background image

LABEL (NR) 

DESCRIPTION 

the XVERTER 
Offset to the LO 
Frequency of it. 
The mcHF 
frequency is 
multiplied by 
this factor 
before the 
offset is added, 
so anything but 
1 will result in 
each Hz in the 
mcHF being 
displayed as 2 
to 10 Hz change 
on display. 

XVTR Offset

 (CONFIG_XVTR_FREQUENCY_OFFSET) 

When 
transverter 
mode is 
enabled, this 
value is added 
to the mcHF 
frequency after 
being multiplied 
with the XVTR 
Offs/Mult. Use 
Step+ to set a 
good step 
width, much less 
turns with the 
dial knob if it is 
set to 1Mhz 

Step Button Swap

 (CONFIG_STEP_SIZE_BUTTON_SWAP) 

If ON, Step- 
behaves like 

Summary of Contents for RS-918SSB

Page 1: ...RS 918SSB HF SDR Transceiver FEBRUARY 15 2018 ...

Page 2: ...Mode Settings MENU_CW 49 Filter Selection MENU_FILTER 51 PA Configuration MENU_POW 53 System Info MENU_SYSINFO 63 Debug Exper Settings MENU_DEBUG 65 Essential Calibration and Setup Steps 67 Touchscreen Setup 67 SWR Power Meter Reverse Forward Orientation 67 PA Power Calibration 68 Basic BIAS Adjustment for mcHF RF Board up to version 0 6 68 TX RF Power Adjustment 69 TX FM And Digital Modes 71 IQ C...

Page 3: ... for programmers 80 WDSP AGC 82 AGC WDSP switch 83 AGC WDSP Mode 84 AGC threshold 84 AGC WDSP Slope 84 AGC Hang enable 85 AGC Hang threshold 85 Fixed gain 85 AGC Attack 86 FreeDV Rx Tx 87 How to operate 87 Theory 87 RTTY RX TX 88 How to operate 88 RTTY TX Experimental 89 Theory 89 CW Decoder 90 Adjustments 91 Theory 92 PSK 93 Keyer functionality 94 How to operate 94 Future improvements 94 Resource...

Page 4: ...e the Speaker Microphone device but no sound is coming from going to the mcHF I have used an experimental firmware with USB Audio before 100 When I start transmitting using CAT TX LED goes on for a very short time and then goes off 100 Linux I can see the dev ttyACM0 device but it still does not work with the programs like fldigi 100 When I use CW L and CAT every frequency change via CAT switches ...

Page 5: ...rmation below applies to the newest daily build So sometimes there may be some differences if you use older firmware releases mcHF UI Element Naming Convention Please note that in mcHF related context are also sometimes other names being used for buttons Names with starting with capital S are the names in the schematic and found on the PCB We do not use these here and do not recommend to use them ...

Page 6: ... audio filter Top line is the upper frequency lower line the characteristic parameter BPF 300 upper frequency LPF 0 upper frequency otherwise width 300 500 for narrow CW filters or center frequency for narrow SSB filters is shown LCD Touchscreen Functions ...

Page 7: ...th no bar shown Left side Waterfall Scop e bar Toggle Waterfall Scope Dua l Toggle normal big size mode visual for spectrum i e no title bar RX TX Works also in big size mode with no bar shown Lower part Waterfall Scop e Tune to the tapped frequency RX Not if tuning frequency is locked in AM and SAM 5khz grid is used Signal Meter Show next measurement RX TX AUD SWR ALC Frequency display three leas...

Page 8: ... Power Box Next TX power level RX TX Short Press Button G3 DSP Box Restart Codec I2S Stream RX Use if you have twin peaks syndrome Left of Band Name Next lower band RX Right of Band Name Next higher band RX Tune Step Size Box Toggle Dynamic Tuning RX Blue box dynamic tuning active Frequency ruler Tune to the tapped frequency Set new Scope Waterfal l size ratio RX ...

Page 9: ...ouching toggles pcb present or not hard coded Key Press Map Based on the current active devel firmware Name of Key s When Short Press Long Press Comment Power Dim LCD Power On Save Config and Power down Power BAND Power down without saving config Power BAND LCD Auto Blank OFF Toggles Blank LCD permanently Power BAND Bootloader DF8OE mcHF is off Update firmware from USB pendrive See this page BAND ...

Page 10: ...ode Select Encoder 2 Value no change via Encoder 2 possible long press toggle between Noise Blanker AGC mode M3 No Menu Encoder 3 Value Switch Line in Channel See below for explanation of line in channel labels M3 Menu Mode Select Encoder 3 Value no change via Encoder 3 possible Switch Line in Channel G1 Changes De Modulation Mode Switches to alternate mode see below ...

Page 11: ...on by Encoder 3 G4 Encoder 3 Filter Selection Active Disables Encoder 3 Filter Selection F1 Toggles Menu Mode Save Config to EEPROM F2 No Menu Snap Carrier Change Meter SWR ALC AUD F2 Menu Prev Menu Page First Menu Page F3 No Menu Toggles Split Mode Toggles Memory Mode F3 Memory Mode Toggles Waterfall Scope Switch to Memory Mode Memory Mode not implemented ...

Page 12: ...req to inactive VFO F4 Menu Mode Reset Menu Item Value to Default F5 Start Stop Tune Disable Enable TX STEP Decrease Tuning Step Temporarily Enable Smaller Step STEP Increase Tuning Step Temporarily Enable Larger Step STEP STEP Un Lock Frequency Change BAND BAND Toggle Scope Waterfall POWER BAND Autodimm Active Turn Display On Off ...

Page 13: ...coder 1 M1 Button M1 is used to select the following settings values with a short press Change these values using Encoder 1 The actively controlled value is typically indicated using a yellow box background Label Name When Comment AFG AF Gain RX Audio Volume for Speaker or Headphone STG Side tone Gain TX in CW Controls volume of control tone if in CW mode CMP Audio Compressor TX in Voice Controls ...

Page 14: ...nt AGC AGC thresh RX NB AGC Noise Blanker or AGC mode RX PEAK Peak Filter RX NOTCH Notch Filter RX NR Noise Reduction RX BAS Bass RX TX RX and TX have independent settings TRB Treble RX TX RX and TX have independent settings Encoder 3 M3 Button M3 is used to select the following settings values with a short press Change these values using Encoder 3 The actively controlled value is typically indica...

Page 15: ...rom HDSDR Do not send normal audio USB Audio sent to PC is also IQ WPM Words Per Minute TX in CW CW Keyer Setting G1 Mode Switch 1 3 1 A short press cycles through all enabled de modulation modes SSB CW AM FM SAM DIG Each band has at least one mode which is always available For all HF bands at least one SSB mode for 10m in addition to SSB also FM if USB LSB Autos elect is on Which SSB bands are in...

Page 16: ...L SAM U AM CW L CW U DI L DI U FM W FM N Color and Blink Codes of the LEDs Explained State Green Led Red Led Boot Steady Steady RX Steady Off or Blinking if CW Decoder on and carrier detected TX Off Steady Low Battery Voltage only if shutdown enabled Blinking RX with CW Decoder on On when CW carrier not related to other led s state can be any state On Off Blinking ...

Page 17: ...lor Meaning White Normal operation device tuned to frequency Yellow Outside specifications of the local oscillator chip Si570 but still usable frequency Orange Non tunable frequency transmit disabled LO operates at last valid frequency Red Communication to local oscillator not working probably I2C issue or RF Si570 board connection faulty ...

Page 18: ...to operate the mcHF The Chinese translate at here Also available as PDF and SVG The SVG is the source document and is maintained using Inkscape This image shown above is part of the Github source and always shows the current development version from the active devel branch our main development branch ...

Page 19: ...Each release will contain the matching document in its zip tar source code archive from version 1 5 5 See the releases ...

Page 20: ...se in the menu item help See below for the link to the item help The menu items typically change settings of the mcHF To store configuration changes permanently press and hold the Menu button until the message Saving appears Settings are also stored if you turn off the machine by press and hold of Power Off To prevent saving changes at power off you can turn off by press and hold of Band and Power...

Page 21: ...tton CW Mode MENU_CW_DISABLE Disable appearance of CW mode when pressing Mode button AM Mode MENU_AM_DISABLE Disable appearance of AM mode when pressing Mode button SyncAM Mode MENU_DEMOD_SAM Disable appearance of SyncAM modes when pressing Mode button SAM PLL locking range MENU_SAM_PLL_LOCKING_RANGE SAM PLL Locking Range in Hz this determines how far up and down from the carrier frequency of an A...

Page 22: ...STABLE SAM PLL set Step response and PLL bandwidth to small values eg 30 100 SAM Fade Leveler MENU_SAM_FADE_LEVELER Fade leveler in AM SAM mode ON OFF Fade leveler is helpful in situations with very fast QSB of the carrier flutter It is designed to remove the rapidly changing carrier and replace it with a more stable carrier If there is no QSB on the carrier there is no change FM Mode MENU_FM_MODE...

Page 23: ...RX TX AGC WDSP Mode MENU_AGC_WDSP_MODE Choose a bundle of preset AGC parameters for the WDSP AGC FAST MED SLOW LONG very LONG or switch OFF the AGC AGC WDSP Slope MENU_AGC_WDSP_SLOPE Slope of the AGC is the difference between the loudest signal and the quietest signal after the AGC action has taken place Given in db AGC WDSP Decay MENU_AGC_WDSP_TAU_DECAY Time constant for the AGC decay speed of re...

Page 24: ...ithout disturbing noise because of fast acting AGC AGC WDSP Hang time MENU_AGC_WDSP_HANG_TIME Hang AGC hang time is the time period over which the AGC gain is held constant when in AGC Hang mode After this period the gain is increased fast AGC WDSP Hang threshold MENU_AGC_WDSP_HANG_THRESH Threshold for the Hang AGC Hang AGC is useful for medium to strong signals The Hang threshold determines the s...

Page 25: ...eatures Mic Input Gain MENU_MIC_GAIN Microphone gain Also changeable via Encoder 3 if Microphone is selected as Input Line Input Gain MENU_LINE_GAIN Line IN gain Also changeable via Encoder 3 if Line IN Left L L or Line IN Right L R is selected as Input TX Audio Compress MENU_TX_COMPRESSION_LEVEL Control the TX audio compressor Higher values give more compression Set to CUSTOM for user defined com...

Page 26: ...geable using Encoder 2 if Noise Blanker is active DSP NR Strength MENU_DSP_NR_STRENGTH Set the Noise Reduction Strength Higher values mean more aggressive noise reduction but also higher CPU load Use with extreme care Also changeable using Encoder 2 if DSP is active TCXO Off On Stop MENU_TCXO_MODE The software TCXO can be turned ON set frequency is adjusted so that generated frequency matches the ...

Page 27: ...s only in RX Restore Config MENU_RESTORE_CONFIG Restore your I2C Configuration from flash If you don t have suitable I2C EEPROM installed this function is not available Configuration Menu MENU_CONF LABEL NR DESCRIPTION Save Out Of Band Freq CONFIG_FREQ_MEM_LIMIT_RELAX Select ON to save and restore frequencies which do not fit into the band during configuration saving Power Off or long press on Men...

Page 28: ...CW you will be able to hear a side tone but no transmission is made Menu SW on TX disable CONFIG_AUDIO_MAIN_SCREEN_MENU_SWITCH Control if the screen automatically adapts Encoder value focus when switching between RX and TX TX Mute Lineout CONFIG_MUTE_LINE_OUT_TX During transmission with frequency translation off line out will carry one of the two signal channels Good for CW but not very useful ...

Page 29: ... HF output will be muted for roughly VALUE ms There are now several minimum times for muting defined in the firmware Input from Mic 40ms Input from Line In 40ms Digital Inputs CW USB less than 1ms If the user defined TX Initial Muting Time is set to more than zero the maximum of both fixed input time and user defined time is used Your microphone PTT switch is a ...

Page 30: ...ONFIG_LINEOUT_GAIN Set the constant gain level for the analog lineout jack Key Beep CONFIG_BEEP_ENABLE If ON each keypress will generate a short beep Beep Frequency CONFIG_BEEP_FREQ Set beep frequency in Hz Beep Volume CONFIG_BEEP_VOLUME Set beep volume CAT Running In Sandbox CONFIG_CAT_IN_SANDBOX If On frequency Changes made via CAT will not automatically switch bands and affect the manually ...

Page 31: ...the displayed frequency If OFF it reports the center frequency which is more useful with SDR programs PTT via virtual RTS CONFIG_CAT_PTT_RTS The virtual serial port signal RTS can be used to switch to TX Use with care many CAT able programs also set RTS to aktiv and make the TRX go to TX mode XVTR Offs Mult CONFIG_XVTR_OFFSET_MULT When connecting to a transverter set this to 1 and set ...

Page 32: ... in the mcHF being displayed as 2 to 10 Hz change on display XVTR Offset CONFIG_XVTR_FREQUENCY_OFFSET When transverter mode is enabled this value is added to the mcHF frequency after being multiplied with the XVTR Offs Mult Use Step to set a good step width much less turns with the dial knob if it is set to 1Mhz Step Button Swap CONFIG_STEP_SIZE_BUTTON_SWAP If ON Step behaves like ...

Page 33: ...ART Start using the RTC and use the modified button layout Will reboot your mcHF Please use only if you completed the RTC mod otherwise you will need to disconnect battery and power and reboot to get a working mcHF This menu is only visible if Backup RAM VBat was detected RTC Hour CONFIG_RTC_HOUR Sets the Real Time Clock Hour Needs HW Modifications ...

Page 34: ...CONFIG_RTC_RESET Full Reset of STM32 RTC Can be used to simulate first start with RTC mod completed RTC Calibration CONFIG_RTC_CALIB Sets the Real Time Clock Frequency calibration value in ppm 1s day deviation equals 11 57 ppm deviation Voltmeter Cal CONFIG_VOLTMETER_CALIBRATION Adjusts the displayed value of the voltmeter Low Voltage Threshold CONFIG_LOW_POWER_THRESHOLD Voltage threshold for ...

Page 35: ...nd adjust until both match Or use receive a known reference signal and zero beat it and then adjust More information in the Wiki Pwr Display mW CONFIG_FWD_REV_PWR_DISP Shows the forward and reverse power values in mW can be used to calibrate the SWR meter Pwr Det Null CONFIG_RF_FWD_PWR_NULL Set the forward and reverse power sensors ADC zero power offset This setting is enabled ONLY ...

Page 36: ...V_SENSE_SWAP Exchange the assignment of the Power SWR FWD and REV measurement ADC Use if your power meter does not show anything during TX I2C1 Bus Speed CONFIG_I2C1_SPEED Sets speed of the I2C1 bus Si570 oscillator and MCP9801 temperature sensor Higher speeds provide quicker RX TX switching but may also cause tuning issues red digits Be careful with speeds above 200 kHz ...

Page 37: ...e and power off Speeds above 200 kHz are not recommended for unmodified mcHF Many modified mcHF seem to run with 300kHz without problems RX IQ Auto Correction CONFIG_IQ_AUTO_CORRECTION Receive IQ phase and amplitude imbalance can be automatically adjusted by the mcHF Switch ON OFF here If OFF it takes the following menu values for compensating the imbalance The automatic ...

Page 38: ...N_BAL IQ Balance Adjust for all receive if frequency translation is NOT OFF Requires USB LSB CW mode to be changeable See Wiki Adjustments and Calibration RX IQ Phase 80m CONFIG_80M_RX_IQ_PHASE_BAL IQ Phase Adjust for all receive if frequency translation is NOT OFF Requires USB LSB CW mode to be changeable See Wiki Adjustments and Calibration ...

Page 39: ...iki Adjustments and Calibration RX IQ Phase 10m CONFIG_10M_RX_IQ_PHASE_BAL IQ Phase Adjust for all receive if frequency translation is NOT OFF Requires USB LSB CW mode to be changeable See Wiki Adjustments and Calibration TX IQ Balance 80m CONFIG_80M_TX_IQ_GAIN_BAL IQ Phase Adjust for all transmission if frequency translation is NOT OFF Requires USB or LSB mode to be changeable See ...

Page 40: ...USB or LSB mode to be changeable See Wiki Adjustments and Calibration TX IQ Balance 10m CONFIG_10M_TX_IQ_GAIN_BAL IQ Phase Adjust for all transmission if frequency translation is NOT OFF Requires USB or LSB mode to be changeable See Wiki Adjustments and Calibration TX IQ Phase 10m CONFIG_10M_TX_IQ_PHASE_BAL IQ Phase Adjust for all transmission if frequency translation is NOT OFF ...

Page 41: ...ansmission if frequency translation is OFF See Wiki Adjustments and Calibration TX IQ Phase 80m CW CONFIG_80M_TX_IQ_PHASE_BAL_TRANS_OFF IQ Phase Adjust for CW transmissions and all transmission if frequency translation is OFF See Wiki Adjustments and Calibration TX IQ Balance 10m CW CONFIG_10M_TX_IQ_GAIN_BAL_TRANS_OFF IQ Balance Adjust for CW transmissions and all transmission if frequency transla...

Page 42: ... translation is OFF See Wiki Adjustments and Calibration DSP NR BufLen CONFIG_DSP_NR_DECORRELATOR_BUFFER_LENGTH DSP LMS noise reduction length of the audio buffer that is used for simulation of a reference for the LMS algorithm The longer the buffer the better the performance but this buffer length must always be larger than the number of taps in the FIR filter used Thus a larger buffer ...

Page 43: ... FIR filter The larger the number of taps in the filter the better the performance but the slower the performance of the filter and the mcHF DSP NR Post AGC CONFIG_DSP_NR_POST_AGC_SELECT DSP LMS noise reduction Perform the DSP LMS noise reduction BEFORE or AFTER the AGC NO before AGC YES after AGC DSP Notch ConvRate CONFIG_DSP_NOTCH_CONVERGE_RATE DSP LMS automatic notch filter ...

Page 44: ...r the buffer the better and the slower the performance but this buffer length must always be larger than the number of taps in the FIR filter used Thus a larger buffer and larger FIR filter uses more MCU resources DSP Notch FIRNumTap CONFIG_DSP_NOTCH_FFT_NUMTAPS DSP LMS automatic notch filter Number of taps in the DSP automatic notch FIR filter The larger the number of taps in the filter the bette...

Page 45: ..._DSP_NOTCH_DECORRELATOR_BUFFER_LENGT H DSP LMS automatic notch filter length of the audio buffer that is used for simulation of a reference for the LMS algorithm The longer the buffer the better and the slower the performance but this buffer length must always be larger than the number of taps in the FIR filter used Thus a larger buffer and larger FIR filter uses more MCU resources ...

Page 46: ...etter the performance but the slower the performance of the filter and the mcHF Reset Config EEPROM CONFIG_RESET_SER_EEPROM Clear the EEPROM so that at next start all stored configuration data is reset to the values stored in Flash see Backup Restore Display Menu MENU_DISPLAY LABEL NR DESCRIPTION LCD Auto Blank CONFIG_LCD_AUTO_OFF_MODE After x seconds LCD turns dark and LCD data sections stop So p...

Page 47: ...ndicator bar Spectrum Size MENU_SPECTRUM_SIZE Change height of spectrum display Spectrum Filter MENU_SPECTRUM_FILTER_STRENGTH Lowpass filter for the spectrum FFT Low values fast and nervous spectrum High values slow and calm spectrum Spec FreqScale Colour MENU_SPECTRUM_FREQSCALE_COLOUR Color of the small frequency digits under the spectrum display TX Carrier Colour MENU_SPECTRUM_CENTER_LINE_COLOUR...

Page 48: ...e Colour MENU_SCOPE_TRACE_HL_COLOUR Set color of highlighted BW scope Scope BW BCKgr Colour MENU_SCOPE_BACKGROUND_HL_COLOUR Set color of highlighted BW background Scope Grid Colour MENU_SCOPE_GRID_COLOUR Set color of scope grid Scope Div MENU_SCOPE_DB_DIVISION Set rf range for scope Wfall 1 Speed MENU_WFALL_SPEED Lower Values Higher refresh rate Set to 0 to disable waterfall Wfall Colours MENU_WFA...

Page 49: ...isplay MENU_DBM_DISPLAY RX signal power measured within the filter bandwidth can be displayed in dBm or normalized as dBm Hz This value is supposed to be quite accurate to 3dB Preferably use low spectrum display magnify settings Accuracy is lower for very very weak and very very strong signals dBm calibrate MENU_DBM_CALIBRATE dBm display calibration Just an offset in dB that is added to the intern...

Page 50: ...Iambic A and B Keyer IAM A B Straight Key STR_K and Ultimatic Keyer ULTIM CW Keyer Speed MENU_KEYER_SPEED Keyer Speed for the automatic keyer modes in WpM Also changeable via Encoder 3 if in CW Mode CW Keyer Weight MENU_KEYER_WEIGHT Keyer Dit Pause ratio for the automatic keyer modes Higher values increase length of dit decreases length of pause so that the total time is still according to the set...

Page 51: ...MODE TX display is TX frequency if received frequency was zero beated DISP display is RX frequency if received signal is matched to sidetone SHIFT LO shifts display is RX frequency if signal is matched to sidetone CW LSB USB Select MENU_CW_AUTO_MODE_SELECT Set appropriate sideband mode for CW If AUTO sideband is chosen for bands by its frequency A long press on Mode button gets the other sideband ...

Page 52: ... Enable disable noise canceler for CW decoder Spike cancel MENU_CW_DECODER_SPIKECANCEL Enable disable spike canceler or short cancel for CW decoder AGC for decoder MENU_CW_DECODER_USE_3_GOERTZEL Enable disable AGC for CW decoder show CW LED MENU_CW_DECODER_SHOW_CW_LED Enable disable LED for CW decoder Filter Selection MENU_FILTER LABEL NR DESCRIPTION SSB Filter 1 MENU_FP_SSB_01 Filter bandwidth 1 ...

Page 53: ... toggling with filter select button in CW CW Filter 4 MENU_FP_CW_04 Filter bandwidth 4 when toggling with filter select button in CW AM SAM Filter 1 MENU_FP_AM_01 Filter bandwidth 1 when toggling with filter select button in AM SAM AM SAM Filter 2 MENU_FP_AM_02 Filter bandwidth 2 when toggling with filter select button in AM SAM AM SAM Filter 3 MENU_FP_AM_03 Filter bandwidth 3 when toggling with f...

Page 54: ... or have a fixed power level Tune Tone SSB CONFIG_TUNE_TONE_MODE Select if single tone or two tone is generated during TUNE operation Not persistent CW PA Bias If 0 CONFIG_CW_PA_BIAS If set to a value above 0 this BIAS is used during CW transmission otherwise normal BIAS is used during CW Reduce Power on Low Bands CONFIG_REDUCE_POWER_ON_LOW_BANDS If set recommended frequencies below 8Mhz 40m or lo...

Page 55: ... more information 2200m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_2200M_5W_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve 5W power on this band See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 630m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_630M_5W_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve 5W power on this band See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 160m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_160M_5W_ADJU...

Page 56: ...ation for more information 40m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_40M_5W_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve 5W power on this band See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 30m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_30M_5W_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve 5W power on this band See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 20m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_20M_5W_ADJ...

Page 57: ...ration for more information 12m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_12M_5W_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve 5W power on this band See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 10m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_10M_5W_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve 5W power on this band See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 6m 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_6M_5W_ADJU...

Page 58: ...mation 70cm 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_70CM_5W_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve 5W power on this band See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 23cm 5W PWR Adjust CONFIG_23CM_5W_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve 5W power on this band See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 2200m Full PWR Adjust CONFIG_2200M_FULL_POWER_ADJUS...

Page 59: ...nt factor to achieve full power on this band Check the output signal when adjusting for full power See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 80m Full PWR Adjust CONFIG_80M_FULL_POWER_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve full power on this band Check the output signal when adjusting for full power See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 60m Full PWR A...

Page 60: ... factor to achieve full power on this band Check the output signal when adjusting for full power See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 20m Full PWR Adjust CONFIG_20M_FULL_POWER_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve full power on this band Check the output signal when adjusting for full power See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 17m Full PWR Adj...

Page 61: ...t factor to achieve full power on this band Check the output signal when adjusting for full power See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 10m Full PWR Adjust CONFIG_10M_FULL_POWER_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve full power on this band Check the output signal when adjusting for full power See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 6m Full PWR Adj...

Page 62: ...tor to achieve full power on this band Check the output signal when adjusting for full power See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 70cm Full PWR Adjust CONFIG_70CM_FULL_POWER_ADJUST Defines the internal power adjustment factor to achieve full power on this band Check the output signal when adjusting for full power See Adjustment and Calibration for more information 23cm Full PWR Adju...

Page 63: ...Meter Adjustment factor for the 160m band power values See Wiki 80m Coupling Adj CONFIG_FWD_REV_COUPLING_80M_ADJ Power Meter Adjustment factor for the 80m band power values See Wiki 40m Coupling Adj CONFIG_FWD_REV_COUPLING_40M_ADJ Power Meter Adjustment factor for the 40m and 60m band power values See Wiki 20m Coupling Adj CONFIG_FWD_REV_COUPLING_20M_ADJ Power Meter Adjustment factor for the 20m a...

Page 64: ...d power values See Wiki 23cm Coupling Adj CONFIG_FWD_REV_COUPLING_23CM_ADJ Power Meter Adjustment factor for the 23cm band power values See Wiki System Info MENU_SYSINFO LABEL NR DESCRIPTION Display INFO_DISPLAY Displays working mode SPI parallel Disp Controller INFO_DISPLAY_CTRL identified LCD controller chip SI570 INFO_SI570 Startup frequency and I2C address of local oscillator Type SI570 SI5351...

Page 65: ... present V UHF Mod INFO_VHFUHFMOD VHF UHF bands expansion PCB present Audio Codec Presence INFO_CODEC Audio Codec I2C communication successfully tested This is not a full test of the Audio Codec functionality it only reports if I2C communication reported no problem talking to the codec Backup RAM Battery INFO_VBAT Battery Support for Backup RAM present Real Time Clock INFO_RTC Battery Supported Re...

Page 66: ...T If you tuned in SSB to a CW signal around the sidetone frequency you ll keep that signal when going to CW Even if you switch from USB to CW LSB etc TX Audio via USB MENU_DEBUG_TX_AUDIO If enabled send generated audio to PC during TX FT817 Clone Transmit MENU_DEBUG_CLONEOUT Will in future send out memory data to an FT817 Clone Info to be used with CHIRP FT817 Clone Receive MENU_DEBUG_CLONEIN Will...

Page 67: ...NABLE_STEREO Enable stereo demodulation modes leaky LMS MENU_DEBUG_LEAKY_LMS Use leaky LMS noise reduction instead of built in CMSIS LMS algorithm NR no taps MENU_DEBUG_ANR_TAPS Number of taps of leaky LMS noise reduction NR delay MENU_DEBUG_ANR_DELAY Delay length of leaky LMS noise reduction NR gain MENU_DEBUG_ANR_GAIN Gain of leaky LMS noise reduction NR leak MENU_DEBUG_ANR_LEAK Leak of leaky LM...

Page 68: ...reen connections check if the touchscreen is working correctly using the following procedure Skip this if you don t have the touchscreen connections fitted 1 Touch screen at any point while simultaneously pressing the boot button to start the machine 2 Keep touch screen pressed until screen with calibration information appears 3 Follow the instructions on the following screens which involves calib...

Page 69: ... no actual RF is being produced if everything goes right the mcHF doesn t have to be connected to a dummy load or antenna But to play safe it doesn t hurt and is required for the next calibration steps anyway 2 Connect a microphone or cow paddles to your much 3 Put an amperemeter in the positive power supply line range 2A and switch on mcHF 4 Choose mode LSB or USB the band is not important 5 Make...

Page 70: ...ll not sufficient use 2k2 which provides an increase of 1 2V If these modifications still not get you into the 500mA check the PA transistors again and consider replacing them TX RF Power Adjustment Before this step the PA Bias must be set using the previous steps It is mandatory to connect a dummy load or properly tuned antenna You will need a way to measure the generated RF power Best is to use ...

Page 71: ...Set PA Configuration Menu Tune Tone to Single 3 Set PA Configuration Menu Tune Power Level to either Full or to as TX PWR and change TX power to Full 4 Enter PA Configuration Menu xxm Full PWR Adjust replace xx with your bands10 12 160m You will be able to change the value for a band only if the band is selected 5 Press F5 Tune 6 Make sure you see Full as power indication in the blue TX power box ...

Page 72: ...signal in the mcHF It is not perfectly symmetrical and the phase may not be exactly 90 degrees and or the amplitudes may not be exactly equal In the software domain we can use calibration to reduce correct this problem This requires careful adjustment of IQ phase and gain balance both for the RX and TX signal path The mcHF from version 1 5 7 provides 3 groups of adjustments 2 groups are for receiv...

Page 73: ...ton 3 Set the mcHF frequency to 3 624 000 Hz 4 Start Tune You should now be able to listen to the generated signal on a second receiver LSB Dial Frequency of second receiver 3 625 500 USB 3 624 000 It should have a good strength around S9 5 Tune second receiver to 3 600 000 Hz LSB 6 You should be able to hear a much weaker tone Maybe you have to change the frequency of second receiver 500 Hz for g...

Page 74: ...is because of the settings for frequency of second receiver would differ Why make it complicate if it can be done simply RX IQ Adjustments Valid from 1 5 2 There are two ways to adjust for IQ phase and amplitude imbalances in RX 1 Automatic IQ correction Valid from 1 5 8 Just go into the Configuration Menu and switch RX IQ AUTO CORRECTION to ON Ready to go No more adjustments required This can ach...

Page 75: ...ton If necessary adjust 500Hz for getting tone in reasonable frequency if not right on spot 7 You should be able to hear a much weaker tone 8 Enter the Configuration Menu go to the RX IQ Phase 80m setting 9 Now change the value so that the tone can no longer be heard or is minimal The direction to change values depends on your mcHF e g you may need to set a positive or a negative value 10 Once you...

Page 76: ...ing Pwr Det Null so that the displayed mW power values are flickering between 0 and 2 max Do not go lower than necessary to achieve that 8 In Configuration menu disable Pwr Display mW It will be disabled on next boot in any case Calibrate Power Coupling You will need a good power meter or oscilloscope in order to measure the true power emitted by the mcHF 1 You should have done at least the PA BIA...

Page 77: ...e FM N or FM W 2 Set input to DIG do not connect USB cable Alternatively you may also use any other input mode be sure to have no input signal 3 Connect frequency counter to mcHF Antenna port via attenuator 4 Start Tune 5 Go into the configuration item Frequency Calib Now change the PPM value so that frequency counter displays frequency shown on mcHF display 6 Save configuration by long press on M...

Page 78: ...ncy is displayed in the small frequency display and the small frequency display is stable 4 Go into Configuration menu to Frequency Calib Adjust the PPM value until the small frequency display shows exactly xxxxxx 000 Hz 5 Save configuration by long press on MENU or EXIT button F1 ...

Page 79: ...ove the DSP box tune into a CW station and adjust your frequency so that the little vertical yellow indicator is exactly in the center of the box Done how to use it enable carrier snap in Debug menu entry Do not use cs only use if you are brave enable CW decoder in CW menu adjust CW decoder threshold so that CW station modulates the red LED change Demod_mode to CW for highest frequency estimation ...

Page 80: ...imum FFT magnitude is being searched for bins within the passband as I can use different USB LSB bandwidths in DSB tuning passband tuning mode 2 search for maximum FFT magnitude value in that frequency range 3 coarse tune to that bin delta deltabins binBW 4 interpolate with three point quadratic interpolator equation 4 of Jacobsen Kootsookos 2007 with the three bins in the center of my frequency 5...

Page 81: ...ty accurate to at least 5Hz in the lowest magnify mode 1x and becomes even more accurate with higher magnify modes Jacobsen Kootsookos 2007 Fast accurate frequency estimators IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING MAGAZINE 125 MAY 2007 https www researchgate net publication 3321864_Fast_Accurate_Frequency_Esti mators_DSP_Tips_Tricks Lyons R S 2011 Understanding Digital Signal Processing Prentice Hall 3rd Ed http ...

Page 82: ...s the bin number of the bin with that max magnitude calculate offset to Rx frequency depending on ts cw_lsb CW L or CW U delta1 is first offset in steps of bin_BW delta2 is second offset determined by quadratic interpolation of the three bins maxbin 1 maxbin and maxbin 1 delta2 is always bin_BW delta delta1 delta2 CW L delta delta cw_sidetone_freq CW U delta delta cw_sidetone_freq jump to UiSpectr...

Page 83: ... to your personal preference and your band situation OFF AGC off FAS fast MED medium SLO slow LON long vLO very long the figure is the time constant AGC WDSP DECAY for the AGC given in centiseconds milliseconds 10 that decay time is the time the AGC needs to increase up to maximum sensitivity again thus 100 means 1 second This is predefined for the different AGC modes but can be fine tuned in the ...

Page 84: ...trol AGC requirements of the SDR1000 http www flexradio com downloads vk6aph agc discussion powersdr pdf This paper is excellent fun to read instructive and essential for the full understanding of the functioning and the perfect adjustment for the WDSP AGC Because Phil has explained the AGC so well in his paper I will now restrict myself to the explanation of the menu adjustments of the parameters...

Page 85: ... very large signals and this can potentially lead to distortion in the ADC with large signals There is an AGC indicator a blue box right of the load indicator If it says AGC the input signal level has exceeded the AGC threshold which means AGC action is taking place So it is very easy to adjust the AGC threshold Set AGC WDSP to FAST for faster reaction of the AGC indicator box Set mcHF to a freque...

Page 86: ...edium to strong SSB signals Hang AGC hang threshold and hang time fully adjustable set AGC Hang enable to ON set AGC Hang time to your preferred time period in ms set AGC Hang threshold while you are tuned to the desired signal decrease the AGC hang threshold until the AGC box changes its color to WHITE decrease a little bit further ready AGC box in a nut shell AGC box is blue without text AGC not...

Page 87: ...ery careful with large signals without AGC it can be very very loud AGC Attack This cannot be adjusted by the user and is a constant of 1 millisecond This is desirable because when a large signal appears it is nice to have the AGC react very fast 1ms in reducing the gain in order to save your ears from damage ...

Page 88: ...The blue box should show the desired digital mode o Now switch to digital mode using the Mode button G1 The blue box switches to orange and digital mode is active Implemented modes FreeDV Rx Tx How to operate select digital mode FREEDV as described above bla bla bla Theory FreeDV is a digital voice mode designed for reception and transmission of voice on the HF bands It uses a low bitrate voice co...

Page 89: ...es not help the decoder maybe it helps your ears but the decoder needs relatively wide bandwidth to avoid distortion decoder errors with button M1 change orange focus to box BD with encoder 1 adjust baud rate BD with button M2 change orange focus to box SFT with encoder 2 adjust shift SFT adjust frequency until mark and space frequencies are accurately aligned with the vertical markers if vertical...

Page 90: ...d RTTY mode Hit F1 on keyboard to start TX or press PTT Enter text text is immediately sent out Hit F2 on keyboard to stop TX or press Tune twice You can also enter text before you press F1 it is stored and sent when you start TX Theory RTTY is a simple FSK frequency shift keying mode which transmits digital data at relatively low speeds without error correction We use a simple but apparently quit...

Page 91: ...rk_env noise_floor space_env noise_floor space_env noise_floor lowpass filter v1 with IIR filter with cutoff frequency equal to the baud rate slicing is v1 0 bit is 0 if v1 0 bit is 1 digital PLL bit decoding timing symbol decoder translates bit stream into characters send character to print routine CW Decoder We know that experienced CW operators do not need this feature and will probably also ne...

Page 92: ... you have a narrow filter and a one sideband mode e g 300Hz 700Hz in LSB or CW L Do not combine this with RTTY demodulation mode this will produce garbage Signal threshold Adjust this threshold while checking the red LED until the red LED is modulated with the rhythm of the CW signal you are listening to This adjustment is dependent on the signal strength of your CW station and band and antenna no...

Page 93: ...noise canceling determine whether two consecutive magnitude values are the same pulse space and accepting only when this is true light the red LED when we have a pulse shut off the red LED when we have a space the pulses and spaces and the time length of these pulses and spaces are stored in a ring buffer the ring buffer is used to INITIALIZE the decoder a set of equations from Guenther 1973 is us...

Page 94: ...achine learning algorithms do not perform better than experienced CW operators PSK This is under development See discussion under 1002 and add any opinions or useful links there PSK demodulation works as follows switch demodulation mode to PSK U or PSK L depending on band and or your personal preference use a narrow filter that includes 1000Hz center frequency for example the 500 950Hz filter coar...

Page 95: ...macro Short press on F1 while in recording saves the macro Short press F1 will automatically send the saved macro Touching any paddle will stop sending Label of the button changes to the first word of the macro F4 and F5 are currently reserved for future use Future improvements using the keyer for other digital modes PSK RTTY etc radio stays in TX mode while sending the macro it should return to R...

Page 96: ...hnology Wright Patterson Air Force Base Ohio HERE Arduino Morse code decoder incl C source HERE ZHANG R B HE L G X Y LI 2006 Automatic detection and recognition of Morse signal in strong noise environment HERE WU et al 2010 Design and Implementation of Morse Code Recognition Based on Finite State Machines HERE WANG et al 2016 An Automatic Decoding Method for Morse Signal based on Clustering Algori...

Page 97: ... only can receive IQ data but also transmit e g with HDSDR Bandwidth is limited by the A D conversion and sample rate in the mcHF which is 48khz 16bits per sample All of this requires just a single USB cable which is plugged into the Mini USB port of the mcHF Provided functionalities USB Audio In RX 48kHz sample rate both channels have same signal default signal except in DIQ Digital IQ mode on mc...

Page 98: ... automatically All Windows version from XP on can operate the serial after installation of a special driver information file See below for instructions Programs known to work Programs for controlling the rig All HAMLIB based programs should be able to control the main aspects if the FT 817 is available as choice Baud Rate Communication speed is not relevant To transmit use the CAT PTT option if po...

Page 99: ... is not sending CW in the specified mode Straight Iambic A or B Ultimate If you enable Virtual RTS in the UHSDR menu RTS will switch the TRX to TX and DTR will key the CW signal only in CW mode As long as Virtual RTS is set the TRX will remain in transmission mode ready to transmit Most programs will be able to send CW using the SSB audio mode In this case manual keying with a keyer connected to t...

Page 100: ...dcard receive Linux needs build with MONO HDSDR Windows soundcard receive and transmit rig control via Omnirig Quisk Linux Windows GQRX Linux Installation on Windows XP 8 1 In order to use the virtual serial port Windows needs a driver for this interface In fact it needs only the information which driver to use Windows driver download Windows Vista and newer Run the ST Virtual Com Port VCP driver ...

Page 101: ...ce but it still does not work with the programs like fldigi Most likely a program like modemmanager takes control of your devices Many Linux distributions still install modemmanager by default You can either change the udev rules see here The rule for the mcHF is ATTRS idVendor 0483 ATTRS idProduct 5732 ENV ID_MM_DEVICE_IGNORE 1 You can also uninstall the modemmanager if it is not needed for other...

Page 102: ...e module alsa source device plughw 2 1 load module module alsa sink device plughw 2 0 Here the mcHF is my soundcard number 2 Then in wsjtx select Input alsa_input plughw_2_1 Left Output alsa_output plughw_2_0 Both McHF driver Windows 8 64bit I discovered that Windows 8 64bit and maybe Windows 10 64bit has the driver signature enforcement that permits to install only drivers with Microsoft signatur...

Page 103: ...he F2 is for activating SNAP to carrier function but you can still change the currently used second line meter by long pressing F2 Temporarily picking different built in audio filter By long pressing G4 we can temporarily jump into a list of all built in filters Than we can choose between them by rotating ENC3 To leave this excursion just short press G4 Changing TX modulation input By long pressin...

Page 104: ... dBm 0 22uV in a 300 Hz bandwidth Technical Specifications Because this is a software defined radio and due to ongoing modifications improvements of the software and hardware the specifications continue to improve Receiver sensitivity for 10dB S N CCITT filtering taken at 28 3 MHz Frequency Translation enabled Better than 111 dBm 0 6uV in a 2 3 kHz bandwidth Better than 126 dBm 0 11uV in a 300 Hz ...

Page 105: ...th of 24 kHz 48 kHz total Waterfall Display As with the spectrum scope the frequency is displayed along the x axis but the signal strength is implied by the displayed color The newest signals are displayed along the bottom of the screen but as new readings arrive the representations of the older signals are shifted upwards giving an ephemeral time record of recent activity on nearby frequencies Th...

Page 106: ... tone at 1 5 kHz 10 kHz BW filter 104 0 dBm 1 41uV with 1 kHz tone at 3kHz 12 kHz BW filter 102 7 dBm 1 63uV with 1 kHz tone at 3kHz 15 kHz BW filter 99dBm dBm 2 50uV with 1 kHz tone at 3 kHz CW mode receive transmit and frequency display details Nine modes of CW display shifting are available to emulate the various makes of radios and suit the user s taste ranging from no shifting display only sh...

Page 107: ...e provided via 3 5mm connectors to allow the connection to an external device With these connectors it is possible to interface with an external device a computer or tablet smart phone and operate Sound Card modes with the mcHF such as SSTV PSK31 WSPR and other analog digital modes devel branch only There is CAT function and audio in and out also as IQ in and out via USB available Setting of input...

Page 108: ...fication is performed If this modification is not performed it is recommended that power be disconnected from the transceiver as the PA driver transistors will be biased on even when the power is turned off causing 30 60 mA of standing current With modification RF 04 010 from German mcHF Project Group consumption in power off is 0 5uA 2 Transmit At 13 0 volts power supply At full power around 3A A...

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