Pluto Blues

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EA7KIR
Posts: 86
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:38 pm

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by EA7KIR » Sat Apr 30, 2022 6:32 pm

I'll try to be more specific. Assuming all is working correctly so far (ie latest 0.34 firmware and I can ssh over ethernet), am I ready to proceed and install F5OEO "only for the Brave" ?

I've tried to extend the frequency range (though some say its not neccessary)...

fw_printenv attr_name
fw_printenv attr_val
fw_setenv attr_name compatible
fw_setenv compatible ad9364
reboot

But..

fw_printenv attr_val

still returns
## Error: "attr_val" not defined

Is this normal or has something one wrong?

Is there anything else that needs doing before installing F5OEO's "for the brave"?

I've downloaded File-FIRM2101RC.zip from the BATC Wiki, but it won't expand, because it's an unsupported format.
Michael EA7KIR

EA7KIR
Posts: 86
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:38 pm

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by EA7KIR » Sat Apr 30, 2022 6:43 pm

Scrub my comment about not being able to expand the firmware. I've found a way to get it.
Michael EA7KIR

g0mjw
Posts: 2330
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:15 am

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by g0mjw » Sat Apr 30, 2022 6:56 pm

The newer Pluto's are different. If you have one of those I think you also need a patch. Take a look at F5UUI's site. He has links to later firmware as well. 0303 seems good. That's what I am using.

EA7KIR
Posts: 86
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:38 pm

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by EA7KIR » Sat Apr 30, 2022 7:35 pm

OK. Had a look at F5UUI's site and there's a lot to read. Being impatient, I dragged the BATC version of pluto.frm onto the USB mount and ejected. Lots of flashing for a while, but the Pluto remounted (twice) and I now have the "Welcome to the ADALM-PLUTO QO-100/DATV custom firmware" page. Thanks for your help Mike, but I'm sure I'll be back begging for more.
Michael EA7KIR

EA7KIR
Posts: 86
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:38 pm

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by EA7KIR » Wed May 04, 2022 6:37 pm

Does anyone know if one of these, with its 4.5v Bias-T, will be enough to power a BullsEye LNB ?
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Screenshot 2022-05-04 at 20.31.19.png
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Michael EA7KIR

G8GKQ
Site Admin
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Re: Pluto Blues

Post by G8GKQ » Wed May 04, 2022 7:01 pm

Hi Michael

No way! The Bullseye probably needs at least 11v and is designed for 13v.

The signal level is very high, so you can afford to make your own very simple bias T from an inductor and a few capacitors.

Dave

EA7KIR
Posts: 86
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:38 pm

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by EA7KIR » Wed May 04, 2022 7:44 pm

Thanks Dave. I'm really after a hand held spectrum display all-in-one. Small enough to hold in one hand whilst balancing on a ladder whilst adjusting focus and skew with the other. I remember some mention of someone using a mobile phone for this.
Michael EA7KIR

g0mjw
Posts: 2330
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:15 am

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by g0mjw » Wed May 04, 2022 8:01 pm

You need a bias T - you might be able to get away with a home made one. Losses are not important in this application. If it is a Bullseye it might work with power supplied to the other port, I have not tested that.

Mike

radiogareth
Posts: 1215
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 9:46 am

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by radiogareth » Thu May 05, 2022 7:00 am

I think the other port on a bullesye is just the reference oscillator output....
But you could swap out any LNB for alignment duties so anything with a second port will work.
Try SDRtouch on Android or if you have a newer Android 12 phone, SDR++ and use a RTL dongle. Or buy a TinySA which are reallly handy anyway.
Gareth

EA7KIR
Posts: 86
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:38 pm

Re: Pluto Blues

Post by EA7KIR » Mon May 16, 2022 8:52 am

Has anyone tried any of the RF Explorer http://j3.rf-explorer.com spectrum analysers?

I'm wondering if the RF Explorer 4G Combo PLUS would be good enough to look at the 2.4GHz QO-100 uplink, but also for aligning the dish by looking at the LNB output.
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Screenshot 2022-05-16 at 10.32.52.png (1.78 MiB) Viewed 6055 times
Michael EA7KIR

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