PaTemp Oddity

Peter K1PGV

In my PATempDataReady Event Handler, I'm getting called with fractional values... like 0.48 or 0.56 -- I understand from the comments in FlexLib that this meter event should be reported in degrees C.

Am I the only one seeing this?  Is this a known issue?

And what should the typical PA Temp be on a 6500?

K1FR

Peter:  Just wrote an handler for the temp data and got the same results.  About 0.48 with my 6700 in RX mode.  Got up to 0.68 after one minute of 100W into dummy load.  The FlexLib code is indeed clear should be in degrees C.  Wonder if instead it is a percentage of max value?

No info here on typical temps.  Sorry.

73, Tom
K1FR

Peter K1PGV

Thanks Tom.  I appreciate the confirmation.  At least I know it's not something unique to my environment.

Hmmmm... perhaps the numbers just need to be multiplied by 100??

So, you'd have a 68 degrees C after 100W output for one minute?  As I have exactly zero experience regarding amplifier design, Google would suggest that this is not unreasonable.  I see RF amplifier chips that are stable to about 85 degrees C.

??

K1FR

Peter:  Well, that might be reasonable for sure.  Have not had my Flex 3000 on for sometime, but seem to recall that PowerSDR displayed something like in the 30-40 C range after long, full power.

73, Tom
K1FR

KY6LA_Howard

DDUTIL will give you a temperature readout.. Perhaps that might give you a clue as to the readouts you are seeing

K1FR

Peter:  Thinking you were correct on multiplying by 100.  This Am when started up my radio, the temp was showing 0.27. That would be about 81 F.  The room was clearly cooler than that - maybe 70 F, but I can imagine the radio warming up by 10 degrees in the couple of minutes it took for SSDR and the computer to start up.

Have been playing around with tuning the rig, freq memories, etc.  Need to do a lot more learning here before jump into the deep end and start playing with the IQ data stream!

73, Tom
K1FR

James Whiteway

Guys, are you grabbing things like the PA temp(which changes) in a similar fashion to getting things like NickName, Model, VFO freq. etc.? I've been struggling with this for a while now. (part of the problem is being on the road and not enough time to spend relearning C#)  I don't know if the Flexlib API will provide feedback with changing events like Temp, Voltage, and other Meter Class objects. Or if I need to use the Ethernet API and parse that to get the type of info I'm after. My goal is to eventually create some different meters, analog, digital etc.to use with the radio. Similar to what Woodbox Radio currently is doing. BUT, maybe some meters that look like old knobbed radio meters. (just one of several ideas I have in mind............)
james
WD5GWY
 

Peter K1PGV

James: I'm out right now, but when I get home I'll post an example of handling the various events that can be raised by the radio and the slice. It's really easy!

K1PGV

K1FR

James:  Sorry if you get this twice.  Had internet failure as was sending.

Thanks again for sending the code example last week.  Big help!

Below is what I did to get PA temp and volts displayed.  I am a rank beginner, so probably ways to do this better.  But, it does work.  Let me know how it goes.

73, Tom
K1FR

      private void radio_PATempDataReady(float data)        {
            Console.WriteLine(",,,,,,,,,,,PA Temp data event handler fired");
            float PA_temp_data = data;
            PA_temp_data*=100.0f;
            PA_temp_data = (PA_temp_data * 9.0f / 5.0f) + 32.0f;
            textPATemp.Text = String.Format("{0:f1}", PA_temp_data) + " F";

        }

        private void radio_VoltsDataReady(float data)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(",,,,,,,,,,,PA Volts data event handler fired");
            float volts = data;
            textVolts.Text = String.Format("{0:f1}", volts);

        }
 

K1FR

Ooops, forgot to include the code in the RadioAdded method:

radio.PATempDataReady += radio_PATempDataReady;            radio.VoltsDataReady+=radio_VoltsDataReady;

James Whiteway

Thanks Tom! I see where "some" of my issues are. I had added :

radio.VoltsDataReady+=radio_VoltsDataReady;

to the api_RadioAdded event. BUT, I did not have the method like you wrote to work with the data. No wonder Visual Studio complained!
Now that I've added your code, it works like it is supposed to.
I knew you would be getting up to speed rather quickly! Thank you for your help.
james
WD5GWY

James Whiteway

Thank you Peter, that would be most helpful. I wish I had more time to mess with this. It is very interesting to me. I drive a truck for a living and am on the road 5 days a week. In fact, I'm leaving in an hour or so and heading to Colorado to get a load of river rock to bring back to Dallas.
Might be a bit cold this trip!
Thank you for all your help.
james
WD5GWY

James Whiteway

One thing I have noticed and have been meaning to ask here is, in each of the Methods for different events, I see a bit of code writing to the console:

private void radio_VoltsDataReady(float data)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(",,,,,,,,,,,PA Volts data event handler fired");
            float volts = data;
            textVolts.Text = String.Format("{0:f1}", volts);

        }

I have found that I can comment: Console.WriteLine(............);. out and everything still works. I has Assumed that it was included to get the radio to send back the info requested. But, it appears that assumption is wrong as everything still works without that code running. Maybe it's there for debugging purposes? The only thing I see in the immediate window when I run my test program is the Exception messages for Sockets that Peter told me to turn off. Everything still works otherwise.
Might be because I'm doing this using WinForms instead of a console app.
james
WD5GWY

K1FR

James:  Most welcome.  Just emailed you a version as well.  Have a safe trip to CO!  
73, Tom
K1FR

James Whiteway

Thanks! Just getting ready to leave now!
james
WD5GWY

James Whiteway

Tom, checked my email a couple minutes ago (waiting for truck to warm up) and I did not see your email. Maybe my isp is slow tonight. Try: jjames700@earthlink.net Thanks again for your help. The code you posted earlier works fine. james WD5GWY

k3Tim

Checked the 6500 here - after 1 minute it went from 30C to 46C (100Watts).  During RTTY RU, the temp was never a concern.  

Best Regards,

TimP

Peter K1PGV

James... I see Tom K1FR already posted a nice, clear, sample of getting Event callbacks... pretty much the same as what I was going to post.

Peter
K1PGV

Peter K1PGV

(James... FYI for the future:  It's probably better to start a new thread for a question such as you asked here.  This gives greater visibility to your question, and helps avoid "thread drift" in the original topic.  

Your question's a good one, and we all (a) want your question to be answered, (b) want others to be able to find and benefit from that answer in the future by easily searching threads by titles, (c) want the original question in this thread not to be lost.  Sorry, I don't mean to lecture here... just trying to be helpful.)

Peter K1PGV

Thanks, Tom.  By multiply by 100, I saw reasonable ranges while I was playing RTTY RU.

Now it would just be nice to get a confirmation from Flex... 

James Whiteway

Thanks Peter, I hadn't thought about it that way. You are right, it would increase chances of getting a hit during a search by creating a separate thread for different subjects. I did what I did because I have been trying to get things like the PA temp and as noted above, failing to do because I was going about it wrong. I saw the subject here and that piqued my interest and that is why I asked the questions I did in this thread. (same subject I was interested in) james WD5GWY

K1FR

James:  Per your question on the Console:WriteLine......  You are correct that those lines are not needed for the program to function.  But, when running the code in debugger mode they will put lines into the Output Window on VS that help you know if a particular method or line executed.  Sometimes saves inserting breakpoints which can sometimes mess things up if the program misses something important from the radio while it was waiting for programmer to restart after a break.   73, Tom

Eric-KE5DTO

I looked through the code related to the PA Temp meter and there is definitely some funny math going on.  I'll post here when I know more.  I have entered this in our tracking system as #1266.  Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Peter K1PGV

Thank you, Eric.  I appreciate the rely.

James Whiteway

Tom, thanks for the explanation. Looks like I need to do more studying! james WD5GWY

Eric-KE5DTO

Bottom line: There was a conversion factor missing in the radio.  For now, you can multiply by 64 to get the right temp in degrees C.  In the next release, this will be corrected and you will need to remove the extra multiple since it will already be in the radio.  Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Peter K1PGV

Thanks, Eric... for the quick investigation and reply.

Not to push my luck, but one follow-up question if I may?  What is the recommended range of PA temperatures? Obviously, I know "lower is better"... but at what temp would you say the "red zone" should start at?

Thanks again.

Eric-KE5DTO

We set the fans to high speed at 70°C.  The radio shuts down at 90°C.  We are measuring the temp on the heatsink which is a good 10°C cooler than the actual transistor temp which is rated up to 120°C if I remember correctly.  Does that help?

Peter K1PGV

Yes!  Helpful, informative, and very useful.  Thanks VERY much.