BATC Forum

Posted: **Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:04 pm**

Today, I have published the first build of the Portsdown 4 system which is specifically designed to be used with the Raspberry Pi 4 and the official Raspberry Pi 7 inch touchscreen. No other models of Raspberry Pi or touchscreen are planned to be supported in the near future so please don't ask.

The Portsdown 4 can transmit DATV using a LimeSDR Mini and Receive DATV using a BATC MiniTiouner Mk2. Many of the legacy Portsdown features are also available, but have not been tested yet. The Portsdown 4 does not support the BATC Filter-modulator board or Ugly mode.

It is also compatible with the Langstone Microwave transceiver software, which can be loaded by from touchscreen selections (menu 2) AFTER the Porstdown software has been installed. To operate, the Langstone software needs a Pluto to be connected by USB.

There is experimental support for DATV transmissions from the Pluto using F5OEO's "for the brave" firmware build; currently only working with C920 webcam and test card modes. This is not yet documented.

You MUST start with a fresh build of Raspios Buster (NOT Raspbian), so you will need to rebuild any previous Langstone or Portsdown A27 card.

The build is on GitHub at https://github.com/BritishAmateurTelevi ... portsdown4. Please bear in mind that it is early days for this build and let me know of bugs as you find them in this Forum topic. I will now start writing documentation for the Wiki.

Dave, G8GKQ

Posted: **Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:29 pm**

Great - first time complete fail - I think it was an incompatible SD card, second time fine but the display is upside down for most of the install. Fixes itself after reboot.

Mike

Posted: **Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:06 pm**

Seems to have installed as expected - now the testing begins.
As Mike noted the install screen on the Pi is upside down but correct after the final reboot.

Hardest bit was getting the microSD card out without damaging it. Not helped by the 7" screen ribbon cable.

Thanks to Dave, Colin, and the rest of the team for their hard work behind the scenes.

73

Ian.

Posted: **Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:49 pm**

I have installed Portsdown 4 without a problem followed by an Langstone installation via Menu 2 with success. In menu 3 : "Check for update" tells me "Unable to connect Github for update"
and "Internet connection to Google seems Ok". Once I launch Langstone (with Pluto connected with correct IP address) I am stucked. There is the "Langstone Transceiver Loading" display followed by the langstone GUI limited to squares : VOL / BAND / MODE / SET / DOTS / PTT and nothing else. How to come back to Portsdown from Langstone ?. I had the flash once or twice on the screen so I have to check my PSU (is now 5.1V / 2.5A). What do you recommend with Lime connected and with Lime and Pluto connected ?
Thank you to all involved for this software !
Best 73's
F1FAQ

Posted: **Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:01 pm**

Christian

Congratulations - you have spotted the first Portsdown 4 bug! The update process is broken and I can see why. I will fix it in the next few days.

Do you have a USB audio dongle connected? If you do not, the Langstone will not work.

Dave

Posted: **Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:20 pm**

I have had to order a new display case for my Portsdown 4 I will move the display from my Pi 3 version.

I am going to re-purpose one of my existing Pi 4s for Portsdown 4. I have both a 4gb and a 8gb version. Is there any benefit in using the larger one or any dis-benefit in using the smaller one? I am actually using the 8gb one at the moment to run StreamDeck Companion to drive my ATEM HDMI switcher macros so would prefer to use the 4gb one if that will work OK.

Thoughts anyone?

73,

David G4NRT

Posted: **Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:25 pm**

David

All the development has been done on a 2 GB, so the 4 GB will be more than adequate.

Dave

Posted: **Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:30 pm**

I have pushed a new version (202008012) that corrects the update bug reported by Christian above (thanks).

For those of you who have already downloaded the earlier version, you will need to log in by ssh and run the following code to update the first time that you try:

Code: Select all

cd /home/pi
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BritishAmateurTelevisionClub/portsdown4/master/update.sh  -O /home/pi/update.sh
chmod +x /home/pi/update.sh
./update.sh

No need to do this until you want to update, and there aren't any new features yet.

Dave, G8GKQ

Posted: **Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:42 pm**

G8GKQ wrote: ↑
Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:25 pm
All the development has been done on a 2 GB, so the 4 GB will be more than adequate.

Thanks Dave. I will use the 4gb one ....

Posted: **Fri Jul 31, 2020 5:42 pm**

Just waiting for the build to finish but one question.

Where is the download and instructions for Evariste's "for the brave" firmware?

73
Noel

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Portsdown 4 - First build now available

Portsdown 4 - First build now available

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