PicoTuner Firmware Release

[g4eml]

I have just released V0-10 of the Picotuner Firmware.

This fixes an intermittent crash seen when using the Picotuner on a Portsdown system. It should also improve reliability on Opentuner and Ryde.

The function of the Pico Onboard LED is also changed. It now flashes at about 2 flashes per second to indicate the firmware is alive and running its main loop.

Colin G4EML

[g6hfs]

Colin,

Thanks for the update, great improvement for me.

Brian

[g4eml]

Release V0-11 of the PicoTuner Firmware is now available.

This fixes the bug found last night on the BATC QO-100 Net where a signal at 333kS FEC 1/3 was not being decoded.
This was due to the USB transfer timing out due to the low data rate of the transmission. This caused blank USB packets to be inserted in the TS causing corruption.
The USB timeout value has now been increased so that this no longer happens.

Tested working on both OpenTuner and Portsdown at settings down to 125kS FEC 1/4

I did a direct comparison between an FTDI minitiouner and the PicoTuner and the behaviour is now identical.

The new firmware also has additional code which may help with the occasion USB lockups seen when receiving using Portsdown. These lockups appear to be a known issue (Errata E15) with the RP2040 chip used in the Pico, the firmware now has the recommended work around for this problem.
As part of this work around the flashing LED on the Pico is now driven from USB Start of Frame messages. So it will stop flashing if the USB hardware locks up.


Colin G4EML

[g6hfs]

Hi Colin,

Thanks 125k I confirm working here.

Brian

[g4eml]

I did some more testing of the PicoTuner today on QO100 and successfully managed to receive some 66kS 8PSK signals using OpenTuner. As always 66kS is tricky to receive and takes some time to lock but it does appear to work.

Colin G4EML

[ON1AVO]

Colin, EML;

I'm using OT v0.A USB Picotuner but after a while the PC USB port displays a crash report; USB device created a fault, something like that.
Trying other PC USB ports, no luck. Only a complete restart of the PC cures this USB problem.
Another test, I also tried the USB Picotuner on a Portsdown 4 with the same result after a certain time, USB problem message on the top of the 7" PI screen.
by g4eml » Fri Apr 05, 2024 "The new firmware also has additional code which may help with the occasion USB lockups seen when receiving using Portsdown. These lockups appear to be a known issue (Errata E15) with the RP2040 chip used in the Pico, the firmware now has the recommended work around for this problem."

I'm using the w5100s-evb-pico FW v0-11and remote 12V powering.

Have other PicoTuner users encounterd a similar problem?

73 de ON1AVO
Freddy

[g8lce]

I have been having problems with the Picotuner and Portsdown 4 for a while now. I found that it locked up after a minute or two when looking for a signal. When looking at a signal it seemed fine. It took a while to find the reason but eventually found that it worked well with Portsdown firmware 202404271 but not newer firmware (ie 202405070 ). Both firmware versions worked with the Minitiouner.
So it is the Portsdown 4 that seems to be the problem.

Martin G8LCE

[g6hfs]

I have had no problems with the picotuner rev1 pcb on portsdown 4, and the rev3 on pc has worked with no problems, remember usb 2 only supports small usb current, I got round this by using a powered usb port adapter with 1 amp psu, or use the 12v input 1amp, the picotuner takes around 450-550ma on usb so usb 2 may have problems powering it.

Brian

[g8lce]

Brian, what version of the Portsdown 4 software have you got?

Martin G8LCE

[g6hfs]

Hi Martin,

I am using the latest update 202405300, I have never had problems with the last 3 versions.

Brian