DL-Fldigi + Hamlib + Funcube

[Anthony Stirk]

This mail is probably aimed at Wouter Weggelaar  but if anyone else knows I'd appreciate some guidance. 

I run a Windows 7 64 bit system with dl-fldigi and a FCD Pro running through SDRSharp. Daniel Richman kindly compiled a Windows version of dl-fldigi with the new version of libusb in it. Under Hamlib I can now see AMSAT-UK FUNCube Dongle in the list however just selecting it doesn't allow dl-fldigi to control it. 

I'm unsure as to what to put in the Device box (if anything), I'm also unsure if I don't need to install libusb for the FCD separately  If any one has any idea or suggestions on how to get dl-fldigi controlling a FCD under WIndows I'd love to hear from you. 

Cheers,

Anthony M0UPU

[Anthony Stirk]

Hi Wouter,

Not problems thanks for the response. I think this is the issue, as soon as I replace the driver, SDRSharp can't see the FCD so I can't use it. Which kind of defeats the object :) I'd be interest to know if you think there is some method of working round this.

Anthony

On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 9:50 PM, Wouter Weggelaar [PA3WEG] <wout...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Anthony,

I have been offline for a bit due to some CubeSat business, but in short:
You will need to replace the default windows driver with the LibUSB variant. This is quite an annoying process, since all other programs use the windows HID interface and the soundcard output of the FCD. It was possible to use the left USB port in my notebook with LibUSB and the right side one with the default driver. That way, you can choose which driver to use by plugging in at one of the sides.

My normal platform is Linux, but I'm using Win7 64bit at the moment to test FUNcube (the satellite, that is)
If I find some time, I will try the setup and see if it works in windows.
I'm slightly worried that SDR# is controlling the FCD, and will not work if the control interface disappears!

Wouter

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[Kevin Walton]

Hi

Apologies for resurrecting a very old thread, but is directly relevant to my question.

Has anyone got fl-digi to do frequency control of a FunCube dongle or an RTL SDR via HamLib, RigCat, or a.n.other mechanism?

Thanks very much

Kevin

[Kevin Walton]

Answering my own question after some more Googling and testing....

SDR-Radio (SDR Console) has the ability to be controlled via a Serial Port, (and whilst a little more complicated also has a nice multiple VFO capability for sending multiple payloads down different virtual audio cables to multiple copies of dl-fldigi.)

VSP Manager creates 2 virtual serial ports joined together (just like Virtual Audio cable does for audio) - http://k5fr.com/ddutilwiki/index.php?title=VSP_Manager

There is an SDR-Radio RigCat definition - http://www.w1hkj.com/xmlarchives.html

DL-Fldigi has a RigCat interface that can use the above.

Whilst I haven't tested the above for actual payload tracking, selecting a a signal at the bottom or top end of the audio spectrum in dl-fldigi sends the appropriate commands and retunes SDR-Radio.

Cheers

Kev

[Mike Willis]

Rather than trying to connect together serial ports – which is what I did initially to control the FCD back when it first came out – just write to the FCD directly?

 

The virtual serial port method worked fine, my program listened for CAT commands and set the FCD frequency but it was clumsy and only worked in Windows and needed the virtual com port software See for http://www.flickr.com/photos/78638968@N00/5328031979/in/photolist-97Pyhk-dme2LH-95nfMk-dmu7Pd for a laugh.

 

Its pretty easy to control the FCD frequency, it appears as an HID. Why not write a simple addition to FL-DIGI to send the commands?  I can help with the API or you could just take bits of the gnuradio code.

 

Mike

--

[Kevin Walton]

Hi Mike

Interesting thoughts...  

The addition to fl-digi could mainly be a RigCat XML file that talks directly to the FCD virtual serial port (I think I saw details saying it was controlled over serial?)  We would then need an addition to fl-digi to set the Initial frequency?  Would the SDR program (be it SDR#, SDR-Radio, etc) then be happy listening to the audio from the FCD without being able to connect to the serial port to control it?

The benefit to the current solution is that it is radio hardware agnostic - any radio supported by SDR-Radio will work, rather than it being FCD specific...

Cheers

Kev

[Dave B]

On 5 Sep 2013 at 12:06, Mike Willis wrote:

> Rather than trying to connect together serial ports - which is what I
> did initially to control the FCD back when it first came out - just

> write to the FCD directly?
>
> The virtual serial port method worked fine, my program listened for
> CAT commands and set the FCD frequency but it was clumsy and only
> worked in Windows and needed the virtual com port software See for
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/78638968@N00/5328031979/in/photolist-97Py
> hk-dme2LH-95nfMk-dmu7Pd for a laugh.
>
> Its pretty easy to control the FCD frequency, it appears as an HID.
> Why not write a simple addition to FL-DIGI to send the commands? I
> can help with the API or you could just take bits of the gnuradio
> code.
>
> Mike
>

If you could get DL-Fldigi to process the I/Q audio stream from the FDC's
as well, even better.

There was some suggestion that Dave Freese (W1KHJ) was considering adding
that functionality (I/Q audio processing) to support "Softrock" (and
other) basic SDR's. But so far it hasn't appeared. MultiPSK can do
that I believe, or as I and others do, we use SDR# to control the FCD and
process the audio, then use the "mono mix" (or Analogue audio monitor)
functionality of the soundcard to get the audio into DL-Fldigi.

SDR Radio is a system hogg, so for many with less than "Turbo Nutter
Buster" PC's it's not an option sadly.

73.

Dave G0WBX.