Fwd: SDRplay API 3.15 and Linrad 5.02

[Roger Rehr]

Hi All,

The SDRplay RSP1B needs the SDRplay 3.14 API or newer and the RSPdx R2
needs the newest SDRplay API 3.15.

Linrad 5.02 will only use the SDRplay 3.11 API or older versions.

Linrad will work with the SDRplay API 3.15 if the following code changes
are made:

1. In the file sdrplay3.c, adding the following two lines before end of
the sdrplay "if/endif" block near the beginning of the file:

#elif SDRPLAY3PAR_VERNR == 315
#define SDRPLAY_API_VERSION   (float)(3.15)


2. In vernr.h change the line:
#define SDRPLAY3PAR_VERNR 311
to
#define SDRPLAY3PAR_VERNR 315

Then recompile Linrad 5.02.

I have confirmed that this works for both linrad.exe and linrad64.exe.

I am sure Leif will update the code but the above will allow you to use
SDRplay API 3.15 in the interim.

73,

Roger Rehr
W3SZ

[Rick Kunath]

There is about a month's work already done on this Roger, including work
being done on the HDR mode of the original DX and the DX R2. This is on
Linux and Windows both.

All of that needs the SDRplay Linux API version 3.15 now.

And there is more needed (and already done to support the RSP1B and the
Dx R2, not only the RSP but also int he HDR support. That is about all
done. Franco Venturi has been working on the code and I have been
helping test. I was about to do some additional HDR mode tests on the
RSPdx R2. I was testing the RSP1B and the RSPdx R2 since December here.
HDR is not as simple as one might think, believe me. But between my
testing and Franco's code and some help from SDRplay I think we have
about figured it out.

Once we are set, Franco will be forwarding the changes up to Leif for
merging.

There is an experimental fork of the code right now, but unless you
absolutely have to have the support, I'd suggest waiting a few more days
and it'll be pushed up to Leif for merging.

Rick Kunath, K9AO

[Franco Venturi]

Thanks Roger for the useful suggestions!

As a matter of fact a few days ago I made some very similar changes to the 'sdrplay3.c' file in my Linrad repository (https://github.com/fventuri/linrad/blob/sdrplay_api.3.15/sdrplay3.c).

Rick Kunath and I are testing these changes (he has both a RSP1B and a RSPdx-R2, so he can make sure everything work as expected), and I was planning to send everything to Leif shortly.

73,

Franco K4VZ

[Roger Rehr]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the note...I guess my email was confusing.  I apologize for that.

My email was intended to have three parts:
1.  Indicating why having Linrad working with SDRplay API 3.15 was important (new devices on the horizon)
2.  Providing the entire (very short and simple) code necessary to have the SDRplay 3.15 API work with Linrad
3.  A statement that the Linrad code changes given were tested and that they worked with both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Linrad.

There was not intended to be any request for support in my email, as I do not need support.  I thought that I was providing support for those who want to use 3.15 now, pending the upcoming next version of Linrad. 

I did not mention it in my email, which I was trying to keep simple and short to avoid confusion, but having support for 3.15 in Linrad is important even for folks like me who do not have any of the new devices requiring 3.15 and who have no plans to get them.  Most folks who have upgraded to the new SDR Uno version (like me) will now have the 3.15 API installed and without the modified Linrad code their SDRplay devices will not work with Linrad unless they downgrade to SDRplay API 3.11.  Having the modified Linrad code removes this inconvenience, and that is why I made the code changes and reported them. 

Sorry for the confusion!

73,

Roger

[Rick Kunath]

Roger,

I’m always happy to see others poking at the code too, so I hope my email did not come off wrong. If it did, apologies, I didn’t mean it that way. The more help the better.

However in the Windows case and Linrad, the older Windows version (Leif’s) will work with the SDRplay Windows 3.15 API and the older hardware as long as you have the older SDRplay API version .dll and .lib files in the Linrad 64-bit dll directory. Mine is running that way now. (I’ll be testing new Windows Linrad versions tomorrow with the 3.15 API and the two new hardware devices.) The SDRplay API dll and lib files would already be there if Linrad was working. So nothing should have caused Linrad to stop working with the 3.15 upgrade unless the Linrad installation was non-standard. All my Linrad dlls are in the directory Leif’s installer places them. I do not run Linrad from there, instead using separate different directories for different purposes and each Linrad directory is self contained (but they all look to the one dll directory). But as you correctly pointed out neither of the new RSPs will work without the 3.15 API and the modified Linrad to use that API (including moving the 2 matching SDRplay API files) plus Linrad code additions to support the two new devices. They both run wonderfully, by the way :) this is true only for the Windows API case.

Linux needs a specified API as you described. Franco and I have been testing the new SDRplay APIs and testing the Linux versions also as SDRplay devs sent us test versions from bugs I and he reported since last fall. Most of these were never released to users by SDRplay. The last few for the new hardware were. And the Linux API is rock solid now but earlier versions were not.

I did get the HDR testing done tonight on the RSPdx R2 in Linux and that’s all figured out now. So shortly anyone with an RSPdx or an RSPdx R2 will be able to use HDR mode too. Of course the dual-channel recording on the RSPduo is working flawlessly since last year too (thank you Franco and Leif).

Leif has a bunch of changes too and the versions of forked Linrad I’m testing are all at Leif’s 1039, that’s the latest stuff. (Main Linrad version is 5.03 now.)

So, I’m just writing up a quick note about where Franco and I are at so others will know that shortly Linrad will be current with all of the SDRplay devices and their current API :)

I hope that made sense and is helpful to folks. I’m done testing for tonight but I’ll be back at it on Windows tomorrow and I’m hoping that wraps it up. Linux testing is done I think.

73,
Rick Kunath, K9AO

[Roger Rehr]

H Rick,

Good stuff, thanks for sharing it!

73 es GL,

Roger
W3SZ