DigiThin Support - Is it required in the Portsdown?

Discussion about this major DATV Project. See https://wiki.batc.org.uk/The_Portsdown_Transmitter
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G8GKQ
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DigiThin Support - Is it required in the Portsdown?

Post by G8GKQ » Thu Jun 15, 2017 2:47 pm

The Portsdown software has some in-built support for the DigiThin modulator card, and I have until now reserved 4 GPIO pins for the DigiThin connections. Now that there are well over 100 Portsdown Filter-Modulator boards in use, I am considering other uses for the DigiThin GPIO pins.

Before I cease to support the DigiThin, I just wanted to check whether anybody was actually using the current Portsdown software with the DigiThin modulator.

If I hear nothing, I plan to cease any support for the DigiThin in the the next Portsdown release.

Dave, G8GKQ

g0mjw
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Re: DigiThin Support - Is it required in the Portsdown?

Post by g0mjw » Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:34 pm

I am not - however others may want to given the high cost of the filter modulator board if you don't need its flexibility, but they can presumably re-wire the pins to use the Portsdown interface.

Mike

G8EOJ
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Re: DigiThin Support - Is it required in the Portsdown?

Post by G8EOJ » Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:04 pm

Dave - I was not aware that the DigiThin connections were working - I have a built DigiThin Board but have not yet built the Portsdown modoulator due to the high cost.
I for one would like to see the DigiThin support kept and expanded.

Regards - Eric -G8EOJ

MN-tech
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Re: DigiThin Support - Is it required in the Portsdown?

Post by MN-tech » Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:24 pm

Hi Dave,

I doubt anyone will be switching between Portsdown and DigThin on the same Pi. You could use the DigiThin pins however you want for Portsdown and remap the IO when a DigiThin is actually used.

The DigiThin mode could be selected by loading a dedicated software version or by jumpering on one of the pins now assigned to DigiThin. I would suggest not making it a software menu selection to avoid accidental mis-operation.

John

G8GKQ
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Re: DigiThin Support - Is it required in the Portsdown?

Post by G8GKQ » Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:15 pm

Hi John

It is already a software option (in the Setup menu). The default is "not supported"; I have not yet engineered the "supported" option - although I thought somebody else might have done.

Hardware switching might initially appeal, but it loses another valuable GPIO. The software menu has been very reliable recently, so if required, I'll probably take that route.

Has anybody had Digithin working with Portsdown??

Dave

PS: Eric - noted.

g8cpf
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Re: DigiThin Support - Is it required in the Portsdown?

Post by g8cpf » Thu Jun 15, 2017 6:29 pm

I had previously modified a Digilite to take external I & Q, but so far have not gotten round to trying it with a Portsdown enabled RbPi. It would be a shame to lose I & Q outputs from the Pi, if that's what would happen....... Would not worry if it just appeared on different IO pins...

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