Re: Hermes-Light with Skimmer Servers for the RBN

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Pete,

Your work with the Reverse Beacon Network is very interesting. Thanks! 

There are some positives and negatives (challenges) when considering the Hermes-Lite as a RBN node. First the positives. The 12-bit ADC and integrated LNA (preamp) in the AD9866 used by the Hermes-Lite do a decent job for receiving. Skimmers have good success when using the Hermes-Lite. Paired with the BeMicro CVA9 and its larger FPGA, people are using the Hermes-Lite with 12+ slice receivers to skim all HF amateur radio bands. We even have Alan Hopper's Hermes-Lite specific software that prioritizes using many slice receivers, sharing these receivers, and skimming JT9/JT65 and WSPR. And finally, the overall cost of a Hermes-Lite system is relatively low compared to other SDRs.

Now for some challenges:

1. The current version of the Hermes-Lite must be paired with a BeMicro CV, BeMicro SDK or BeMicro CVA9 FPGA card. These are sold by Arrow and are becoming harder to source. Currently, only the more expensive and larger CVA9 is in stock. It may be difficult as well as an unexpected cost to source and find this card.
   
2. Partly to address point 1, we are working on version 2.0 that will include its own MAX 10 FPGA. This effort is entirely open source and done by me and a few other volunteers in our usually limited spare time. There is no guaranteed completion or expected delivery date. There is no business or company that can commit to you. I don't think the Hermes-Lite project can benefit from more engineers (I am a believer in the Mythical Man Month) but the Hermes-Lite project could benefit if a small company and/or 1-3 good engineers were able to focus on this 100%. I already have a full-time job that does better at paying the bills, so am not interested in starting a business, but maybe someone else is.   
3. The project so far caters mainly to the DIY and homebrewer types. There is no standard enclosure for rugged remote installs. See our gallery for examples of what users do.
4. The firmware is very experimental. Although it is based on the Hermes RTL, there are significant changes to work with the AD9866. We don't adhere to strict timing closure and regression testing when releasing firmware. Sometimes the firmware will run 24 hours without a problem, other times more than a week. You'll need a way to remotely "cold reboot" the system.
5. This is a transceiver project. Most of the effort and focus recently has been to clean-up the spurious TX emissions. This may distract people from focusing on your needs for RX and is an added expense for your.
6. The RX doesn't currently have, but could benefit from preselector filtering. There is already a preamp on the AD9866.

If RX is your goal and you are satisfied with 12-bit + preamp performance, here are some other SDRs to consider:

1. SDRplay
   
2. Airspy with spyverter. The Spyverter is not just another upconverter, I don't know the details, but W9RAN who sometimes monitors this list would. 
   
3. The KiwiSDR is under active development and John has similar goals to yours. Plus I think his RX is 16-bit.

I've reposted this to our google group as others may add to the discussion. If after more discussion you are still interested in the Hermes-Lite, I can arrange a loaner or bare PCBs for you.

73,

Steve

KF7O

On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 5:51 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR <n4...@contesting.com> wrote:

Hi Steve - Vasiliy, K3IT, suggested I contact you about Hermes-Light.  I'm one of the founders of the Reverse Beacon Network.  One of our projects is to fill gaps in the RBN's coverage, particularly in developing countries.  The objectives include both ham radio and, potentially, ionospheric science, through a group called HamSCI, based at Virginia Tech.  We have some funding from the Yasme Foundation, and are looking at equatorial sites in West Africa, and eastern Brazil, as well as elsewhere along the equator and in high North and South latitudes.

What we don't have, for the moment (and, I'm afraid, much longer) is a suitable SDR.  The majority of our nodes use QS1Rs, but there have been significant hardware issues when used for multi-band receive with CW and RTTY Skimmer Servers.  N8VB is working on a new version, but both delivery and price are slipping.  Meanwhile, I read about Vasiliy's Hermesintf DLL, for both Hermes and Hermes-Lite.  It seems as if it could be the answer to our prayers, though of course the hardware is not as plug-and-play as the QS1R.

Do you have any idea where I might be able to either borrow or buy a Hermes-Lite to test?  I don't mind building SMT stuff, but would like a lower-overhead solution if possible, at least until we see if it could work.  If it does, I can certainly see working out the details of a sturdy boxed unit with a preamp and front-end filtering  that we could send off to Liberia or Sierra Leone or wherever with some confidence that it would keep working.

Thanks for thinking about this.

-- 

73, Pete N4ZR
Download the new N1MM Logger+ at 
<http://N1MM.hamdocs.com>. Check 
out the Reverse Beacon Network at 
<http://reversebeacon.net>, now 
spotting RTTY activity worldwide. 
For spots, please use your favorite 
"retail" DX cluster.

[Doug Theriault]

Pete,

I've been feeding RBN with CW spots for past 3-4 months or so now using
a Hermes Lite v1.22 and CVA9 board combination. I have a 2nd HL/CVA9
that I use for WSPR spotting on 11 bands. Both have been operational
months at a time not requiring reboots. Strictly using both boards Rx
only, have not ventured into Tx yet. Performance of my HL during CQWW
are listed on your blog page.

Typically my CW Spots are reported w/in +/- .1Khz per RBN but I do see
minor variance due to temperature changes; both my HL's are running in
an unheated garage. Toying with building a disciplined oscillator
solution to see if I can achieve better stability.

If you'd like, I can send you one of my HL/CVA9 for testing. Assembly is
not too difficult, if you have a microscope :-) Send me an email
directly if you'd like me to send to you.

73,
Doug - NO1D

On 01/13/2016 10:41 AM, Steve Haynal wrote:
> Hi Pete,
>
> Your work with the Reverse Beacon Network is very interesting. Thanks!
>
> There are some positives and negatives (challenges) when considering
> the Hermes-Lite as a RBN node. First the positives. The 12-bit ADC and
> integrated LNA (preamp) in the AD9866 used by the Hermes-Lite do a
> decent job for receiving. Skimmers have good success when using the
> Hermes-Lite. Paired with the BeMicro CVA9 and its larger FPGA, people
> are using the Hermes-Lite with 12+ slice receivers to skim all HF
> amateur radio bands. We even have Alan Hopper's Hermes-Lite specific
> software that prioritizes using many slice receivers, sharing these
> receivers, and skimming JT9/JT65 and WSPR. And finally, the overall
> cost of a Hermes-Lite system is relatively low compared to other SDRs.
>
> Now for some challenges:
>

> 1. The current version of the Hermes-Lite must be paired with a

> BeMicro CV, BeMicro SDK or BeMicro CVA9 FPGA card. These are sold

> by Arrow <https://www.arrow.com/en/products/search?q=BeMicro> and

> are becoming harder to source. Currently, only the more expensive
> and larger CVA9 is in stock. It may be difficult as well as an
> unexpected cost to source and find this card.

> 2. Partly to address point 1, we are working on version 2.0 that will

> include its own MAX 10 FPGA. This effort is entirely open source
> and done by me and a few other volunteers in our usually limited
> spare time. There is no guaranteed completion or expected delivery
> date. There is no business or company that can commit to you. I
> don't think the Hermes-Lite project can benefit from more
> engineers (I am a believer in the Mythical Man Month

> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month>) but the

> Hermes-Lite project could benefit if a small company and/or 1-3
> good engineers were able to focus on this 100%. I already have a
> full-time job that does better at paying the bills, so am not
> interested in starting a business, but maybe someone else is.

> 3. The project so far caters mainly to the DIY and homebrewer types.

> There is no standard enclosure for rugged remote installs. See our
> gallery

> <https://github.com/softerhardware/Hermes-Lite/wiki/Gallery-of-Hermes-Lite-Builds> for

> examples of what users do.

> 4. The firmware is very experimental. Although it is based on the

> Hermes RTL, there are significant changes to work with the AD9866.
> We don't adhere to strict timing closure and regression testing
> when releasing firmware. Sometimes the firmware will run 24 hours
> without a problem, other times more than a week. You'll need a way
> to remotely "cold reboot" the system.

> 5. This is a transceiver project. Most of the effort and focus

> recently has been to clean-up the spurious TX emissions. This may
> distract people from focusing on your needs for RX and is an added
> expense for your.

> 6. The RX doesn't currently have, but could benefit from preselector

> filtering. There is already a preamp on the AD9866.
>
>
> If RX is your goal and you are satisfied with 12-bit + preamp
> performance, here are some other SDRs to consider:
>

> 1. SDRplay <http://www.sdrplay.com/>
> 2. Airspy with spyverter <http://airspy.com/>. The Spyverter is not

> just another upconverter, I don't know the details, but W9RAN who
> sometimes monitors this list would.

> 3. The KiwiSDR <http://www.jks.com/KiwiSDR/index.html> is under

> active development and John has similar goals to yours. Plus I
> think his RX is 16-bit.
>
>
> I've reposted this to our google group as others may add to the
> discussion. If after more discussion you are still interested in the
> Hermes-Lite, I can arrange a loaner or bare PCBs for you.
>
> 73,
>
> Steve
> KF7O
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 5:51 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR <n4...@contesting.com
> <mailto:n4...@contesting.com>> wrote:
>
> Hi Steve - Vasiliy, K3IT, suggested I contact you about
> Hermes-Light. I'm one of the founders of the Reverse Beacon
> Network. One of our projects is to fill gaps in the RBN's
> coverage, particularly in developing countries. The objectives
> include both ham radio and, potentially, ionospheric science,
> through a group called HamSCI, based at Virginia Tech. We have
> some funding from the Yasme Foundation, and are looking at
> equatorial sites in West Africa, and eastern Brazil, as well as
> elsewhere along the equator and in high North and South latitudes.
>
> What we don't have, for the moment (and, I'm afraid, much longer)
> is a suitable SDR. The majority of our nodes use QS1Rs, but there
> have been significant hardware issues when used for multi-band
> receive with CW and RTTY Skimmer Servers. N8VB is working on a

> new version, butboth delivery and price are slipping. Meanwhile, I

> read about Vasiliy's Hermesintf DLL, for both Hermes and
> Hermes-Lite. It seems as if it could be the answer to our
> prayers, though of course the hardware is not as plug-and-play as
> the QS1R.
>
> Do you have any idea where I might be able to either borrow or buy
> a Hermes-Lite to test? I don't mind building SMT stuff, but would
> like a lower-overhead solution if possible, at least until we see
> if it could work. If it does, I can certainly see working out the
> details of a sturdy boxed unit with a preamp and front-end
> filtering that we could send off to Liberia or Sierra Leone or
> wherever with some confidence that it would keep working.
>
> Thanks for thinking about this.
>
> --
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> Download the new N1MM Logger+ at

> <http://N1MM.hamdocs.com> <http://N1MM.hamdocs.com>. Check

> out the Reverse Beacon Network at

> <http://reversebeacon.net> <http://reversebeacon.net>, now

> spotting RTTY activity worldwide.
> For spots, please use your favorite
> "retail" DX cluster.
>
>

> --
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--
73,
Doug - NO1D

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Pete,

NO1D offered to send you a loaner in a message posted to our Google Group. He is also already participating in the RBN with his Hermes-Lite. I have forwarded his post to you since you opted to not receive e-mails with your group membership. I also posted your message below to the group.

73,

Steve

KF7O

On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 6:14 PM, Pete Smith N4ZR <n4...@contesting.com> wrote:

Thanks for all the info, Steve.  I am well aware of the prototype nature of the Lite receiver, and have looked at the gallery.  I hear you on the "challenges".  We're a bit limited by the availability of dlls to interface Skimmer Servers with a few SDRs, one choice being Hermes and Hermes Lite. From the design discussion on your wiki, it sounds as if 2.0 will be a big step forward, whenever it comes out. 

I've sent an inquiry to Airspy, and in the meantime will continue to listen on the group.  Unfortunately, I'm not able to contribute much, given that I was a history major in college and took three tries to get through integral calculus - my last programming was on a Commodore 64.

Thanks again!