Portsdown 2018 problem

[m0vva]

Thanks, Mike.

I think the Callsign etc in the second image is simply because I clicked on the settings from the .ini file for that configuration. I've created a short video of what's happening here: http://bit.ly/Minitiouner_20201108Z1056_Video and the saved TS file is here: http://bit.ly/MiniTiouner_TS_20201108Z1056.

I downloaded the TSPacketViewer application but I'm not sure what good looks like. Is there anywhere I can research further without re-inventing the wheel?

I intend to make a 23cms Yagi today and see if I can hear the GB3EN repeater but there are a few hills in the way. That will introduce yet another piece of uncalibrated kit to the equation!

Andy M0VVA

[g0mjw]

Tell us about the PC and confirm it is not an Intel NUC. Also the TS file doesn't look valid. Maybe the contents is suspect. That would explain the lack of deciding. What GB3UD 1318.5 MHz showing? I think it's fairly close to you.

Mike

EDIT Your file report indicates you are sending junk. Problem may be the TX side.

c:\ffmpeg\bin\ffplay M0VVA_08_11_2020_10h56_55.TS
ffplay version git-2020-06-28-4cfcfb3 Copyright (c) 2003-2020 the FFmpeg developers

M0VVA_08_11_2020_10h56_55.TS: could not find codec parameters=0/0


Here is what a valid TX looks like

Input #0, mpegts, from 'test2.ts':
Duration: 01:27:22.03, start: 90597.311078, bitrate: 224 kb/s
Program 1
Metadata:
service_name : G4DHO CH1
service_provider: G4DHO
Stream #0:0[0xa2]: Video: mpeg2video (Main) ([2][0][0][0] / 0x0002), yuv420p(tv, top first), 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], 3447 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
Side data:
cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 3447200/0/0 buffer size: 1654784 vbv_delay: N/A
Stream #0:1[0x58]: Audio: mp2 ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 64 kb/s
Stream #0:2[0x102]: Data: bin_data ([6][0][0][0] / 0x0006)
No Program
Stream #0:3[0x12]: Data: epg
90608.41 A-V: -0.015 fd= 3 aq= 11KB vq= 635KB sq= 0B f=0/0

[m0vva]

The PC is a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 - Intel Core i5-4300 CPU @ 1.90GHz running Windows 10 Pro.

GB3UD is too far, I'm in IO91XR just North of London. I had hoped to receive GB3EN but it appears to only Rx DATV and Tx FMTV.

Is there a logical process to test why/if I'm transmitting "junk" from the Portsdown - it's not clear to me what diagnostics are available.

Andy M0VVA

EDITTED
I just tried the Pi standalone in Ugly mode - I get the same response from Minitiouner, locked, all green lights, no decode of the PIDs or encoding mode. Would this imply the problem is back at the Minitiouner end?

[g0mjw]

Difficult to tell. Too many unknowns. I have never tried a surface pro but assume it's basically a laptop. The problem with NUC devices and some others is the Minitioune software doesn't seem to work with them, but that's not your problem.


I should have said you are receiving junk I don't know if its junk transmitted or junk received. However, back to my earlier theory which I had discounted when I saw the correct PIDs and service - but now I realise that you typed them in so they had not come from the TS.

looking through your file I can't find any bytes with a value below 0x40 hex and that's suspicious. This is 0100000 in Binary. It implies to me the 7th bit is fixed to 1 - could you have a wiring error or a short on the tuner? It will be the line that's called D6.

Mike

[m0vva]

Thanks for the advice, Mike. I’ll get the Serit on the bench again and see if I can find any faults. I’m probably out of my depth but the learning experience is great!

[g4eml]

I agree with your comment Mike, I have just had a look at the TS file and it has absolutely no 0x00 bytes in it and lots of areas with large blocks of 0x40. Almost certainly a stuck high bit 6 in the data. It might not be a short, it might just be an unsoldered pin which would float high.

Colin

[m0vva]

Thanks, Colin. I'm about to get to my shed/electronics lab to check through the Minitiouner.

Andy M0VVA

[m0vva]

Thank you, Mike and Colin, you were both right - I had a dry joint on one of the socket pins under the FT2232H mount. Despite what I thought was meticulously checking the soldering last night, upon re-inspection and tracing each pin back to the Serit board, I came across one that escaped by attention - human error and embarrassingly my human error!

I'd like to thank all of you, Dave, John, Mike and Colin for your time and assistance!!! And profuse apologies for eating into your weekend.

Through the process I have bettered my understanding of both the Minitiouner v2.0 and the Portsdown 201x circuits and software and hope to learn more as I dive deeper into this aspect of the hobby - with the ultimate shift to Portsdown 4 and QO-100.

Andy M0VVA