Pluto problems - blinking LED1

[g4eml]

If you are powering the picotuner from USB then you may have problems running both the Pluto and the picotuner at the same time.. Both take a lot of current and the Pi USB ports can shut down due to overload. You may need to power one or both devices from separate power supplies.

Colin G4EML

[Rishtonite]

Thanks for that suggestion. It did occur to me that power starvation to one or both devices could be the problem.
I tried connecting the Pico from a powered USB hub (which is then connected to a USB3 port on the Pi)
From Menu2, File Menu, List USB Devices, entry 4 is PicoTuner
From Main Menu, RX, Recieve, I get 'waiting for Knocker Tuner'
I will check wiki etc. and (hopefully) work out how to power the Pico from 12v instead of USB

[g4eml]

Sounds like you are set for DVB-T which uses the knucker tuner. Try setting DVB-S.

[radiogareth]

After having it on DVB-T (The Knucker) you may need a re-boot to get it to see a Mini/Picotuner, despite it 'looking' as if its working....
Gareth

[Rishtonite]

Thanks for the suggestions.
Pico - now linked JP1 and JP4 and powering it from 12v.
Set to DVB-S/S2. Reboot. Recieve now showing 'searching''
Happy that things now seem to be working as expected.
Now just need to get it linked to my network (which is NOT on 192.168...)
OK. That works. I can access the menus from my PC.
What I still haven't worked out is -
1. when on TX, display (on Pi screen and/or PC) the source. It does for Test Card, but not webcam (or other sources)
2. TX a video file that's on my computer. I presume I need vmix and/or datv easy?

[radiogareth]

The PD 4 should display a RPI camera, contest numbers and any testcard that you have set up. Other sources and you only see the control screen with the TX button in RED.
If you want to TX a video file from your PC, there may be a way via the network to the PD4 but I have never tried that and I think its only for streaming in/out rather than encoding for TX.
Bear in mind that the PD4 is absolutely wonderful for /P or outside/inside demos, but for a more complex 'home station' a PC and (as you suggest) DATV Easy (and others DATVRED etc..) work fine with the same Pluto (and its software) really well with OBS.
DATVEasy and OBS all free and capable of H265 (and H266 which can be received with Opentuner software and achieved amazing quality in tiny bandwidths).
That's all beyond what a RPI4 can do, but in terms of something that 'just works' I reach for my PD4 every time.
Some more info here: https://wiki.batc.org.uk/Portsdown_4#Capabilities

Gareth

[Rishtonite]

Thanks Gareth.
On the video source menu (45) I can set comp video or hdmi. I'll experiment with those after reading the capabilities link you've provided.
If they (and webcam) can't be seen on screen during TX, and a newer version of the PD4 software can't incorporate those, maybe another way of monitoring my own transmission would be to build a 2nd Picotuner and 'sniff' (see below) some of the transmitted rf.
I'm only planning on using it from home, connected to my pc.
I've heard about DATVEasy but not investigated that yet.
RF sniffer - I built one for monitoring HF FT8/RTTY/PSK waveforms - https://www.briandorey.com/post/variabl ... al-sampler

[radiogareth]

Yes, the easiest way to monitor it is with.....another PD4 and picotuner. I have a bare-bones screen and RPI4 that I use for in-shack testing where I can plug anything I want into it, although for most shack based RX I use a Ryde on a bigger screen. Its what you have the space and/or funds for really, but out /P its great to know what you are sending not only looks OK (Bandviewer so you don't overdrive your amps etc) or a receiver so you know its good to decode.
Gareth