Portsdown 4 Update

[G8GKQ]

I have just released a new Portsdown 4 update (202303250).

This update introduces the "MeteorView" facility which works with an SDRPlay RSPdx (and other RSPs) to display received "pings" from meteor reflections of the GB3MBA beacon on 50.408 MHz (see the meteor on the right below). It has both waterfall and spectrum view modes, in bandwidths of 2.5, 5 and 10 kHz. Access from Menu 2, Test Equipment. It is a very specialised application, but I hope to extend the more familiar "BandViewer" functionality to the SDRPlay series of SDRs soon. Similarly, I also hope to provide the waterfall display option in BandViewer for other SDRs.

Note that the gain selection only works with the RSPdx. Adjusting gain with any other RSP may cause the application to freeze and then become unuseable. If this happens, re-run the Portsdown update, and don't adjaust the gain.

Other minor changes include:

• A change to the LimeSDR Mini firmware update functionality to prevent LimeSDR Mini V2s being updated (and rendered inoperative) by inadvertent updates with LimeSDR Mini V1 firmware.
• A bugfix to cure the "no callsign displayed on test cards" problem that was reported last week.
• A recommendation to use the latest version of the Raspberry Pi OS (2023-02-21) for new builds.

Please report any bugs here.

Dave, G8GKQ

Edit - gain selection warning added

[DL1BJV]

Hi Dave,

I have just updated to the P4 version 202303250.
I may have found a Bug with Meteor Viewer.

I am using an SDRPlay 1 (original)
Selecting the Gain menu, RF Gain, 0dB and -6dB seem to work.

Selecting either -12dB, -18dB or -24dB causes the software to freeze, not responding to any buttons at all.
Switching the power off and on, the P4 boots. Selecting Meteor Viewer, Gain menu, the RF Gain the button is still selected
and the screen remains frozen which means having to turn the power off again
Tried this several times, a Force update resets everything but the fault occures again.

Hope this is only at my end.

Wolfgang.

[G8GKQ]

Sorry - this is a known problem with the RSP1. The easiest thing to do is re-run the Portsdown update (which will reset the gain) and then leave the gain alone.

There will be a fix.

Dave

[G8GKQ]

I have just released a minor update (202303290) to the MeteorViewer on the Portsdown 4 which should prevent lock-ups when SDRPlay devices other than the RSPdx are used.

Even after this update, it sometimes takes 2 selection attempts before an RSPdx is properly recognised and the waterfall starts. In general, the RSPdx (and possibly other RSP models) does not seem to be a very well-behaved USB device when used with the Raspberry Pi 4. It occasionally locks up the USB sockets, which has to be cured by a USB reset. Not sure where the problem lies, but I have had to implement a lot of logic to try to improve the reliability.

I have also noticed that lock-ups (blank screen for over a minute on selection of MeteorViewer) can also happen on older Raspberry Pi 4s that do not have the latest Bootloader software. This software is not updated during normal Portsdown updates. You can check if you have the latest version by running this command from the SSH Command Line

Code: Select all

sudo rpi-eeprom-update

If it does need updating, then enter

Code: Select all

sudo raspi-config

and go to "6 Advanced Options", then "A7 Bootloader Version", then "E1 Latest". Answer "Yes" to the next question and then select "Finish" (by using the tab key). Reboot.

If you are not using Meteor Viewer, or Meteor Viewer is working well for you, then there is no need at all to load this aupdate.

Dave, G8GKQ

[DL1BJV]

Hi Dave,

I would like to confirm that Meteor Viewer is now working on my Portsdown 4 with the RSP 1 (original version) after updating to 202303290.

Many thanks for fixing the issue so quickly and all of the hard work you are putting into these excellent features.

Wolfgang.