No FT8 decodes

[VE7PPE]

Hi,

Running latest release SparkSDR with Fedora on a AMD64 laptop with a SDRplay RSP1A.  FT8 decodes were working, then it just completely stopped two days ago.

• Reinstalled SparkSDR from rpm - didn't wipe all the data/config/log files though
• Reinstalled WSJT-X from repo
• Set FT8 general config to: 3, /usr/bin/wsjtx
• Only have FT8 receiver open in SparkSDR on 20m - have tried 40, 30, 20
  
• No WSJT-x copy is open
  
• Continues to throw a wsjtx error numerous times on a periodic basis:
  Command line error
  Unknown options: 8, m, d.
• ps -aux|grep wsjtx shows the call that is generating the error:
  Sl   13:13   0:00 /usr/bin/wsjtx -8 -m 1 -d 3 221111_211300.wav
  

This morning opened GQRX with RSP1A, linking it to WSJT-X with a pactl sink.  20m was very active.  Moved to SparkSDR and nda, nothing decoding, zero!

Been all through the configuration over the last two days, but can't seem to get this fixed.

Any ideas?

[VE7PPE]

Further attempts at getting SparkSDR to work correctly:

• RF gain adjusted from 3-8
• Really wish this was open-source so I could poke about to try and understand where this error is being produced.  Also could build it from source with appropriate flags.
  
• WSJT-X manual doesn't show any of these command-line options in Linux [man wsjtx]
  
• I have no idea why a wav file is being generated, and I have no way of trying to figure it out
• Where are the config file(s) stored?  looked in /usr/etc, /usr/local/etc/, ~/.config
• Where is the FT8 profile stored?  Hard-coded in binary?  Is it possible to edit the pre-defined profiles?  Or do I need to define my own?
• Are there logs generated?  Where?  Checked /var/log & ~/.log
  
  I really like the ability to quickly define/set-up multiple receivers for spotting in SparkSDR, but the current issues make it unusable
  

[ahop...@googlemail.com]

Hi,

the  first test would be to set the decode FT8 decode level to 0 , this uses an internal decoder and does not rely on WSJTX.  Levels 1 and above use the jt9 exe that is included in WSJTX, it does not call WSJTX at all, have you changed the paths in settings, if so they should point at JT9 not WSJTX.

73 Alan M0NNB

[VE7PPE]

Thanks for the response.

I'll change the path to /usr/bin/jt9.  BTW its not an .exe binary on my Linux system.  I had done this previously, but will retest it with the correct configuration.  Might want to include that explicit information in the manual.  It just says to make sure to install WSJT-X and set the location correctly.

But first I would like to start with a fresh install.  When I open a newly installed copy of SparkSDR, it still has last session profile, all my input information in the general settings, etc.  Where is that information stored so I can completely nuke all remnants of the previous installation?  I went through the standard config file locations, but nothing shows for SparkSDR or sparksdr.

[VE7PPE]

Install  1 Package

Total size: 30 M
Installed size: 99 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
 Preparing        :                                                                          1/1  
 Installing       : SparkSDR-2.0.33-0.x86_64                                                 1/1  
 Running scriptlet: SparkSDR-2.0.33-0.x86_64                                                 1/1  
 Verifying        : SparkSDR-2.0.33-0.x86_64                                                 1/1  
Completion plugin: Generating completion cache...
Installed: SparkSDR-2.0.33-0.x86_64

Installed:
 SparkSDR-2.0.33-0.x86_64                                                                         

Complete!
$ sparksdr
bash: sparksdr: command not found...
$ SparkSDR
starting
ALSA lib pcm_dsnoop.c:566:(snd_pcm_dsnoop_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:999:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm.c:2666:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear
ALSA lib pcm.c:2666:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.center_lfe
ALSA lib pcm.c:2666:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.side
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:999:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock

Stays hung.

Both alsa-lib-devel & pulseaudio-libs-devel were previously installed

[ahop...@googlemail.com]

The config files are in the next level up directory from the from error logs , their location is described in the trouble shooting part of the help.  if you delete all the files here there will be no trace of Spark. You can also backup the settings directory if you want to preserve profiles etc.

I do need to spend some time on the docs :)

73 Alan M0NNB

[VE7PPE]

$ SparkSDR
starting
ALSA lib pcm_dsnoop.c:566:(snd_pcm_dsnoop_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:999:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm.c:2666:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear
ALSA lib pcm.c:2666:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.center_lfe
ALSA lib pcm.c:2666:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.side
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:999:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock
JackShmReadWritePtr::~JackShmReadWritePtr - Init not done for -1, skipping unlock

using gpu True
radio started

FT8, depth=3, rf gain=8, 30m is now decoding, 9 decodes in last 2.5 minutes.

A fully clean reinstall and reboot seemed to have reset whatever go out of step earlier.

Thanks for writing SparkSDR, and helping get a fresh install