Can I ask, what is the future of the Portsdown, does the latest only support the LimeSDR as sort of implided in the WIKI. I don't really want to spend another £150 on a Lime when I already have a DATV-express, two BATC portsdown modulators and a Pluto.Have I been the early adopter of all the wrong hardware?
Thanks
Terry
Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
Hi Terry
I don't think that you have backed the wrong horse, but horses do grow old and user expectations change.
My biggest problem is that I do not have the time (and, I must admit, the enthusiasm) to test and document each new Portsdown version with all the legacy hardware.
However, in the R&D department of my bench, I have a Langstone transceiver using a RPi 4, 7 inch screen and a Pluto. This provides SSB, FM and AM transceive capability (when the appropriate PAs, filters and Preamps are added) for all bands from 70 MHz to 5.7 GHz. I have modified the Portsdown code to run on the same hardware, and the receiver using a MiniTiouner is very impressive. In fact I used it for all of my viewing of the QO-100 net last week - far easier than a Windows PC. I have since connected a LimeSDR to the system and it seems to transmit OK. I know that the filter-modulator will not work with the RPi 4 (as there are changes to the device tree that would need a lot of research to fix), but I would expect DATV Express to work OK.
At the extreme R&D end, I was testing a LimeSDR-based SSB receiver on the same hardware last night, and I think that it MIGHT be possible to drive the Pluto in the unit to transmit DATV (no promises at all!). BUT the image quality will be the same as a normal Portsdown - you will never achieve the H265 encoding that you see on QO-100 from stations heating their shacks with powerful NVidia graphics cards.
Or I could just say that you have all the right hardware for DVB-S, but you'll need to buy a Lime if you want DVB-S2 in the next 6 months. I'm heartened to see that this is more or less what I said in CQ-TV 262 over a year ago.
Hope that helps
Dave
I don't think that you have backed the wrong horse, but horses do grow old and user expectations change.
My biggest problem is that I do not have the time (and, I must admit, the enthusiasm) to test and document each new Portsdown version with all the legacy hardware.
- Portsdown Jessie supported the 3.5 inch screen and the Filter-modulator board, DATV Express and DTX-1 with DVB-S. If you bolted the lid on back in late 2017, it still works.
- Portsdown Stretch supported the 3.5 and 7 inch screens, Filter-modulator board and DATV Express with DVB-S, and also the LimeSDR with DVB-S and DVB-S2. Again, that will still work, although the operating system is getting a bit old to be DIRECTLY connected to the internet and be considered secure. There is nothing that I can do about this - it's a fact of modern life. The risk on a home LAN is minimal.
- Portsdown Buster supports the 3.5 and 7 inch screens (although it is optimised for the 7 inch), it should support the filter-modulator board (untested) and it does support DATV Express for DVB-S. It also supports the LimeSDR in normal and DVB gateware modes for DVB-S and DVB-S2.
- Portsdown Stretch and Buster both have very capable receive capabilities when used with the MiniTiouner.
However, in the R&D department of my bench, I have a Langstone transceiver using a RPi 4, 7 inch screen and a Pluto. This provides SSB, FM and AM transceive capability (when the appropriate PAs, filters and Preamps are added) for all bands from 70 MHz to 5.7 GHz. I have modified the Portsdown code to run on the same hardware, and the receiver using a MiniTiouner is very impressive. In fact I used it for all of my viewing of the QO-100 net last week - far easier than a Windows PC. I have since connected a LimeSDR to the system and it seems to transmit OK. I know that the filter-modulator will not work with the RPi 4 (as there are changes to the device tree that would need a lot of research to fix), but I would expect DATV Express to work OK.
At the extreme R&D end, I was testing a LimeSDR-based SSB receiver on the same hardware last night, and I think that it MIGHT be possible to drive the Pluto in the unit to transmit DATV (no promises at all!). BUT the image quality will be the same as a normal Portsdown - you will never achieve the H265 encoding that you see on QO-100 from stations heating their shacks with powerful NVidia graphics cards.
Or I could just say that you have all the right hardware for DVB-S, but you'll need to buy a Lime if you want DVB-S2 in the next 6 months. I'm heartened to see that this is more or less what I said in CQ-TV 262 over a year ago.
Hope that helps
Dave
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
The Forum is full of Longmynd, Jetson Nano, Langstone, Pluto and Ryde projects.
I don't understand any of the computer program stuff.
When I eventually get on the air I will be happy with the Portsdown providing the problem with the TS dropout affecting the left hand aac audio can be sorted out.
regards Roger.
I don't understand any of the computer program stuff.
When I eventually get on the air I will be happy with the Portsdown providing the problem with the TS dropout affecting the left hand aac audio can be sorted out.
regards Roger.
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
Hi Roger
The forum is where all the development stuff is discussed, so will be cutting edge or, more often, bleeding edge. It's an essential phase in the development process, but is not intended to push the majority of ATV operators into using those development builds.
All the info about a conventional (just build it and it will work) Portsdown is on the Wiki. Start here: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_2020. You can buy the SD Card pre-programmed from the BATC shop and just plug the modules together. No computer knowledge required.
Please could you give me more detail about the "problem with the TS dropout affecting the left hand aac audio " on the Portsdown? Not sure that I am aware of that specific problem.
Thanks
Dave
The forum is where all the development stuff is discussed, so will be cutting edge or, more often, bleeding edge. It's an essential phase in the development process, but is not intended to push the majority of ATV operators into using those development builds.
All the info about a conventional (just build it and it will work) Portsdown is on the Wiki. Start here: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_2020. You can buy the SD Card pre-programmed from the BATC shop and just plug the modules together. No computer knowledge required.
Please could you give me more detail about the "problem with the TS dropout affecting the left hand aac audio " on the Portsdown? Not sure that I am aware of that specific problem.
Thanks
Dave
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
Hi Dave, thanks for the explaination.
The short and the long of it is that I have indeed gone down the wrong route. I remember going to CAT18 and all the talk was about the Pluto and all the possibilities that it offered, so I ordered one and spent 6 months waiting for it to be delivered, only to find that basically I have indeed bought the wrong device.
Unlike some people I can't afford to keep shelling out on new hardware.
The short and the long of it is that I have indeed gone down the wrong route. I remember going to CAT18 and all the talk was about the Pluto and all the possibilities that it offered, so I ordered one and spent 6 months waiting for it to be delivered, only to find that basically I have indeed bought the wrong device.
Unlike some people I can't afford to keep shelling out on new hardware.
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
Hi Terry
I did forget to mention that you can use the both the DATV Express and the Pluto for DVB-S2 transmissions when driven by the Windows DATV Express software, so you do have a DVB-S2 capability.
There is no one correct route for hardware - it all depends on what you want to do.
In the Portsdown context, I recommended the LimeSDR at CAT 18. At that time I had a Pluto sat at home on the shelf and had not found anything useful to do with it. I finally took it out of its box 3 months ago and am investigating whether it can be driven by Portsdown, but can't make any promises.
Dave
I did forget to mention that you can use the both the DATV Express and the Pluto for DVB-S2 transmissions when driven by the Windows DATV Express software, so you do have a DVB-S2 capability.
There is no one correct route for hardware - it all depends on what you want to do.
In the Portsdown context, I recommended the LimeSDR at CAT 18. At that time I had a Pluto sat at home on the shelf and had not found anything useful to do with it. I finally took it out of its box 3 months ago and am investigating whether it can be driven by Portsdown, but can't make any promises.
Dave
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
I don't understand this - the Pluto is incredibly flexible and you can drive it with a PC running Linux or Windows or even a mobile phone. You backed the right horse with the Pluto.g6crf wrote: ↑Mon May 25, 2020 11:02 amHi Dave, thanks for the explaination.
The short and the long of it is that I have indeed gone down the wrong route. I remember going to CAT18 and all the talk was about the Pluto and all the possibilities that it offered, so I ordered one and spent 6 months waiting for it to be delivered, only to find that basically I have indeed bought the wrong device.
Unlike some people I can't afford to keep shelling out on new hardware.
Mike
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
I appologise, people don't seem to understand that what I wanted was a Portsdown system. Pluto support was on the list of things to be done in Daves talk at CAT17 (not CAT18 as I said earlier), and thats what prompted me to buy the Pluto, but somewhere down the line it got dropped and the Lime replaced it, however by that time I had spent the money.
I am fully aware that there are other ways of using the Pluto, but I really would have liked a Portsdown that would do DVB-2 on 2.4GHz for QO-100.
I am fully aware that there are other ways of using the Pluto, but I really would have liked a Portsdown that would do DVB-2 on 2.4GHz for QO-100.
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
I am pretty sure the Portsdown could be made to work with the Pluto, especially using the custom firmware as it only needs an rtmp stream. However Dave doesn’t have the time to develop this.
I have seen some online hints that raspivid and ffmpeg can generate an rtmp stream.
Maybe someone with a good knowledge of both can do some experimenting.
I am tempted to have a look at it but have plenty of other things on my ‘to do’ list.
Colin G4EML.
I have seen some online hints that raspivid and ffmpeg can generate an rtmp stream.
Maybe someone with a good knowledge of both can do some experimenting.
I am tempted to have a look at it but have plenty of other things on my ‘to do’ list.
Colin G4EML.
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radiogareth
- Posts: 1371
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 9:46 am
Re: Have I chosen the wrong horse again?
At the end of the day the whole Portsdown/Longmynd/Langstone family of (and others) project(s) (possibly the best things to do with a RPI) is all done by volunteers. I am hugely grateful for their efforts which allows me to use this software without more than a slight brush with Linux.
The Pluto is hugely usable with an old android mobile phone, free software and an old router (it was published in a CQTV and its on this forum). It doesn't even need a box. My 2018 Portsdown took me 6+ weeks of research, building, fixing and such - all day every day. Then the Lime Mini appeared......lucky for me Dave was able to make the sw talk to a Lime USB - previously bought at great expense and found to be very poorly supported.
Now my portsdown will receive too, via Longmynd. So although its nominally 'dated' its usable with all the latest stuff, just not a Pluto.
Its remains a hugely nice to use and still very useful and usable as a centre for DATV.
Things are moving so fast in the field of SDR and what can be achieved by it I don't think anything will stay static for long. Lockdown has given very creative people time to pursue their interests and we all benefit from whichever part of it we each like.
Its a broad church full of interesting stuff. Your Pluto is also an incredibly versatile test tool using SATSAGEN software (also free). The only thing stopping you using it for any sort of DATV is the desire for Portsdown compatibility. But video does not care where it came from......
Just my humble opinion......
Gareth G4XAT
The Pluto is hugely usable with an old android mobile phone, free software and an old router (it was published in a CQTV and its on this forum). It doesn't even need a box. My 2018 Portsdown took me 6+ weeks of research, building, fixing and such - all day every day. Then the Lime Mini appeared......lucky for me Dave was able to make the sw talk to a Lime USB - previously bought at great expense and found to be very poorly supported.
Now my portsdown will receive too, via Longmynd. So although its nominally 'dated' its usable with all the latest stuff, just not a Pluto.
Its remains a hugely nice to use and still very useful and usable as a centre for DATV.
Things are moving so fast in the field of SDR and what can be achieved by it I don't think anything will stay static for long. Lockdown has given very creative people time to pursue their interests and we all benefit from whichever part of it we each like.
Its a broad church full of interesting stuff. Your Pluto is also an incredibly versatile test tool using SATSAGEN software (also free). The only thing stopping you using it for any sort of DATV is the desire for Portsdown compatibility. But video does not care where it came from......
Just my humble opinion......
Gareth G4XAT