Portsdown 4 Update with Receiver Improvements

[G8GKQ]

I have just released a Portsdown 4 update (202108011) which includes major improvements for the DATV Receiver. The 2 major improvements are:

• The receiver displays the approximate RF Input level to the MiniTiouner. Note that this is an indication of the total RF input power over about 10 MHz bandwidth, not just the signal that you are trying to receive. For best results (as with the Windows MiniTioune software), the indication should be above -70 dB. Please read the full decription here: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/MiniTiouner_Po ... Indication.
• A new Receive mode "RX DVB-S2 No Scan" has been added. This tunes to the exact selected frequency and will lock to any on-frequency DVB-S2 (not DVB-S) signal without scanning around. It is best suited for terrestrial weak-signal operation. Full details here: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/DVB-S/S2_Reception

In addition, the received SR is now displayed more accurately, and the receiver freeze that used to be experienced after about 20 minutes of scanning has been cured (well-spotted M0DTS!). As the receiver scan width can now be limited, the no-signal rescan time-out has been disabled by default for terrestrial modes in new builds.

On the transmit side, I have enabled 16:9 transmissions using the EasyCap with the Pluto (thanks to G7VVF for spotting this omission), and I have enabled 16:9 streaming from the Pi Cam and the Test Card.

Lastly, a development version of the Portsdown Power Meter has been included, accessed from the new Test Equipment Menu (see Menu 2). The external hardware for this power meter will be described in a forthcoming CQ-TV article.

Thanks to M0DNY and G4EWJ for the code that has enabled the new receiver features.

Please report any new bugs here.

Dave, G8GKQ

[g8lce]

Thanks Dave,

I had been getting around the 16:9 problem with the Pluto by using IPTS in. Now I can use the USB Easycap for video in.

Martin G8LCE

[g8lce]

It may be me doing something wrong but having updated two Portsdowns to this new software I now have one Portsdown that transmits through a Pluto that works 16:9 from the EasyCap but the other Portsdown that transmits through a Limemini now only transmits 4:3! It indicates that it is 16:9! It is as if the problem has gone to the Limemini system. Is there something I need to set after the update? It was working fine before and I changed nothing (apart from software update).

Martin G8LCE

[G8YTZ]

Dave,

Lots of +++ for this release! Very fast receiver lock and very stable picture now, It is now as good as my Sony TV. It is a massive improvement, very impressive!

I've noticed a bug, which I think might interest you. GB3JV runs a mux (both H.262) so there are two transport streams: Ch.1 & Ch.2:

Service Name is:
GB3JV JO01AJ

Program Names are:
Ch.1 1249MHz 23cm
Ch.2 437MHz 70cm

However the Program name for Ch.2 is always displayed no matter which TS channel is selected Ch.1 or Ch.2

Just one "ask" is there any way the TS Channel could be changed whilst receiving? perhaps a side menu?




PID Settings on Tx for Ch.1 & Ch.2:

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[G4FRE]

I had the same problem on 24GHz yesterday. with my lime mini (v1.30) . I was transmitting 4:3 which Noel received as 4:3. To keep him happy I changed to 16:9 but nothing changed at his end,, even though the Portslang showed 16:9!

Dave
GW4FRE/P

but the other Portsdown that transmits through a Limemini now only transmits 4:3! It indicates that it is 16:9! It is as if the problem has gone to the Limemini system. Is there something I need to set after the update? It was working fine before and I changed nothing (apart from software update).

Martin G8LCE

[G8GKQ]

Thanks for the feedbaclk and bug reports.

• The displayed Program name is taken from the TS parser in the LongMynd receiver which does not know what program within the stream has been selected for display in the VLC player (and the parser clearly outputs the highest-numbered program name). Thanks for reporting this - I accept that this is undesirable behaviour, but fixing it is going to be very low on the priority list, as there is a work-round which is to view the Transport Stream on an external VLC player where the program names will be correctly reported.
• Apologies for the Lime 16:9 bug. Under investigation.

Dave

[G8YTZ]

Thanks for the explanation Dave,

fully understand that its low priority, really I just wanted to make you aware of it.

Still a great update!

Justin.

[G8YTZ]

Dave,

another bit of feedback, as intimated above the receiver really is very stable now, I've left it running on TS#2 now since 08:30 (time now 13:41) and its not missed a beat, it really is that good. I'm going to take the Minitiouner and Portsdown to the NRC in a couple of weeks and try it out there on the OSCAR-100 Beacon.

Absolutely delighted!

[EC3DBA]

Thanks for the constant improvements, some of us would not have access to this modality without your collaboration.
From the beginning everything has always worked correctly for me and I have been updating without any problem. When applying the last update my surprise has been that it does not receive anything, the portsdown logo appears and the screen is black. I have checked all the settings
I am also not getting results through udp.
The truth is that I do not know where to start.

[g0mjw]

Try updating it again? Perhaps it has not completed the update. You may need to SSH in if the touch screen isn't working. You could also try writing a new SD card if you have one. Always good to have a backup in stock.

Mike