knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Discussion about the Knucker DVB-T Tuner DVB-T Receive Software. See also https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Knucker
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m1cdq
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Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:28 pm

knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by m1cdq » Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:28 pm

I've got my system built. the knucker nim arrived today. and fitted in to my portsdown4.
Now I know to switch between the minitioune and the knucker. i have to unplug one from usb and plug in the other and reboot

Will portsdown be updated to handle both at same time. As I'm looking at options at switching. poss a 2 position 4pole switch on the front panel to change between the 2. Cut and solder 2 usb leads but that may induce noise into the usb connection
As i have them stacked in my case
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Last edited by m1cdq on Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

g0mjw
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Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:15 am

Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by g0mjw » Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:35 pm

That's not a standard build so not supported, but it might be at some point as the Ryde has the capability. In the meanwhile you can get switched USB hubs where you can turn ports on and off. Perhaps that's a solution. No need to mess about with wafer switches.

Mike

m1cdq
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:28 pm

Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by m1cdq » Tue Mar 30, 2021 6:33 pm

what is a standard build?
I've a raspberry pi 4 and a lime-sdr plus mini-tioune batc board. Now they have released the knucker.

I've a standard build in a big case plus the newly released knucker up and running( sat watching BBC on it ). All I have left to fit is the pluto
then its around to building my PA's

For the time being I'm going switchable USB. just ordered off amazon arrives tomorrow. will do a small mod to bring 2 of the switches off the board on to the front panel. and use a suitable change over switch. i will update on how this goes so any others that are interested can do the same

m1cdq
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Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:28 pm

Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by m1cdq » Tue Mar 30, 2021 8:28 pm

out of curiosity ive got both the knucker and mini tioune plugged in
and both work

rx oscar beacon
come out of rx
change to terrestrial
then change from dvbs to dvbt
back to rx
and im getting bbc1 dvbt

tried it going back again and it works

G8YTZ
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Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:43 pm

Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by G8YTZ » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:07 am

I have found the same with the Portsdown, you can connect both tuner types and select the one you want without issue.

A couple of things I've noticed:

1 - Watching BBC1 I see a lot of picture breakup, particularly on fast moving scenes, even though the signal is very good, I assume this is the Pi decoder.
2 - I can't seem to select channels on the mux.
3 - using external UDP to VLC, VLC drops out every now and again and closes.

G8GKQ
Site Admin
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Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by G8GKQ » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:25 am

Hi Justin

Good to hear that both Tuners can be connected at once. I must admit that because this originally did not work on Ryde, I had assumed that the situation would be the same for Portsdown, as they share much of the same codebase. And I only have one external USB port on my Test/Development Portsdown, so had not tested it.

1 - The picture breakup on BBC1 is due to something maxing out on bitrate. As this is not core capability, I have not spent time optimising it.

2 - Surely if you are watching BBC1, you must be able to select channels on the Mux? Or do you mean FreeView "Channel" numbers?

3 - If external VLC drops out and closes, that means that it is not handling errors in the bitstream and so is crashing. The Portsdown receiver is (probably) putting the errors in the bitstream, but the external VLC is doing the crashing (and shouldn't).

Look forward to hearing the results of any Amateur DVB-T tests (with Gareth or Martin?)


Dave

m1cdq
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:28 pm

Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by m1cdq » Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:30 am

I have found the same with the Portsdown, you can connect both tuner types and select the one you want without issue.

A couple of things I've noticed:

1 - Watching BBC1 I see a lot of picture breakup, particularly on fast moving scenes, even though the signal is very good, I assume this is the Pi decoder.
2 - I can't seem to select channels on the mux.
3 - using external UDP to VLC, VLC drops out every now and again and closes.
yes i am getting the same
1 presume is the pi not coping
2 i know you can preselect the TS. I just do not the know TS numbers for each stream
3 getting the same

g0mjw
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Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:15 am

Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by g0mjw » Thu Apr 01, 2021 11:42 am

This has been said many times but it is worth repeating over and over to avoid miss-understanding and disappointment. The Knucker is not intended for broadcast reception. If you want to receive broadcast TV, use a TV, or a RTL DVB-T stick for it's intended purpose.

It might work in some cases but the bandwidth via the USB module is limited so chances are if it does work it will not be reliable.

What it can do is receive reduced bandwidth DVB-T and this is the exciting new capability it is intended to support.

Some other things we have found out:

The tuner appears to work from 50 MHz up to about 1 GHz and is quite sensitive, but as always will benefit from front end filtering.
This means it does not work on 10m or 23cm.

We are thinking about 10m equipment but the "Ham It Up" converter might be useful as it is effectively a converter for LF to 65MHz to 125MHz-190MHz which is in the range of the Knucker tuner. It has a pass-through mode which is useful. This will also give you 6m on the Minitiouner but not 4m without modification.

Mike

roland_F8CHK
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Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2017 3:05 pm

Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by roland_F8CHK » Sun Jun 20, 2021 10:07 am

Hi all,

Boxing Knucker, Minitiouner V2 and Portsdown 4, i cannot have the two tuners connected. If the two are connected, only Knucker is accessible, and if I deconnect Knucker, Minitiouner is running fine.
That is with the last version of Portsdown 4. It looks like some of you have no problem with the two connected, so wonder what is my problem ??

73,
Roland F8CHK

roland_F8CHK
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2017 3:05 pm

Re: knucker+minitioune+portsdown 4

Post by roland_F8CHK » Sun Jun 20, 2021 12:39 pm

Hi,

Problem solved by changing USB port...if the two tuners are on the USB 3 ports, it doesn't work. One on a UBS 3 and one on a USB 2 is ok...
May-be a power supply problem, but I have no under-voltage warning. I will investigate a bit more...

73,
Roland F8CHK

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