TeensyMaestro

Lasse SM5GLC

Len,

I'm a CW guy 99.9% and yes I use 10 Hz tuning for CW, and 100 Hz those odd moments I try the mic. Reason for mention the 50 Hz, was one way of increase the tuning speed, even if it a bit too much when trying to zero beat.

KD0RC

Ah, ok I understand. I am making good progress on the user adjustable acceleration factor and should have something for you to test soon.

Thanks again for your testing and suggestions!

Lasse SM5GLC

Len,

I just did some further testing (after reading our postings from november last year). If I tune very slowly using 10 Hz step, I can acheive ~1.5 kHz /rev and spiining the knob fast with the VFO acceleration on I still have 1-1.5 kH/rev, but have the acceleration set OFF, this may give something like 100-200 Hz/rev i.e. a total waste of turning VFO-knob fast.

So you have really improved the usability! But I am confident you can easily speed up 2x or even 3-4 times from what you have now. Guess we have to test and try it out before one can say it's good enough 😀

I hope you understand my rambling, or I'll try express myself more clearly.

73

Lasse SM5GLC

KD0RC

OK, here is V 1.045 Beta 2. It allows changing the acceleration factor using the last item on the Misc Menu. The lower the number, the faster the acceleration. The default of 2000 is not settable yet, but I will add it to the MMConfig.ini file soon so that you can have it default to whatever you want.

The faster you have it go, the more suddenly it takes off. I am thinking of ways to smooth that out, but for now, this might work. Try an acceleration factor of 1000 and see if that makes it better. I allow it to go down to 100, but at this rate, it is very hard to control. On the high end, it can go to 20000, but that is pretty much like having no acceleration at all.

Give it a shot and let me know if this is an improvement.

TeensyMaestroPlusKeyerV001.045 Beta 2.ino.zip

KD0RC

1.045 Beta 3 is ready

TeensyMaestroPlusKeyerV001.045 Beta 3.ino.zip

*****************************V 1.045 **************************** 
Added VFO tuning acceleration  
Added tuning acceleration on/off to the MMConfig.ini file  
Added tuning acceleration on/off to the Misc Menu  
Added acceleration factor adjustment to the Misc Menu  
Added acceleration factor to the MMConfig.ini file

The acceleration factor can now be set in the MMConfig.ini file. I am currently using 1500 for both SSB and CW. I will be getting on 40 CW this evening to see if I really want the same factor for both or if I need to make the factor settable by mode.

Lasse SM5GLC

Len,

I've been playing with the acceleration factor and for me, using CW and 10 Hz step, I find a acceleration setting at 800 seems to be a sweet spot. Faster means I overshoot when tuning, and less means slower tuning. It also depends on how wide I have the panafall, as if I "watch" wide part of the band I like to tune faster and with less spectrum slower tuning is better. So 800 seems to be ok as an average.

Good job indeed! A big thanks for this new feature!

73

Lasse SM5GLC

Lasse SM5GLC

I notice 800 setting is too fast when using SSB i.e. 50 Hz tuning step. So do look into have two settings in the config file if possible, one for tuning-steps <50 Hz and one for 50 Hz and larger.

73

Lasse SM5GLC

KD0RC

Hi Lasse, 800 is my sweet spot for CW as well! I like double that for SSB, but most of my testing last night was with the 160 meter CW contest, so I have to get more experience with SSB.

I will think about how to scale the acceleration better based on step size.

Thanks again for all of your insights, they really help!

KD0RC

OK Lasse, here is the latest… Try a VFO Acceleration Factor of 2400. I scaled it down by a factor of 3 for a step size of less than 50. This seems to be a good value for SSB and for CW, at least for me. Let me know if this is a reasonable set of rates for your operation.

I will be playing with it over the next week or so, and if it seems good, I will go ahead and publish. If it needs a bit more tweaking, I may put out some more beta versions here first.

TeensyMaestroPlusKeyerV001.045 Beta 4.ino.zip

Lasse SM5GLC

Testing Beta4, and initial feeling is OK. Slight "overshoot", not bad at all. Mainly tested with 10 Hz step, and just had a quick look at 50/100 Hz.

Not sure if you are using varable rate i.e. adjust depending on how fast the VFO is acually spinning or if you have a "hard threshold". I find my self having slight overshoot when looking at the spectrum and tuning, and seems to jump past the wanted signal, when slowing down. Understand the timing problems as the frequency commands not easily matched against the spectrum display, but maybe you can do some adjustment on the start/stop timing of incorporating the acceleration, i.e. invoke acceleration a tad faster but mainly start a bit sooner the deacceleration (start slower tune faster) .

This is really fine-tuning, I can easily live with how it behaves now! And I didn't even bother to play with other than 2400 setting in config.

Bands are pretty lousy right now so not many signals to tune into.

73

Lasse SM5GLC

KD0RC

Hi Lasse, I am using a variable rate. In this version, I take an encoder count over the course of 2 ms instead of 5 ms to help make it less aggressive and more responsive to velocity changes. I do change the acceleration based on velocity. The only hard threshold is when to start the acceleration. I use a "dead zone" at lower velocities to keep the acceleration off so that fine tuning is easier.

Try moving the Acceleration Factor up from 2400 up to 3000 to see if that helps the overshoot. I am trying that now, and so far, it might be the sweet spot for both SSB and CW.

Lasse SM5GLC

Len,

did some testing, despite the awful band propagation 🤣 it seems 2800 might be a sweet spot for me. But as the "overshoot" is tightly coupled to what BW is in use. I often find my self with very narrow filters to reduce noise, and of course it makes tuning a lot harder. Widening to 500Hz or even 1kHz and things are a lot better.

One thing I need change is the tuning knob for somthing bigger and a bit heavier, that would give a lot better feel while tuning.

73

Lasse SM5GLC

KD0RC

Hi Lasse, I like narrow filters too. I found that in testing, I tend to free spin the knob, but when actually operating, I tend to use the finger dimple. This makes it easier to control for me (less overshoot).

The VFO tuning rate can also be used to fine tune things. I have mine set to 40 for both CW and SSB. I had it set to 20 before, but that was too fast with the new acceleration code. You might want to experiment with that value in MMConfig.ini. The tuning rate will have more impact when the knob slows down, so a higher value may help with overshoot while not affecting faster tuning much.

Now that I have some more actual operating under my belt, I find that I use the VFO controls more than I used to, but my overall methods haven't changed much. I still use the mouse to click on spots or signals, then fine tune with the mouse wheel. When the band is crowded or during contests, I often use the TeensyMaestro VFO knobs to scan up and down looking for contacts. With the new acceleration, this works much better.

Lasse SM5GLC

Len, I was a heavy user of Maestro, but was forced to turn to SSDR on my PC after a major disaster with the Maestro which took several years to fix. Now I find myself often prefere to click with mouse and use the mouse wheel to fine tune. Use my Maestro every now and then but somehow it lost some of its initial charm.

The TeensyMaestro is super handy to adjust volume/AGC-T and BW on the fly, and also CW speed. I find it so much faster than use the mouse and try to pin-point the correct spot. All-in-all I find no desire to get a M-model, as the choices I have now meets my needs and then some.

Really glad you got the project this far, I made some false starts starting to collect parts after reading about IW7DMH project.

73

Lasse SM5GLC

KD0RC

Interesting! I use my TeensyMaestro pretty much the same way. Volume, Mute button, AGC-T, High Cut and CW speed get the most action. After that it is RIT, NR and VFO.

This project also started with me trying to replicate Enzo's (IW7DMH) project. When I couldn't get some of the parts, I realized that I would need to roll my own. Fortunately, Enzo built a fantastic library of functions for the Flex API using Arduino. The small hop from Arduino to Teensy made this project viable.

Thanks for all of your suggestions and help in testing. The project is much better for it!

Anyone else out there working on a TeensyMaestro (or thinking about it)? If you are struggling with the build, let me know, I have helped several people using Zoom.

KD0RC

TeensyMaestro V1.045 is now available on GitHub:

https://github.com/KD0RC/Teensy-Maestro-for-Flex-6000-radios/releases/tag/V1.045

*****************************V 1.045 ****************************


  Added VFO tuning acceleration

  Added tuning acceleration on/off to the MMConfig.ini file

  Added tuning acceleration on/off to the Misc Menu

  Added acceleration factor adjustment to the Misc Menu

  Added acceleration factor to the MMConfig.ini file

Add these two lines to MMConfig.ini and change them to your preferences:

VFO Acceleration: ON	; ON, OFF	Default is ON

VFO Acceleration Factor: 3000  ; Default = 3000  Smaller is higher acceleration

The Misc Menu has these two parameters as the last two items so that you can experiment with different values without editing the MMConfig.ini file.

I have been using this since December, and like how it works. I still do a lot of tuning using the mouse and mouse wheel, but I find that I use the tuning knob much more often now.

Thanks to Lasse, SM5GLC for testing this new feature and for some great suggestions!

NZ0P

I'm putting together a digikey order to slowly start building a unit from Lasse's (SM5GLC) PCB design.

Short of walking through 15 pages of discussion here, does anyone have feedback on the following:

1. He notes that inductors (which provide a vendor & family, but not a value) are probably only needed for his switching regulator replacement for the 7805. Does anyone know the value of inductors or a part number? I see "100" on the inductor, is that 1uH? 1nH?

2. Does anyone know the "drop in replacement" switching for the 7805 he is recommending?

3. Q1 and Q2 are both NPN BJTs on the J7 key input, are they just in parallel so you can select either the SOT23-3 pkg or the TO-92? But don't install both?

4. I do not see a BC547 in a TO-92 pkg available. Digikey recommends a 2N5232A or BC550CBU as replacements, any feedback on those? Would a 2N2222 work in the same place?

KD0RC

My recommendation is to power the unit from USB. The same cable that you use to program the unit can be used to power it.

If you decide to power it from another source, you will need to cut the Vin trace (tiny trace between the two pads) on the Teensy board to prevent damage. The PJRC website warns of potential damage to computer USB ports if external power is applied and this trace is not cut.

Once cut, you will be able to provide external power, but you will no longer be able to power it from the USB cable. Programming will work normally. When making the cut, be very careful - this is a 4-layer board and there is a trace right below the one to be cut. I would use more of a scraping action than cutting to avoid damaging the lower traces.

I don't know why there are two keying transistors. I think that if I were to do it again, I would make that an opto-isolator instead of an NPN like I used in my design.

Best of luck with your project!

Neil D Friedman N3DF

I do not have the technical expertise to construct a TeensyMaestro (attorney/CPA). Even my Heathkits had to go back to the factory before they worked. I am extremely envious of those with the ability to construct one.

KD0RC

Hi Neil, well this is a little harder than a Heathkit, but not much. Like most of the old Heathkits, this uses all point-to-point wiring (unless you elect to use Lasse's PC board). Heath was famous for their detailed, step by step instructions. With the TeensyMaestro, you get a schematic, Bill Of Materials and a Builder's Guide. I have helped several builders using TeamViewer or Zoom, so help is available to those who need it.

While not a beginner project, it is not advanced either. It is not a difficult project but can be a bit tedious to solder all of the connections. For me, the hardest part of the build was the front panel.

NZ0P

@KD0RC I received my Teensy today, soldered on the ethernet headers, and flashed the firmware (with no other devices connected).

It booted up cleanly and when connected to my network, it sees discovery packets from the radio and connects!

I am having issues with the SD Card initializing though. It is a 16GB microsd card, flashed with FAT32 and loaded with the MMConfig.ini. In the Serial console I see "SD initialization failed!" which I can see in Config_File.ino means the SD card did not initialize
I also tried to delete the 16GB partition and create a 4GB FAT32 partition and load the file there. No dice.

Unfortunately all of my cheap sd cards are in use on other projects, so I will need to go by microcenter at some point to pick up a new one.
Do you have any other troubleshooting recommendations?

KD0RC

Nice to hear it is (mostly) working! Have you tried re-formatting the SD card? I think that it needs to be one 16 GB FAT32 partition, but it has been a very long time since I formatted mine, so I am not 100% sure.

I have another 32 GB card that I took straight out of the package, and it worked right off. It is one 32 GB FAT32 partition. I think that the default (factory) format is what you need. The smallest card that I tried was an 8 GB card and it worked fine. I seem to remember that I had to do a FAT32 format on that one.

NZ0P

> @KD0RC said:
> Nice to hear it is (mostly) working! Have you tried re-formatting the SD card? I think that it needs to be one 16 GB FAT32 partition, but it has been a very long time since I formatted mine, so I am not 100% sure.
> I have another 32 GB card that I took straight out of the package, and it worked right off. It is one 32 GB FAT32 partition. I think that the default (factory) format is what you need. The smallest card that I tried was an 8 GB card and it worked fine. I seem to remember that I had to do a FAT32 format on that one.

You just made me think about the "SD Card Formatter" app. I reformatted with that tool instead of Windows explorer's Format util. Worked!

SD initialization success.
MMConfig.ini
; TeensyMaestro MMConfig.ini file
; Comments start with a semi colon
; See the TeensyMaestro User Manual for more information about these parameters

MyCall: NZ0P ; Probably want your own call here...

NZ0P

https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/sd-memory-card-formatter-for-windows-download/

KD0RC

Excellent! Even without any additional hardware, your TeensyMaestro will be able to do out of band notifications and post "permanent" spots. It is all controlled by the data in the MMConfig.ini file.

NZ0P

@KD0RC I'm sure its in the user manual or build guide somewhere but I figured I get a quick answer here as well

Does the PTT switch input key up the radio over the ethernet API or does it toggle the key output on board?

Similarly do the CW keyer features work over Ethernet or are they depending on the key output being physically wired to the radio?

My flex is remote in a storeroom, I'm trying to decide how many buttons to buy.

KD0RC

The PTT switch keys the rig over the Ethernet cable using the API.

CW is keyed based on an MMConfig.ini parameter:

Keyer Out: Local ; Local or Ethernet

This can be overridden using the last menu item in the CW Menu, Keyer Output:, and can be set to LOCAL or ETHERNET.

If set to Ethernet, either with the MMConfig entry or by using the menu item, you will lose sidetone from the rig. You can control the TeensyMaestro side tone with the following MMConfig.ini entries:

CW Msg Source: Teensy  ;Teensy or Flex

CW Paddles: Right ;Right or Left

CW Mode: B ; A, B, C, S, U  ; A = Iambic A, B = Iambic B, C = Cootie Key (Sideswiper), S = Semi-automatic Bug, U = Ultimatic

CW Sidetone: ON  ; ON, OFF

CW Sidetone Freq: 800


Keyer Out: Local  ; Local or Ethernet

These are all available to change on-the-fly using the CW Menu.

If you use the Local option, then the rig is keyed from the KeyOut line (Pin 33) on the Teensy board. Be sure to use a transistor switch or opto-isolator to key the rig. I show a 2N3904 NPN switching transistor, but if I were to do it over, I think I would use an opto-isolator.

The sidetone in the TeensyMaestro is not particularly loud, so you may want to include a small audio amp to make it a bit more usable. I have been meaning to add one ever since I built it, but due to a bad case of laziness, I haven't done it yet.

If you never want to key the rig directly, you can leave out the Radio Key Line circuitry (jack, cap, transistor and resistor). My tendency is to include them for more flexibility down the road.

So for your described use case, you probably want the Ethernet option along with the PTT button and the six CW message buttons. They can be configured to trigger the Flex memories or the Teensy memories. Using the menu, you can switch back and forth.

I would temporarily wire up a key and speaker so that you can try it using the Ethernet option (PTT always uses Ethernet). You can change the speed using the TeensyMaestro CW Speed control or the speed control of SmartSDR.

A quick note on switches. I originally used some VERY cheap buttons. They were unreliable and very frustrating to use. I replaced them all with some better (but not terribly expensive) ones and have not had any problems since.