IQ-64 SDR TRANSCEIVER Updates?

[Roger Oppenheimer]

Hi Everyone,

I bought an RS-HFIQ when it first came out, and it has been sitting on the shelf since.  I now have a bit more time and would like to build an IQ-64 version for digital modes.

Does anyone know if the hardware has changed since the original article?  Can I use a new version 4+ Pi?  How about the audio interface, is the Beringer UFO202 still the best choice.  

Thanks for all your help!

Roger, W2REO 

[WA2EUJ]

 You have some options for upgrading your RS-HFIQ.

1. The IQ64 configuration is still current. The Behringer UFO202 and UCA202 are both supported but it seems like Behringer has had some supply issues but I'm assured that they are being resolved and the UFO202 will be available in short order. There are many sources for the Raspberry PI 3B or 3B+ so you can make that work if you are primarily interested in digital modes that's a good way to go. You can buy a RPI3B at Target.

2. The IQ32, we have sold out of the upgrade kits but we are considering offering an upgrade service or discounted price on the IQ32.

3. Another option is the PI SDR IQ+ which has very high performance converters built in with no driver issues to contend with. It comes as a PowerSDR client or can be configured in a stand-alone mode very similar to the IQ64 but with much better performance.

I personally use the RS-HFIQ and PI SDR IQ+ with PowerSDR for voice modes and a IQ64 for digital.

73,

Jim WA2EUJ

[Roger Oppenheimer]

Thanks for the reply Jim, it's greatly appreciated.  Can you tell me if the new Raspberry Pi Model 4+ can be used instead of the 3+?

73,

Roger, W2REO

[WA2EUJ]

Hi Roger,

I am totally the wrong person to ask. Craig, WB5KUO, developed the image that's on the website and I'm grateful for his considerable efforts in sanitizing the LINUX stuff for us. I know that it works on a 3B and 3B+ but I haven't tried it on a 4. My limited experience with LINUX tells me that it probably won't work, there's some package that needs updating or a config file with a wrong line that needs editing but it would take an experienced LINUXer 2 days to find it.

I was able to connect a USB mic and USB speakers and use it on voice modes and (after days of reading forums and trying stuff), I was able to reduce the image size to fit on a 8G card.

Running a 48 kHz sound card, the 3B is plenty fast enough even if you are running VNC and remoting the screen somewhere else. 

Maybe a IQ64 user has tried it on a 4???

73,

Jim WA2EUJ

[tflyn...@aol.com]

Did anyone answer Jim/Roger’s question?  I bought a pi4 as well thinking the 3B+ could use a boost in processing power... maybe widen the bandwidth.  Loading a pi is a total mystery to me...

Tom

AE5NF

[WA2EUJ]

Here is what I found about running a SD card for a PI3 on a PI4. It looks like we will need someone who has both a PI3 and a PI4 to make this work.

Raspberry Pi 4, for a reason I'm not familiar with, requires a larger boot partition. You cannot just insert your existing SD card into the new Raspberry Pi 4, because the code necessary to boot it won't be there.

In short, the fix for this is:

1. Upgrade Raspbian
2. Enlarge the boot partition
3. Update the bootloader
4. Swap the card

Read on for the specifics...

1. Make a backup! Pop the card in your laptop or desktop computer and image the SD card to a file. Here is a guide for that.
2. While your SD card is still in your old Raspberry Pi, upgrade your version of Raspbian to Raspbian Buster. Basically, do this:
   1. sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade
   2. reboot
   3. edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/raspi.list and change the word "stretch" to "buster". Save the file.
   4. sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade
   5. reboot
3. If that went well, then you need to shut down your Pi and take out the SD card. Pop it in your laptop or desktop with a special program running: GParted. If your computer isn't running Linux, you can download a Live CD version of GParted and boot from a CD or USB. There are guides for helping you with that.
4. Point GParted at your SD card and do these two things, then apply changes:
   1. Move the second partition to the right by about 200MB.
   2. Enlarge the first partition to fill the available space. Be sure not to change the start position of the first partition, or your Pi won't boot. Also make sure your first partition is at least 250 MB.
   Once the changes are applied, unmount the SD card and put it back in your Raspberry Pi 3.
   If that doesn't work: a kind reader noted that this did not work for them due to a bug in GParted/libparted, but they were able to delete and recreate the partition (with a larger size) by following these instructions. Once the partition was recreated, they were able to copy over the original boot partition files and it worked. (Thanks Sachin for this tip!)
5. Run the following command: sudo apt install --reinstall raspberrypi-bootloader raspberrypi-kernel
6. Swap the SD card over to the new Raspberry Pi and boot it up!

[tflyn...@aol.com]

Wow thanks... I will give it a try.

Tom

AE5NF