spot that is not on the bandmap or in ve7cc can be entered into the logbook.  It does not use CAT but telnet which is more robust and faster in terms of connectivity.  

N1MM had horrible connectivity to Flex when I was working with it.  Flex F5K has some specific issues because it has only one transmitter that needs to seamlessly follow 2 receivers as the focus changes.  This is the issue I needed to be addressed, as well as a means to change focus as you switched between bands.  The best N1MM could do was treat the radio as 2VFO not 2 radio.  The biggest issue I had was the brick wall the N1MM coders had against opening up the CAT library to better serve Flex CAT.  I'm sure your K3 runs like a drewam with the K3 because EVERY JOT AND TITTLE OF THE K3 CAT LIBRARY WAS LOVINGLY CODED TO TIGHTLY INTEGRATE.  I respectfully contacted the coders to see what we could get and basically was told to go pound sand.  I get the distinct impression from that crowd they do not want SDR to succeed in the contest arena, or at least are unwilling to lift a finger to better interface with us.  I finally lost interest in N1MM because it became clear it would never tightly integrate with PSDR.  Writelog/ve7cc client/sdr-bridge/skimmer/ssdr/dax/SCAT/DDUTIL all pretty tightly integrate 

The other thing I didn't like is there was little insight into management of virtual ports and virtual audio.  It was all about real com ports, LPT ports for keyer inputs and sound cards.   I had my F5K set up so I could run 2 streams of RF to 2 amplifiers to 2 coax switches all of which were addressable by BCD, which meant every thing would band follow the 2 receivers and all I had to do was hit the key or stomp the foot switch and the transmitter would address the correct amp/antenna for that band with the correct drive.  N1MM was way too klugey to do this reliably.  Using DDUTIL and the Flex control I had full control of over 16 functions of the radio including keyer memories and macros.  So for example if I had 2 high beams and a low fixed Caribbean tribander I could simply press a button on the Flex control and automatically switch the amp from the high beam to the tribander and back. plus I could tell the system to listen on separate rx antennas because the F5K's antenna switch logic was so strong.  I think Gerald himself might have designed that switch.  To do that I merely modified some ameritron antenna switches to understand BCD using a LPT port and a couple $19 circuit boards and DDUTIL.  No way in **** you gonna do all that with a K3, but with the prudent application of the F5K it was all possible.  All of that was lost on the N1MM crowd.  They were too busy peeing in their boot over roofing filters so pardon me if I'm less than impressed with the N1MM folks  

73  W9OY

Bob N7ZO

To quote Lee:  "For general logging I keep coming back to DX lab."  I agree.

To quote from an email I wrote to a ham friend several months ago:

"After a bunch of research and program trials,  I chose the DXLab suite for my general logging.  The logging program is called DxKeeper.

 · It uses the Microsoft database engine underneath.  It is very robust and fairly portable (not unique to one app).  It also allows standard SQL queries which are great for filtering the logbook.

·  It connects well with LoTW and eQSL as well as handling traditional paper QSL’s (which I do not use).

·   The author, Dave, AA6YQ, is on the ARRL LoTW committee.  He is actively updating the suite and is very active on the DxLab Yahoo group (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/dxlab/info  ).

·  The other programs in the suite are useful.  Particularly, SpotCollector which aggregates the data from up to four DX clusters and keeps its own database of all the spots.   This database also uses the Microsoft database engine and has the associated great filtering capabilities. SpotCollector, like the other apps in the suite, is well integrated with DXKeeper.

· The programs use LotW and eQSL callsign databases so that all log entries and spots are marked for their online logging participation.  I find this particularly useful since I tend to favor QSO’s with LoTW participants.

·  The suite has other apps for rig control, propagation predictions, callsign lookup, etc.  They are all well integrated with each other.

"

The rig control program, Commander, seems to work well with the A and B slices of the 6700 (through a COM port).

KY6LA_Howard

Lee. The K 3 N1MM crowd will not pay attention to SDR's until someone WINS a real contest like WRTC using one. BTW. I have come first a few times in the San Diego section using my Flex (5000 , 6700) but to that crowd it does not count as a real WIN.

W9OY

N1MM is a legacy product. By the time they realize this it will be too late.

Ed - W2RF

Dave,

It is easy to edit single QSOs in WriteLog. Find the QSO with ctl-G, and left-click the field you want to edit.

It is also easy to add custom fields to WriteLog. It may be possible to add RO and delete RST for a custom log.

73 Ed W2RF

Ed - W2RF

I like DXLab and would like to support it with SDR-BRidge. The problem is, while all of its modules are well integrated with each other, they form a relatively closed system. They don't provide interfaces to enable integration with other apps.

Bernie

Commander and DXKeeper work OK with WSJT-X and MultiPSK.

Ed - W2RF

Good point. DXLab does integrate with some apps. It just does not offer the API needed to develop deep integration.

W9OY

I have hope for DXlab.  Dave's a smart guy and has been positively responsive to the Flex crowd

73  W9OY 

Ed - W2RF

As we have concluded, N1MM integration is not possible at this time. I'm already looking into integrating with Log4OM. In addition, because of the response on this post, I am making DXLab a priority.

73 Ed W2RF

Sergey R5AU

i am voting for integration with DXlab , in DXlab cluster module you can easily set Telnet port of the active Skimmer to receiving spots, but need to have more deep integration.....between skimmer-ssdrs-dxlab

Ed - W2RF

NEW! SDR-Bridge 1.0.4 beta is available for download at http://www.qrv.com/sdrbridge. This "Centennial Edition" extends activation. The current 1.0.2 version expires August 25th.

The 1.0.4 version of SDR-Bridge has been tested with n1mm+ beta 0.18.3415 connected to SmartSDR via CAT. The combination appears to work except for focus return. (The old n1mm version works and supports focus return.)

Feel free to share experiences and/or problems using SDR-Bridge with SmartSDR CAT and n1mm versions. However please bear in mind that SDR-Bridge is not supported in n1mm or n1mm+ configurations.

Enjoy!

73 Ed W2RF

Dave AA6YQ

Re "I like DXLab and would like to support it with SDR-BRidge. The problem is, while all of its modules are well integrated with each other, they form a relatively closed system. They don't provide interfaces to enable integration with other apps."

Nothing could be further from the truth. DXLab applications provide APIs to interoperate with each other, and to interoperate with more than 20 other amateur radio applications. See Building Applications that Interoperate with DXLab.

If you'd like to discuss this, Ed, contact me via aa6yq (at) ambersoft.com

Ed - W2RF

Hi Dave,

Thanks for correcting me. I had not been successful in finding automation information on the DXLab website. I didn't find your contact information either. Glad to have you on board!

How many community members would like to see DXLab integration with SmartSDR? Comments please!

73 Ed W2RF

Bill-W9OL

Ed, you know me. I chase CW DX on all bands and cw contesting in a more relaxed way these days.
Having the bridge interface with DXLabs would be great. I could use the DXLabs contesting module and still make a few qsos to keep my skills up....and maybe actually work a new band mode here and there.
Thanks for your efforts

Ed - W2RF

Hi Bill, of course we go way back Thanks for your comments. Integration is available today with the combination of DXLab with SmartSDR CAT and SDR-Bridge. I'm looking for how that setup could be improved.

Bernie

I am a long-time user of the DXLab suite and I would definitely like to see integration with SDR-Bridge and DXKeeper.

Bernie Huth
W4BGH

Peter Driessen

I have set up SDR-Bridge 1.0.4 with CW Skimmer 1.8 and WriteLog.  The integration appears to work: clicking a spot in Skimmer puts the call in the WriteLog entry window.  However, the F keys do not appear to key the transmitter.  Have I missed a step?  Is there a checklist of what needs to be done (including WriteLog settings) for the integration to work correctly? Thanks Peter VE7AB