using the 2nd receiver in a minitiouner pro

[Pa3fbx]

Hi, I know there are 2 receivers in 1 tuner but having 1 ftd232 output you get only channel to work.
BUT....
If i would have a second FTD232 output to a 2nd ryde system i could use 1 minitiouner pro for both rydes or (in my case) a ryde and a portsdown...

How would i need to connect this 2nd usb output...
I think i could stack a 2nd ftd module and just mix some ports...

I know in the beginning there where experiments using the 2nd receiver but i cannot find these experiments in the woods of this forum...

Benno

[i2NDT]

hi Benno,
not sure but maybe the attached schematic of the Minitiouner Pro 2, made by REF a couple of years ago, can give you some ideas.

best 73
de
i2NDT Claudio

[Pa3fbx]

Thanks Claudio,

This was helping me to understand the difference.
Yesterday I found an old post way down where someone was mentioning a cqdatv article.
There was even a small pcb containing an additional FTD chip and an 74hc10 to get a second usb to the second te in the tuner .

It even shows a schematic diagram.
I will "free wire" this to get my 2nd usb..
Will come back with the results..
The idea is to use 1 minitiouner version 2 from the batc to 2 Raspberies. 1 with Ryde and 1 with portsdown..

Tbc..
Benno

[i2NDT]

great Benno!
I can't wait to see the developments!

Claudio

[g8gtz]

And we have PCBs in stock but not currently on sale

The 2 channel MiniTiouner s/w was never released but people found you could run 2 copies of Minitiouner on a PC, so cannot see why it would not work with 2 Rydes?

Be interested to see what you come up with Benno.

73

Noel - G8GTZ

[M5TXJ]

Hi Benno.

I was looking at this too but I'm better at soldering than software etc. I have the Pro v2 connected to a Ryde under the TV in the sitting room and was thinking of adding a Pi running Toms Long Mynd client to the second USB port. This wouldn't work though as although there are two FTDI IC's one is a master which controls the NIM and one an auxilliary which doesn't. I was considering cloning the circuitry around the master to the auxilliary but am unsure of the I2C, I'm pretty sure sure both FT2232HL's could be parallel connected to the NIM but this is where my knowledge falls short. Good luck with your project, I'll be interested in your results.

73 Dave.

[G4EWJ]

Benno, do you have a link to that article please.

I think that using two Rydes / Portsdowns to work with a single NIM would be very difficult, if not impossible.

With a BATC MK2 pcb, even if you duplicated the FT2232H and 74HC10, you would need to join together the I2C buses from the two FT2232H chips to the single I2C port on the NIM. I think that LongMynd uses the FT2232H MPSSE engine for I2C and that does not support multi-master mode, which you would need to avoid I2C collisions. The I2C buses are brought out to headers in the MTProV2, but you would have the same multi-master problem.

See section 2.1 in https://ftdichip.com/wp-content/uploads ... Csharp.pdf

On the software side, LongMynd is hard coded to use demodulator 2, although changing a single #define and recompiling would make it use demodulator 1. When you give a command to the tuner software, it turns off the other tuner. There are also some configuration register changes required for NIM dual receive operation.

With the available number of NIMs declining, now is probably not the time for a new design, but a suitable product could be based on the PicoHub described in CQ-TV 276, but using a single NIM and two Raspberry Pi Picos. The Picos could cooperate to share the I2C bus to the NIM and avoid collisions.

Brian

[M5TXJ]

Thanks for that info Brian, my gut feeling about the I2C confirmed.

73 Dave.

[g0mjw]

A simpler way would be to have the two Rydes speak to each other. Then one, lets call it the 'secondary', could be on the second USB port getting just the TS. The 'primary' ryde would handle all of the I2C. Secondary and primary would debate between themselves how the tuners should be configured and the primary would make it so. It is a significant software change. Many many hours of coding. Easier just to build a winterhill, perhaps based on Brian's experiments with the PI microcontroller. We could make the winterhill a lot smaller if people didn't have to build it, more so if we hard wired or just did without things like LNB supplies, but I don't think size is the main problem, it is getting a PI4. If only I were better at programming and had time.

Mike

[Pa3fbx]

Nice discussion, with some great answers.
I understand controlling the Nim in the tuner is only done via I2c and the first FTD chip.
In my plan i will use a ryde and a portsdown.
The portsdown is used for TX and Langstone and the ryde is used obvious for RX.
I really wanted an full duplex DATV system and started with 2 rpi4 and 2 touchscreens..
I could opt for a double portsdown to have a full duplex multi mode system in the future...

I do not see how a winterhill is a good addition to my project.
For now 1 minitiouner is connected to a ryde and if i would get the second usb ftd output to a portsdown for its RX capability i see the 2nd TS only needs displaying and the controlling still needs to been done by the ryde...

Or letting portsdown do the total controlling witch would be great if this controlling could be done directly out of the band viewer...
Keep in mind , this will be a setup for the terrestrial use mostly.. for the sat i have better Solutions

To be continued...

benno