Langstone Update

Forum for discussion about the Langstone Microwave Transceiver that shares some features with the Portsdown. Wiki: https://wiki.microwavers.org.uk/Langstone_Project
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i2NDT
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by i2NDT » Thu May 14, 2020 1:33 pm

than I am missing something...
I assumed the PTT command to the pluto was given through the USB cable.
if it is like this I don't know how I can delay the pluto with an external sequencer.

Claudio
i2NDT Claudio
Dalmine, Italia

G8GKQ
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by G8GKQ » Thu May 14, 2020 2:38 pm

Hi Claudio

It doesn't really matter when the Pluto starts transmitting (it's only1 mW or so). The important thing is that you don't enable your PA until the aerial changeover relay has switched to transmit and settled.

And then, at the end of the transmission, you should disable the PA, wait for it to settle, and then switch the changeover relay to receive (and then turn your preamp on).

Otherwise, you end up with an active PA connected to an open circuit - which is a recipe for disaster.

I use PICs to control the sequence of switching in most of my transmitters/receivers. That includes my Langstone which has PAs and preamps for 144 and 432 MHz in the box. I do not trust devices such as the Raspberry Pi to be reliable enough for this sort of switching!

Dave

g4eml
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by g4eml » Fri May 15, 2020 10:20 pm

New Update...

Tx and Rx GNU Radio Flowgraphs are now separated into two tasks, Lang_RX.py and Lang_TX.py. This improves latency and reduces the CPU load. Only Rx or Tx needs to be active at any one time. Previously both were always active.
The basic functionality has not changed but you should notice the Tx audio delay is much improved.

Pluto GPO pins now output the PTT signal on GPO0 and the lower three Band Select Bits on GPO1 to GPO3.
This is mainly for those who want to remote mount the Pluto. If you are not doing this I would recommend still using the Raspberry Pi outputs.


To Update:-

log in using SSH
cd Langstone
./stop
git stash
./update
./run


73
Colin G4EML

g4eml
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by g4eml » Mon May 18, 2020 10:45 pm

Another few small updates.

Improved startup time. The run script now tests to see if the Pluto is ready rather than just waiting a fixed time. This results in a much faster, and hopefully more reliable, startup.

The Pluto is now addressed using the name 'pluto.local' instead of its IP address. This should mean that it works on any Pluto even if the IP address has been changed.

Some other small changes to allow future integration with Portsdown.

I also re-checked the build procedure by starting with a new SD card, just to make sure it is still working OK. It is.

One thing I did notice during this test was that the quality of the Micro SD card is important. I tried to build with an slightly dubious looking 'Class 10' Kingston card of unknown origin and the build went extremely slowly. The resulting Langstone did work but was very sluggish with occasional glitching when drawing the waterfall.
Rebuilding with a genuine 16GB Class 10 Sandisk card took about a fifth of the time and worked as it should.

Colin G4EML

g8gtz
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by g8gtz » Thu May 21, 2020 9:17 am

Hi Colin

I have an error on updating
pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $ ./update
Updating 8a1887d..e0cd815
error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:
Langstone.conf
Please commit your changes or stash them before you merge.
Aborting
As far as I am aware I've not made any changes.

Noel

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i2NDT
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by i2NDT » Thu May 21, 2020 9:34 am

I had almost the same problem as Noel:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cd Langstone
pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $ ./stop
pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $ git stash

*** Please tell me who you are.

Run

git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"

to set your account's default identity.
Omit --global to set the identity only in this repository.

fatal: unable to auto-detect email address (got 'pi@raspberrypi.(none)')
Cannot save the current index state

pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $ ./update
remote: Enumerating objects: 122, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (122/122), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (83/83), done.
remote: Total 115 (delta 76), reused 53 (delta 32), pack-reused 0
Receiving objects: 100% (115/115), 69.35 KiB | 408.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (76/76), completed with 6 local objects.
From https://github.com/g4eml/Langstone
e1e4704..e0cd815 master -> origin/master
1d2c6d2..e8a67fc Work -> origin/Work
Updating e1e4704..e0cd815
error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:
Langstone.conf
Please commit your changes or stash them before you merge.
Aborting
pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $

Claudio
i2NDT Claudio
Dalmine, Italia

g0mjw
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by g0mjw » Thu May 21, 2020 9:58 am

g8gtz wrote:
Thu May 21, 2020 9:17 am
Hi Colin

I have an error on updating
pi@raspberrypi:~/Langstone $ ./update
Updating 8a1887d..e0cd815
error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:
Langstone.conf
Please commit your changes or stash them before you merge.
Aborting
As far as I am aware I've not made any changes.

Noel
Easy fix - delete or rename the file .

G8GKQ
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by G8GKQ » Thu May 21, 2020 10:51 am

Hi

There is a facility on the Portsdown to update the Langstone installation (Menu 3, Langstone Config, Update Langstone). However, if you do not have the Portsdown loaded, you can do the same manually from an ssh terminal:

Code: Select all

cd /home/pi

# Stop Langstone if it is running
Langstone/stop

# Remove the old Langstone build
rm -rf Langstone

# Clone the latest version
git clone https://github.com/g4eml/Langstone.git

cd Langstone

# Build the c executable
./build

# Start Langstone again
./run
Dave, G8GKQ

g4eml
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by g4eml » Thu May 21, 2020 12:56 pm

Hi Noel,

Langstone.conf gets updated every time you use the program. So it will always be different to the version on GitHub.
Normally that is not a problem as git pull will not try to update it. I think I made an error recently and updated the version on GitHub. That’s why the update was complaining. There are lots of ways to fix it as others have mentioned.

To be honest Dave’s method of deleting the whole thing and cloning and building it again probably makes more sense. It doesn’t take long and will guarantee all the files are updated. It will overwrite any settings in Langstone.conf though. So maybe it needs to save that somewhere.

Colin.

G8GKQ
Site Admin
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Re: Langstone Update

Post by G8GKQ » Thu May 21, 2020 1:15 pm

Thanks Colin

The Portsdown script does actually save a copy of the Langstone.conf file. It does not currently write it back though as I was worried that the file format might be changed (to add new features?) during an update. The copy is saved in /home/pi/rpidatv/scripts/configs/Langstone.conf.

So to restore original settings after a (Portsdown-commanded) Langstone update:

Code: Select all

cp -f /home/pi/rpidatv/scripts/configs/Langstone.conf /home/pi/Langstone/Langstone.conf
Dave

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