Re: Support

[ve6ccl]

Hi Bob and Pablo

Just to update you on our progress.

We got both rotor boards set up now
The step missed was setting up the gain pot 1 to get the voltage down to 5 volts max
It was about 8 when we checked it\
(Note the documentation we had indicated CCW increase gain CW decrease gain
we needed to turn CCW to reduce the votage at test point.)

On the RCI SE board we had to use the 10 bit
Our existing board was set to 8 bit.

Now we are able to switch rotors from the desktop window
BUT
The IRBHost software only controls the HF rotor RCI 1
even when we got to VHF bands.

Bob this is here is how we have the antenna portion of the config file set up for our IRBHost.

;ANTS BY BAND DEFINITIONS [UP TO FIVE PER BAND]
;
; BAND={band list}, NUM={1-5}, ANT={1-12}, TUNER={0-2}, FLO={kHz}, FHI={kHz}
;
;Gen Coverage
BAND=0, NUM=1, ANT=1, TUNER=2
snip
ANT=5, DES=band 5, NAME=20, CON=1, SWI=4, ROT=1,OFFSET_FOR_ROTER=-000
snip
ANT=10, DES=6m BEAM, NAME=6MBEAM, CON=1,ROT=2,OFFSET_FOR_ROTER=000
ANT=11, DES=2m Yagi, NAME=2YAGI, CON=1,ROT=2
ANT=12, DES=70cm Yagi, NAME=70YAGI, CON=1, ROT=2
;
BAND=0, NUM=1, ANT=1, TUNER=0
BAND=160, NUM=1, ANT=1, TUNER=0
BAND=80, NUM=1, ANT=2, TUNER=0
BAND=40, NUM=1, ANT=3, TUNER=0
BAND=30, NUM=1, ANT=4, TUNER=0
BAND=20, NUM=1, ANT=5, TUNER=0
BAND=17, NUM=1, ANT=6, TUNER=0
BAND=15, NUM=1, ANT=7, TUNER=0
BAND=12, NUM=1, ANT=8, TUNER=0
BAND=10, NUM=1, ANT=9, TUNER=0
BAND=6, NUM=2, ANT=10, TUNER=0
BAND=2, NUM=3, ANT=11, TUNER=0
BAND=70, NUM=4, ANT=12, TUNER=0, FLO=433000

Thanks for your help

Rob
VE6AO

ADMIN CARA VE6A0 IRB

n2jeu wrote:

> > I've taken over the software project from Stan, W4MQ. I don't have any
> > documentation on that board but if you can point me at some
> > documentation (if it exists online) I'll be glad to take a look at it
> > and see what's possible using it with the W4MQ software.
> >
> > Bob Arnold N2JEU
> > (http://www.n2jeu.net/)
J. Pablo GARCIA wrote:
> Hi Rob,
>
> Maybe it was caused by a old ARSWIN release.
>
> PSE, download the latest ARSWIn release from the web site:
> http://www.ea4tx.com/download/index.htm
>
> And use the ARSWIN 2.2a
>
> This release shoudl work fine....
>
> You must firstable do the setup of each RCI Board (RCI-1 and RCI-2) for each
> rotator, and then select the antenna for each Board...
>
> 73's Pablo
>
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: ve6ccl [mailto:ve6...@shaw.ca]
> Enviado el: miércoles, 17 de junio de 2009 23:15
> Para: jpga...@interlanco.com
> CC: sup...@ea4tx.com; 'VE6QDO Dale'; 'VE6TC Mike'
> Asunto: Re: Support
>
> Hi Pablo
>
> I am attaching our current ARS.INI file I could not find an ARS1.INI file
> so that may be a clue that we are not setting up correctly.
>
> We were finding that we were having to go to the Antenna Board and set up an
> antenna 1 and an antenna 2 before the setup for each board was remembered
> settings for the RCI boards.
>
> our first time in
> were going preference>setup and set RCI-1 for DFF0 and then set RCI-2 for
> DFF8 when we go back to when we go back a check RCI-1 it had become DFF8
>
> After setting up Antenna Board for 2 antennas when one antenna was selected
> both RCI-1 and RCI-2 were set to one port address then switching to the
> other antenna both board could be set to other port.
>
> We must be missing a step
>
> When should ARS1.INI be created?
>
>
> 73 and thanks\
> Rob VE6CCL
>
>
> J. Pablo GARCIA wrote:
>
>> Hi Rob,
>>
>> I'd like to check your setup. So PSE send me the files: ARS.INI and
>> ARS1.INI located at your \windows (or \WINNT) directory.
>>
>> In any way, you must know that the ARSWIN can control both boards, but
>> ONLY one at the same time, so you must select Antenna 1 (Ctrl-F1) or
>> Antenna 2
>> (Ctrl-F2)
>>
>> Basically you must do 2 setups for RCI-1 and RCI-2. Each setup will
>> configure your LPT port, rotator limits and calibrations, etc.
>> Later, you mus go to the Preference -> Setup -> Antenna Boards
>>
>> And select:
>> Antenna 1 -> RCI-1
>> Antenna 2 -> RCI-2
>>
>> And for change from antenna 1 to antenna 2 use the short-keys Ctrl-F1
>> or
>> Ctrl-F2
>>
>> It should work....
>>
>> 73's Pablo - EA4TX
>>
>>
>> -----Mensaje original-----
>> De: ve6ccl [mailto:ve6...@shaw.ca]
>> Enviado el: martes, 16 de junio de 2009 18:21
>> Para: sup...@ea4tx.com
>> CC: VE6QDO Dale; VE6TC Mike
>> Asunto: Support
>>
>> We are having a problem setting up our second rotor control board
>>
>> We have a working RCI board controlled by W4MQ's IRBHost software for
>> our HF beam.
>> This board has been operating well off of LPT 2 (DFF0) for a while now
>>
>> We purchased a RCI SE at the end of last year and want to use it to
>> control the Azimuth of our VHF stack You may have a record of the
>> purchase sent to me at 283 20 Coachway Rd SW, Calgary Alberta Canada.
>>
>> The board performs its functions when set up on a TEST computer on
>> LPT1
>>
>> The RCI SE board functions properly on our IRB computer when set up as
>> the only rotor control board. It works on LPT1 or LPT3 (DFF8) or LPT2
>> (DFF0) when the software is set up
>> for only one antenna. No other Application is running.
>> The existing board is not connected to any port
>>
>> With the RCI board and configuring it for LPT2 and set up to control
>> the HF beam the HF antennas RCI responds as expected.
>> As soon as we change the configuration by assigning it so antenna 1 is
>> HF beam (LPT2-DFF0) and antenna 2 is vhf stack (LPT3-DFF8 )
>> the RCI SE stops responding to commands . The HF antennas RCI still
>> responds.
>>
>> We are having trouble knowing how to set up the ARWIN software. We
>> have version 2c installed from the supplied disk.
>>
>> Can you help
>>
>> What additional info do you need.
>>
>> Rob VE6CCL
>>
>> Calgary Amateur Radio Association
>> VE6AO IRB project
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>

[W4MQ Stan]

Bob,

Thought I would jump in here.  If my memory is correct, the software is  not aware of the multiple rotator capability for the ARS.  The software was designed to deal with ONE rotator, and an offset for particular antennas on the single rotator stack.  There was never any requirement for two separate antenna stacks, such as the situation at VE6AO.  So this would be a change to the original design.

 This would also necessitate some rotor definition logic that would allow you do define a rotor assigned to a particular antenna, etc..   I think that would require adding some software that would allow the setup file define which ARS rotator you are using (1-4) and the variables, etc that would support that within the operational software. 

73,  Stan W4MQ

[ve6ccl]

Thank you for your inputs
We appreciate your efforts and VE6AO's IRB will be only to happy to
provide a test bed for this configuration

Rob Ve6ccl

[n2jeu]

Thanks for the input, Stan.

You're quite correct in that I see no easy way in the code right now
to add the ability to control a second rotor within the IRB software.
It should be possible to add that ability but it isn't something I'm
able to do right now. I'm still working on getting my own test system
going and then learning about the software itself. My present problem
is the daily invasion of thunderstorms in my area making any work on
the ham station or the software difficult at best and hazardous at the
worst.

Bob N2JEU

[ve6ccl]

Thanks Bob
I know your list of things users want will only grow.
Rob Ve6ccl

[ve6ccl]

Pablo


We can control the ARWIN software for each rotor locally.

Is there a way to set up so only one board at a time is active.
so that the IRBHost only sees the one we want it too.
one configuration for VHF and one for HF beams

Will experiment a bit.

Any Ideas?

With out changing the software
can you give us a hint on how we can work with both boards attached to the computer
from the desk top ( our Admins can get to the desktop remotely)


Rob Ve6ccl


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