Portsdown 4 with Pluto - Things to Remember
Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:07 pm
I have been doing some experiments with the Portsdown 4 and Pluto. Some points to note:
As recently pointed out by G4FRE, carrier mode is not available when using a Pluto with the Portsdown. You can achieve the same result after a lot of waiting for Pluto reboots and button presses by using the Portsdown Signal Generator to drive the Pluto, but the level needs to be set correctly and it is hardly something that is easy to do in a portable situation. Incidentally, the need for Pluto reboots is why I have not coded it as an option from the Portsdown menu.
The Pluto is fussy about the callsign string. It cannot contain any slashes, otherwise your Service ID will be displayed as Service01. So, if you are operating portable, enter your callsign in the form G8GKQ-P, rather than G8GKQ/P. The LimeSDR accepts slashes, but neither device is well behaved if you try to include spaces.
Dave, G8GKQ
As recently pointed out by G4FRE, carrier mode is not available when using a Pluto with the Portsdown. You can achieve the same result after a lot of waiting for Pluto reboots and button presses by using the Portsdown Signal Generator to drive the Pluto, but the level needs to be set correctly and it is hardly something that is easy to do in a portable situation. Incidentally, the need for Pluto reboots is why I have not coded it as an option from the Portsdown menu.
The Pluto is fussy about the callsign string. It cannot contain any slashes, otherwise your Service ID will be displayed as Service01. So, if you are operating portable, enter your callsign in the form G8GKQ-P, rather than G8GKQ/P. The LimeSDR accepts slashes, but neither device is well behaved if you try to include spaces.
Dave, G8GKQ