The 6M-160M HPSDR Transceiver Project Begins

[WA1GFZ]

You might be able to grind the nubs off the end of the connectors and get them to mate backwards. Good thing I spotted your problem. I'll send you the assembly instructions again and I bet you quickly find the problem. When I built my board I soldered in 2 pins and tried a board just to be sure. Don'y bother trying to desolder the connectors. You might get lucky if you file the end registration nubs and get the boards to mate. Then you could save the board. I just checked my Atlas  nad the nubs face away from the power connector.

[K1JJ]

Yep, and mine face TOWARDS the power connector.   I have the manual and don't see that stated. O'well.

I just ordered another Atlas. $39 shot to hell.

So if I file the nubs off, the board can be used as-is, spun 180, huh?  Maybe I shud do that and just keep the new Atlas for future expansion.  As long as all boards face their socket towards the opening, I'm OK when plugging in. I could add on a red sticker to insure they go in right.

This is what the astronauts wud do if stuck out in space, right?

T

[WA1GFZ]

If you can get the connectors to mate backwards by taking off the registration nubs you are in business. I never tried it with a Euro VME connector backwards. When I built my board I just installed one connector with a couple solder connections then mated one board just to be sure.
My Racal RA6830 has the same connectors so I'm used to them. Also we use them at work.
Consider yourself hazed by the euro standard.

[K1JJ]

Success!

I took out the Dremel tool and filed off just the end nubs and left the center ones there for alignment. Works like a charm. The board slides in 180 degrees out now. Can't notice the difference.

This will be a non-event, cuz I'll make some fail-safes to be sure the boards do not get plugged in wrong.

I'll cancel that Atlas order. I really didn't want to spend another 4 hours soldering those 700 connections...

You da man!

T

[K1JJ]

Looks like all HPSDR boards (current boards) will be back in production and sales will be handled by a new company.

This is good news for guys just jumping in.

T


See post today,  below:

-----------


***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****

Hi all,

Just so you don't think that we forgot about new production, we will be kicking off the new web page within two weeks.

Initial descriptions of the boards we will offer (Mercury, Pennylane and Magister) will be up by then, and the ordering pages will follow shortly. Those of you that signed up on the show of interest page will receive a direct e-mail message announcement.

Note that while the boards will be manufactured by the same manufacturer as the first production runs, they will not be sold by TAPR but by the new company.

The new company will be devoted to web sales of SDR and related hardware. HPSDR boards will be our first boards.

Dan and I will, of course, continue to support TAPR and HPSDR with the first production run of new boards. (We are getting ready for the marathon Metis testing sessions right now! :-)  The new web sales page will be for the "mature" products that TAPR has sold out of, to continue to make these boards available.

73,
Scotty WA2DFI
Dan, N4XWE

[K1JJ]

Frank -

On the PTT control of the overall HPSDR transceiver...

So far I am keying Penny at the Pin 1 of the 25 pin connector and will use its pin 13 as the output PTT for the station.  Do I also need to manually/relay mute Mercury too or is this automatically taken care of thru software, ect?.  How about the TX monitor - is this controlled in software so no need for pots and mixing outboard into the line/headphone outputs to hear one's transmission?

I also see a PTT input on Ozy too. Is that redundant once Penny is keyed up?


I'm hoping all I need to do is key up Penny and everything else mentioned above is controlled in software.  No RX audio feedback, etc.  

I also wonder how the final linear gets spec monitored on Mercury during transmit. Does some RF need to be sampled into Mercury via its antenna?

T

[WA1GFZ]

Tom,
Ozy PTT was for interface to SDR1000 to eliminate the parallel cable between SDR1000 and computer. HPSDR started life as a best possible sound card interface for the Flex. Ozy / Janus is better than any sound card. We all used Softrocks or in my case homebrew tayloe detectors until Mercury was done a couple years later. I have not used any of these discrete interfaces yet. I want to use opto couplers to avoid any ground loops to the fianal amplifier. I have some nice RF relays from laPointe days to select filters. They look to be good for around 500 watts.
When I select TX manually with the mouse the Mercury audio is muted and TX spectrum display comes up. Take a look at the power SDR set up pages. You might need to select PTT source Penny or Ozy. I wish I had better software skills so I could have controlled my tunable preselector from that ozy connector. I have a cool Cubic preselector that tunes in 10 KHz steps.
I also have a nice collins preselector I got from Bob Stone years ago with a 4 section variable cap and a bunch of vacuum relays that could be pressed into service

[K1JJ]

OK, so you're keying the system with a mouse and I'm keying it with a standard hand switch that goes to pin 1 of Mercury.  Hopefully it will do the same thing and mute the RX in software too.

When in transmit and the spec anayzer goes on, you are seeing 500mw RF, not the final amp, of course.  The Flex guy told me I'd have to sample RF from the amp and feed it into the Merc.   I left an extra SO-239 on the back for a small whip antenna sampler or standard capacitive sampler off the RF 50 ohms line for that prurpose.

I can see there will be some JSing needed to get the HPSDR doing what the FT-1000D does for station functions. Things like monitor, dual RX's, muting, monitoring spec of TX, etc, will take time to optimize.

Well, after that slight delay, I'm ready to proceed forward again without any smoked boards to boot..


T

[K1JJ]

Today I gots the newve to plug in the boards and turn on the power.  One by one all boards came up and were recognized by the computer. The software drivers were loaded and all seemed FB.

However, then the computer screen said that the boards needed up-to-date firmware flashed into the FPGA's. (Field Programable Gate Arrays)   It says I need >= the xx versions now in there.   I gots to figure out how to do that.  Frank, there's a way to show what version each board contains, right?

I downloaded the very latest PowerSDR software, so it probably needs the latest firmware to work with.. duh.

The LEDS are flashing on all three boards, so all looks potentially good. If something didn't work, it wud be beyond my capabilities to fix without mucho trouble, so I'm vely happy at this point. Just have to do some reading on firmware updates.  They have to be done periodically anyway, if ya want to keep up with the latest bells and whistles. Evidently this used kit had older firmware from original.

We're getting there. Not bad for a tube hack.

T

[WA1GFZ]

Tom,
I'm going to try and send you a couple emails adding up to 25Meg that has the data you need to load latest firmware. Power SDR ver 19.3 looks like a good version. You need to get set up to do SVN downloads when new software gets released. This stuff I'm sending you has nothing to do with diversity but should get you going. look at the read me file for instructions.
You can download the diversity stuff later but I'm not sure there is ozy updates in it. Dump all the files in a folder and follow the instructions.
I have not updated any of my firmware in a while because the updates were not stuff i was interested in or needed. Just load the latest rev of each batch of firmware. These files include all releases. Some of the early versions were pretty funky. Feel free to ask Phil the VK guy questions he is very helpful if I don't answer your questions. Also post questions on HPSDR someone will jump in and help. Great you have LEDs lighting up. My penny does not do full power because my output transformer is backwards. It steps down rather than up. This is easier on the final and still drives the pants off ERB. I think i get about 300mw.

[K1JJ]

Frank,

Don't worry about sending me any files or info.  I expected to get everything on the site. Your stuff may be out of date anyway.

Yes, at least the boards are working. I'll just take my time and fine tune everything and see what happens.

Thanks for the help so far!

T

[KC2ZFA]

will there be a plug-in board called Barista ?  

[WA1GFZ]

You are best off asking the hPSDR gang for the latest SVN site since it has changed a number of times and i'm not sure if the links in WIKI are up to date. You are so very close to operational.

[K1JJ]

Just to keep this thread's continuity, I'm presently working with one of the HPSDR members who is helping me to load firmware for the boards.  Ozy's firmware (comm board) gets loaded automatically on bootup from the PowerSDR software. However, Mercury(RX) and Penny(TX) must be done manually when desired.

He's the info and software needed to do it and then later maintain auto-updates with a couple of mouse clicks:



"To update firmware in the FPGAs it is only necessary to download the Quartus II Programmer, not the entire Quartus II development package.  Sorry I didn't make that clear in my earlier post.  The Quartus II programmer may be downloaded free from

https://www.altera.com/support/software/download/programming/quartus2/dnl-quartus2_programmer.jsp

and is only 177 MB in size, relative to the multiple GB full development package for Quartus II." 


T

[WA1GFZ]

You should be on the air today.
It all comes back to me now.
Great you got the latest links.
Please email them to me or post the link

[K1JJ]

Here's the continuation from my last post. See below the instructions to get the USB_Blaster working and how to load the firmware into the two Mercury diversity receivers. Joe/K5SO  has been very helpful. I'll post the next set of instructions as I get to those steps.

This HPSDR stuff sure isn't plug and play.

I'm going up on the shack roof to do some shoveling...


T



See below:
-----------


We won't be running the Quartus II Programmer directly, we'll use a batch-file (usbblaster.bat) to do it, but first let's get things we will need.


From my website page http://www.k5so.com/HPSDR_downloads.html, under the "TO DOWNLOAD ONLY MERCURY V6.3 FIRMWARE" click on the  "USB_Blaster to load Mercury v6.3 firmware only (0.7 MB)" link to download the USB_Blaster_Mercury v6.3.zip file.  Unzip it.  In the unzipped folder you will find the files needed, including a README.txt file that contains step-by-step instructions on how to proceed.  Open the README.txt file (you can use any text editor that you happen to have available.  I use Notepad.)  


Now you have already performed Step 1 in the the README.txt file by downloading the Quartus II Programmer and installing it.  Start at Step 2 in the README.txt file to install the Altera USB-Blaster device driver.  


Here is step 2, for reference.  I see that the "SUBSEQUENTLY GOTO STEP 4" should actually say "SUBSEQUENTLY GOTO STEP 3" but no matter, we want to perform Step 2 and Step 3 and Step 4 in sequence this time anyway so do what is listed in Step 2, exactly:


**************************
2. THE FIRST TIME YOU DO THIS DO THE FOLLOWING. SUBSEQUENTLY GOTO STEP 4.
    
   These steps load the Altera USBblaster drivers.    


   Connect just your Ozy board to the Atlas bus, connect the USB cable and power it on.


   Run the file usbblaster.bat. This will load the code in the FX2 to make it appear
   to be an Altera USBblaster.


   Windows will detect a new USB device. You need to install the drivers for it.


   See http://www.altera.com/literature/ug/ug_usb_blstr.pdf for driver installation instructions.




   Most of this installation instruction deals with the 10-pin programming cable.
   What you need can be found in section 1.3.


   After running the batch-file usbblaster.bat, the Found New Hardware Wizard will open.


   Select: Install from a list or specific location and browse to


   C:/altera/[version]/qprogrammer/drivers/usb-blaster where [version] is the version you have downloaded


   The Wizard will then install altera USB-Blaster




   Check that the drivers have installed correctly by looking in


   Start\Control Panel\System\Hardware\Device Manager\Universal Serial Bus controllers


   there should be an entry marked  Altera USB-Blaster


**********************


If this step worked as described, great! You're almost there!  Power off the HPSDR Atlas bus, move your Ozy board to slot 5 on the Atlas bus (second from the power connector), install a jumper on the "Last JTAG" pins on the Mercury board as described in Step 3, plug the Mercury board into slot 6 (next to the power connector) and power the Atlas bus back on.  Proceed on to Step 4, etc to load the Mercury v6.3 into the Mercury FPGA.  When the "Program-Mercury-EPCS16.bat" file executes it will bring up a new command line window (black background with white lettering), select the version of Quartus II programmer that you have downloaded (v10, I think) and hit Enter, the bat file will then begin running the Quartus II Programmer and the lettering in the window will turn green as it proceeds.  It will run for a bit and if everything is going okay all the messages will be in green lettering, if there are errors you will get messages in red (ouch!).  When all is done you will see a white lettered message telling you to hit any key and the FPGA is now loaded.  Power cycle the Atlas bus (turn it off, wait a couple of seconds, then power it back on.  You should see a couple of flashing LEDs on the Mercury board if all is okay.  


You can now run the KD5TFD PowerSDR program and it should operate fine.  If so, check the Setup > General > HPSDR menu to see that the Mercury version that is being reported is Mercury v6.3.  Let me know if you get this far!

[WA1GFZ]

Tom Remember when you power up power sdr for the first time you have to set up the clock source. Penny, Mercury, external etc, Then the sample rate
I use 96K then the RX select the two extra modes Dither and the other.
Once you get mercury to run the S meter and display will be carzy. Go to the calibration page and put your sig gen into mercury. Select a frequency and level and run the calibration. Once you have a cal stored you are functional.
Make sure you go through the mercury and penny manual that show all the set up. You should be full up soon

[K1JJ]

Yep, gots that covered, Frank. That was HPSDR 101 a week ago and now we're in 301 class...

And to think, only a short 40 years ago it was a simple peak the grid, and dip the final - lice all done!

T

[WA1GFZ]

Yea, but just think how smug you will be, or sell it to me for $100 after you give up

[K1JJ]

$100 bux won't even shine your shoes... on Broadway.

Well, not to scare any potential builders, but the following is the next series of steps to get the firmware installed and working automatically for future updates. This is the FULL text. I'm in the middle of it now.

What did you get me into here, Frank?  

T


See Below:
--------



Phil Harman - VK6APH - 25 Arpil 2010
mod: K5SO 18Dec2010 reduced size for Mercury v6.3 loading only

 *******  NOTE:  Altera indicates that their software will run on 32 bit versions of XP and Vista. Support or Win7 or 64 bit vesions is not presently indicated. ******



Here are the steps requried to progam the EPCS16 on the Mercury board.



1. Install the Quartus II Programmer application (112MB) from www.altera.com i.e.

 
https://www.altera.com/support/software/download/programming/quartus2/dnl-qu
artus2_programmer.jsp

   Install in the default directory. If you install in a different directory then edit
   Program-Mercury-EPCS16.bat to reflect the change.

   We need to install this application in order to load the large number of
   DLLs requried to run the simple command line  programer (quartus_pgm.exe)
   - if there is a better way of doing this please share it!!

2. THE FIRST TIME YOU DO THIS DO THE FOLLOWING. SUBSEQUENTLY GOTO STEP 3.
    
   These steps load the Altera USBblaster drivers.    

   Connect just your Ozy board to the Atlas bus, connect the USB cable and power it on.

   Run the file usbblaster.bat. This will load the code in the FX2 to make it appear
   to be an Altera USBblaster.

   Windows will detect a new USB device. You need to install the drivers for it.

   See http://www.altera.com/literature/ug/ug_usb_blstr.pdf for driver installation instructions.


   Most of this installation instruction deals with the 10-pin programming cable.
   What you need can be found in section 1.3.

   After running the batch-file usbblaster.bat, the Found New Hardware Wizard will open.

   Select: Install from a list or specific location and browse to

   C:/altera/[version]/qprogrammer/drivers/usb-blaster where [version] is the version you have downloaded

   The Wizard will then install altera USB-Blaster


   Check that the drivers have installed correctly by looking in

   Start\Control Panel\System\Hardware\Device Manager\Universal Serial Bus controllers

   there should be an entry marked  Altera USB-Blaster


3. To update your Mercury board, fit a jumper to the header pins marked
   LAST JTAG JP7 at bottom left of the board just above  the Atlas connector.
    

4. Power off your Atlas board. To program Mercury, plug just your Mercury and Ozy board into the Atlas bus.
   The board to be programmed MUST be closest to the power connector and the Ozy board in the NEXT slot.
   Turn the power on to your Atlas bus.  

5. To program Mercury run the batch file Program-Mercury-EPCS16-v6.3.bat, select which version of the Altera Quartus
   programmer code you are using, there should be no errors.
   It takes approximately 1 minute to load the EPCS16.


6. Power cycle the supply to the Atlas bus.

7. Run PowerSDR.

8. Test Mercury with PowerSDR. If necessary recalibrate Frequency and Level.
Mercury version number should now show
   as Mercury v6.3 in the Setup > HPSDR firmware menu.

NOTE: The jumper inserted at step 3 can be left in place for now.


This is how the process works.

Firstly the FX2 is loaded with code to make it appear as an Altera USBblaster.
We have previously  converted the usual *.sof file into a *.jic file (see Altera application note AN370).

We then load code into the FPGA that enables it to write to its associated flash memory.

We then use quartus_pgm to run *.cdf. This loads *.jic into the FPGA, the imbeded *.sof file is then loaded into the flash memory.

[K1JJ]

So close, but no cigar.  I got thru all but the last step.
 
As per the steps in the last post, I have the USB Blaster in the correct systems folder - checked it and it's there.
 
I plugged in the OZY to position 5 and Merc position  6 (with Merc jumper) and ran the EPS16... bat file.
 
It starts to load and look good until it asks for the Altera version. There is a choice with versions going up to version 10.0.    I am using version 10.1 according to the screen when I do an .exe from the bin file on it.  I type #8 choice (ver 10.0, there is no 10.1 listed)
 
Then the .bat routine  says, "Installing Mercury ver_ 6.3" and then:
 
"The system cannot find the path specified."  "Press any key to continue."  When I run it again, same thing.  I tried cycling the boards on and off, NG.
 
What path is it asking for? Could it be looking for  v10.0  vs: my 10.1 installed?  I think maybe the installation .bat is out of date and does not recognize the new Altera version I'm using... sigh.

I sent an email to Joe and awaiting an answer.  Maybe I need to find an older Altera or they can change the .bat file choices.  This FPGA stuff sure uses a lot of code to do what it does.

T
 

[WA1GFZ]

Tom have you restarted the computer since you loaded bit blaster? Might need to. I've had the same problem when I selected the wrong version of bit blaster. Since you do not have the option to select, I don't know how to proceed. That is the reason I thought you should load older stuff first.
Sounds like you are working with wrong EPS16 version.
Did you check the control panel in the computer to see if it is set up properly?

[KC2ZFA]

try editing the path in the bat file.

[WA1GFZ]

Install in the default directory. If you install in a different directory then edit
   Program-Mercury-EPCS16.bat to reflect the change.
Yes, it is possible EPCS16 is looking in the wrong spot.

C:/altera/[version]/qprogrammer/drivers/usb-blaster where [version] is the version you have downloaded
  EPCS16 also wants the version correct to find the path so if you can't select the correct version you are hosed.

Did you check this in your computer?:
Start\Control Panel\System\Hardware\Device Manager\Universal Serial Bus controllers
Did it come up found new hardware?

This is the hardest part then you are home free. I think I am using an older version of bit blaster since it was at least a year ago. I know i get the same error message if I select the wrong version.

Hang in there Sgt. Andersen
I sure Jay would buy your hardware if you want to go back to your stone ax

[WA1GFZ]

Tom,
You may have downloaded the wrong software let me check when I get home. Ask HPSDR guys also.
http://www.altera.com/download/drivers/dri-index.html

It is not a 177MB file I think you downloaded FPGA programming software.