BATC Forum

I have now added support for the Lime RFE front end and PA board to the Langstone V2 software.

(It's a pure coincidence that the Lime RFE is featured in this month's Radcom. I didn't know that was going to happen!)

The Lime RFE should be connected using the USB connection and will automatically be detected and used by Langstone V2.
This will work with both the Adalm Pluto and the Lime Mini versions, but the Lime RFE will not cover the entire frequency range of the Pluto.

If you don't need the Lime RFE support then there is no need to update. No other changes are included.

The LIme RFE is quite expensive but it does provide a simple way of getting a reasonable power output and receive sensitivity on all of the bands (up to 4GHz) covered by the Langstone.

Colin G4EML

Hi Colin
Great work
what would happen if 5.7ghz was selected on a Pluto?
Would it be sent to the wide band channel 100-4000mhz OR
Is there any way of switching the 5.7 to bypass the RFE already available

Terry G1LPS

Hi Terry,

I haven’t tested it with RF using a Pluto, I just confirmed that it was controlling the RFE.

Selecting 5.7 would enable the 1-4GHz channel as that is the highest frequency available in the RFE. I don’t know how much (if any) gain there would be at 5.7GHz.

There is no straight through mode in the RFE so it would need multiple external relays to bypass it. They could be controlled using the band select bits on the Pi.


Colin.

The Lime RFE without cellular is now marked as no longer available .

I have one on order for nearly a year hope thats honoured.
With cellular marked as shipping end of next month.

Yesterday I was contacted by Crowd funding to say they wanted to refund me for my order of a Lime RFE without cellular. This after a 14 month wait.

I asked why I couldn't be switched to the with cellular option and pay the difference of the original price? The reply was the only option as the without cellular was obsolete is a refund.
This came after last weeks price hike which doubles the original cost.

Is anyone else in this situation?

I have no wish to re-join the que and pay double.
Anyone want to recover their full purchase cost and sell one?

Terry G1LPS

The massive price rises of all of the Lime products makes them no longer practical for most amateur radio users. I suspect their main customers are now the universities and commercial users.

Colin G4EML

I've now got a LimeRFE after waiting over a year (at the old price). It seems to work ok with my pluto but I haven't used it in anger yet, it gives out the expected power into a load.

Anyone else using a similar setup?