CW Skimmer Part2

DonS

I have setup cw skimmer to Softrock in the Radio Tab as suggested. The LO freq is set to 0 In the Audio Tab the Signal I/O Device is set to DAX IQ RX 1 and the Audio I/O Device is set to DAX Audio RX 1. I filled in the info for Operator. In the Network tab I enabled Telnet server port 7310 and I allowed Skimmer commands. When I start Skimmer the window shows -24.00. I figured it would show the frequency I am on or close to it. If I load SDR-Bridge it shows the Slice to be 14.030.490 which is the frequency the 6600 is tuned to and the stream shows 14037.5. I have set the IQ Stream 1 with a sampling rate of 48000. I have blue lights TX Stream, RX Stream 1 (my slice A) and IQ Stream also has a blue light. I also tried using Slice-master and it appears it is not talking to cw skimmer. I thought I would try changing the LO to 14030000 and that worked but does not make sense. Of course if I change bands the frequency remains the same. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Don - kx9q

Erik Carling EI4KF

Follow this Bridge tutorial

http://www.nn4zz.com/Data/NN4ZZ%20CwSkimmer%20Bridge%20setup%2019-Feb-2020.pdf

DonS

I have tried it several times. The issue is that SDR-BRIDGE does not communicate with cw skimmer as noted by the frequency displayed in cw skimmer - -24.00

DonS

I have a similiar issue using slice master not communicating with cw skimmer. I deleted cw skimmer and copied a fresh version from the web site. Perhaps I should remove sdr-brdge and slice-master from the computer, do a reboot and then re-installing the apps and try to if the will connect.

Erik Carling EI4KF

When the frequency cannot be displayed, it can be due to the telnet port being blocked in Firewall or in use by something else. Try changing it is CWS and then match it in Bridge.

DonS

OK, I got it working with SDR-Bridge. I am embarrassed to say that I forgot to enable Skim in Bridge for IQ1. Now I am trying to get CWS to work slice-master but I am not having any success using slice-master with CWS. It is like there is no connection. See attached.

Erik Carling EI4KF

This is why SDC Skimmer is preferable. Not only is it a superior Skimmer, it skims in other modes and most importantly it interfaces directly with the Flex API and does not need other external software like Bridge or SM.

With SM, I think (but it is hard to be accurate at a distance) that SM has not been allowed to automatically make the correct settings for CWS.

Ensure that in C:\Users\computer-name\AppData\Roaming\Afreet\Products that any CwSkimmer_Slice-A folder is not present. If it is, with CWS closed, delete it. Ensure that CWS is installed in its default directory. With CWS still closed, launch SM and on the Launch tab, enable CWS by setting Launch to 'By mode' .

With the radio in CW mode, either immediately or on the next SM start, the CWS program should start with its settings configured and be working normally.

Slice Master has configuration files at C:\Users\computer-name\AppData\Local\K1DBO\slice-master where you can check config.ini and Slice-A (slice specific ini file) for troubleshooting purposes.

DonS

Hi Erik

I was not successful getting slice-master to work with cw-skimmer, it cw-skimmer does work SDR-Bridge so I will play around with slice-master later. It still appears slicemaster is not talking to cw-skimmer. Can I set up cw skimmer as a stand alone in other words without slice master or sdr-bridge? It doesn't seem to work for me as a stand alone. I tried following N4ZR 's tutorial but it was written for non flex devices. Any thoughts? Thanks for the information

Erik Carling EI4KF

The issue with CWS is that, unlike SDC Skimmer, it is not Flex aware and has no native method of receiving the IQ stream. SDR devices can work with CWS using virtual audio cable but Bridge or SM are by far preferable for Flex integration. It took me less than 5 minutes in install and set SM to work with CWS, which I mention only to highlight that something simple has faulted in your set up.

Mike from Flex is the guru when it comes to CWS / SM. I have not viewed this but it may be beneficial to watch his YT video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydTfqOkjafs

DonS

As a follow up I was finally able to slice master to work with cw skimmer. After communicating with Don - K1DBO - he suggested changing the sound card driver. In my case CWS was using WDM so I selected MME and everything worked. He added if it is set to MME initially and it doesn't work switch it do WDM. I also downloaded SDC Skimmer which works pretty well. First starting out was overwhelming, however, after I enabled only what I needed and disabled the rest it was easy to follow and get the program running.

Don - kx9q

Mike-VA3MW

Have you tried SDC Skimmer yet?

DonS

I tried it out over the weekend. I had no issues with a single active slice, however, I ran into some issues when I tried setting up multiple slices. I will try it again in several days.