Receiever test with new hermes lite

[Zach Farmer]

Good day,

I received my hermes lite, and love the thing with thetis!

I feel like my receivers ears arent that great though?

Is there a way to test my receive to ensure it is functioning properly?

Thank you kindly in advance,

Zach

[Denis Brunet]

Test avec un ami que vous avez l'habitude de faire des contacts ensemble tu connais + ou - son report habituel

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[David Hostetler]

A simple test for an HF reciever is to disconnect the antenna, set the RF gain to normal and set the AF gain to have a good amount of noise in the speaker/ headphones and then reconnect the antenna and tune to just noise. If the noise increases when connecting the antenna, the radio is sensitive enough to hear atmospheric noise, so you are good. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hermes-lite/CA%2B8oFs9W%2BNu8PUZjqhy%3DGruKRu8S0Zm1WtGhip9KSW4ixZkC8w%40mail.gmail.com.

[Steve Haynal]

What is your RX LNA set to? You usually need it set in the +12db to +20db range.

73,

Steve

kf7o

[Zach Farmer]

I have tested this with contacts I am familiar with and have utilized my g90 as a reference and my g90 is able to pick up and the hermes is not

[Zach Farmer]

Thank you for the reply Steve,

Can you tell me where in the settings to find that?

Thank you,

Zach

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Zach,

I can assure you that a properly setup and functioning HL2 has a good receiver, but there is a steep learning curve to using the HL2. I can't tell you where the LNA setting is for you as it depends on the software you are using and you haven't shared that. My guess is that you may be new to the HL2 and may not have set it up correctly yet. For first time users, the most popular software to use is Thetis. I recommend following the YouTube videos by ON7OFF:

https://www.youtube.com/@ON7OFF

Those videos will cover connecting the N2ADR board, setting your filter selection, and adjusting the LNA. This is quite thorough and includes 10 episodes.

Make sure to use the version of Thetis which supports the HL2:

https://groups.google.com/g/hermes-lite/c/j_AD3Np4Nrw/m/aG31zYJnAgAJ

Most information you need can be found on the wiki:

https://github.com/softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2/wiki

If you still see receiver sensitivity issues after going through this setup and material, then we can work on debugging hardware (determine if the HL2 board or N2ADR filter board is the problem) and possible warranty exchange. 

73,

Steve

kf7o

[DL1YCF]

I cannot tell how to adjust this with host software other than piHPSDR, but the HL2
has a combined RF Attenuator/Gain that goes from -12 to +48 dB,
and the important point is that the „neutral“ position (as compared with other radios) is
somewhere around +14 dB (and NOT zero). This is so because other radios, which usually
only have a step attenuator present, have a fixed pre-amp in the RF chain.

The HL2 has a little bit more „ADC noise“ compared to other radios since the bit depth
of the ADC is smaller, but this you can only see on a very quiet band. On 20m and
below, the largest part of the noise comes from the antenna.

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hermes-lite/424d14d6-7747-4a64-ad9b-10deb8f9108fn%40googlegroups.com.

[Zach Farmer]

Morning Steve,

I appreciate you getting back to me, its funny you sent me the same videos I used to setup the hermes! That guy is awesome!! I am using the latest version of Thetis from miobot and am able to hear stations but the 20M band seems to be specifically my issue. What are your thoughts?

thank you kindly!

Zach

[Ron Lewkowicz]

If it's just the one band I would check to make certain the correct filter is configured to use on that band in the OC section.  20 and 30 meters share the same filter.  If that doesn't resolve it then I would suspect a problem with that filter section on the N2ADR filter board.  Trying tapping on the relay and see if that changes anything.  I think there have been a few isolated cases of issues with relays.

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Zach,

The problem only occurring on 20M is important information. As Ron said, this is either a misconfiguration for 20M filter settings or a problem with the N2ADR board. Please answer every question below with as much details as possible.

1. Do you see the same low RX sensitivity on 30M? Both 20M and 30M share the same filter on the N2ADR board.

2. How are yo measuring low RX sensitivity?

3. Do you have any other modifications or accessories connected to your HL2? IO board? External AMP with its own filters? Audio codec board?

4. In your Thetis settings while receiving on 20M, confirm that the LNA gain is at ~20dB (Hermes Step Attenuator set to 0 attenuation in Thetis) as seen below. Is it set to 0?

5. In your Thetis settings, confirm that your filters are set to the N2ADR default. Include a screenshot (print screen key) in your response.

5. Share a screenshot of the main Thetis window while receiving. Include the 14.076 so that we can see FT8 activity. Here is a sample.

6. Now change your "J16 Receive Pins" setting to select 5 instead of 4 for 20M. This will force use of the 17/15M filter and help diagnose if there is a problem with your N2ADR filter board.

7. Include a screenshot like seen in number 5 above with this new receive filter setting.

73,

Steve

kf7o