Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

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W1AEX
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Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

Postby W1AEX » Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:05 pm

I had a chance to run Thetis v2.5.3 (Beta) for about 6 hours yesterday with my 200D using Protocol 2 firmware v1.1 for the Orion board. For the most part I ran it with a sampling rate of 192k and it behaved very well for the whole session. The Pre-EQ, CFC, and Post EQ all appear to be working fine in this version and so I made 10 transmit profiles to cover my SSB and AM voice sessions.

The first thing I noticed was the addition of the "Port Audio" setting field in the VAC setup form. My VAC audio chain in OpenHPSDR works very well, however, a couple of times an hour it has a tendency to randomly sputter slightly. Some people don't even hear it but Scott (WU2O) and several others can definitely spot it. Unfortunately, buffer tweaking with the existing adjustments has no effect on this particular artifact. What I noticed yesterday while running Thetis was that I did not experience a single instance of sputtering during my 6 hours of operation. Thankfully, the combination of "Port Audio" and "Ring Buffer" adjustments seems to be the elusive solution to taming that problem. I started out with the maximum setting of "240" in both fields and stepped down to as low as 30 in both fields. No sign of any blips, pops, or sputtering. For most of the session I ran with both fields at "240" and figured that I would figure out the lowest setting my system would tolerate in a future session.

At any rate, thanks for the addition of the "Port Audio" adjustment!

Image

I tuned around with sampling rates of 384k, 768k, and 1536k and found when switching between them that after a few soft pops and clicks in the receive audio they settled down and worked very well. I stayed with 192k whenever I was in a QSO and that worked fine. I did some "dummy load" testing with Pure Signal and it did auto-attenuate appropriately and the feedback and correction indicators confirmed it was operating. The panadapter display of the transmitted signal with Pure Signal looked a bit strange so I was suspicious about what the signal actually looked like but while monitoring with my RSP SDR receiver it looked to be cleaner with PS running than without. I didn't have the RSP SDR coupled to the second port of the RF sampler so I could not really determine how much correction was going on. I'll get a better look next time.

Thetis is starting to look very promising!

73,

Rob W1AEX
Last edited by W1AEX on Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"One thing I am certain of is that there is too much certainty in the world."
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therealboss
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Re: Thetis v.3.5.3 (Beta)

Postby therealboss » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:08 pm

I'm running 2.5.3, where did you download 3.5.3?
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Thetis v.3.5.3 (Beta)

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:34 pm

Pretty sure that's a typo. Latest is 2.5.3.

You are a lucky guy, Rob. The firmware on both my 100D and 8000 crashes after a bunch of PTT cycles, or on its own after a few hours.
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therealboss
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Re: Thetis v.3.5.3 (Beta)

Postby therealboss » Sun Jul 16, 2017 6:10 pm

I''m running 2.5.3 on my 200D without any issues on both SSB & Digital Modes.
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W1AEX
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Re: Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

Postby W1AEX » Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:05 pm

Thanks for pointing that out! I edited my references to the mythical 3.5.3 to the actual 2.5.3. I think I was kind of bleary-eyed when I typed that up! After reading Justin's post regarding Simon's V3 preview and his 200D I want to check that out next time I load the Protocol 2 firmware.

73,

Rob W1AEX
"One thing I am certain of is that there is too much certainty in the world."
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G0MGM
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Re: Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

Postby G0MGM » Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:59 pm

After my issues with migrating to Protocol 2 and Thetis, I've been running the new firmware and software since last week. Been doing a mixture of CW, SSB and JT65 and have had just one crash so far.

Puresignal and CPC seem to be working great. Cant believe how good it is, after going through your web site setup instructions Rob, I managed to get through some little pileups on either the 1st or 2nd call, very impressed. Also got a number of unsolicited audio compliments.

The spot feature is great, very nice addition.

On possible bug I noticed was when you key up on any mode, the Forward Power reading is a bit erratic.

Will report back when I get the time.

Rob
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Re: Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

Postby therealboss » Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:19 pm

Rob W1AEX


It's fine, just thought I might be missing out on something hi hi.



:)
Terry Edwards
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Re: Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

Postby Terry Edwards » Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:33 am

I have recently purchased a 8000DLE and am wondering if anyone is running Thetis 2.5.3 with this radio. I am thinking it might be smart to wait for the software to evolve and some of the bugs out. But if I knew others were using Thetis and not having any major difficulties I would give it a try.
What is the newest firmware to be used with Thetis?
Questions I am full of so I will continue to read and hope to see others with the 8000DLE giving me some insight.
Thanks,

NC4TJ
Terry
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

Postby w-u-2-o » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:12 am

I have tried the new protocol firmware on the 8000, 100D and 200D. In every case the firmware does not reliably make timing on any radio I have tried. The primary symptoms are firmware crashes after a few dozen PTT cycles, or after a few hours just sitting in receive. You know they are firmware crashes when you have to power cycle the radio to get it to work again.

Obviously there are differences between individual radios. Some people have obtained reasonably stable operation, others not so much. The only way to see if it will work on your particular 8000 is to try it and see.

73,

Scott
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G0MGM
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Re: Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

Postby G0MGM » Tue Jul 18, 2017 7:34 am

Im running the new protocol and Thetis on an 8000, looking good so far, just remember to rename or add Metis to the .rbf file when you try to upgrade the protocol otherwise it wont work.

Rob
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Justin
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Re: Thetis v.2.5.3 (Beta)

Postby Justin » Wed Jul 19, 2017 4:31 pm

w-u-2-o wrote:I have tried the new protocol firmware on the 8000, 100D and 200D. In every case the firmware does not reliably make timing on any radio I have tried. The primary symptoms are firmware crashes after a few dozen PTT cycles, or after a few hours just sitting in receive. You know they are firmware crashes when you have to power cycle the radio to get it to work again.

Obviously there are differences between individual radios. Some people have obtained reasonably stable operation, others not so much. The only way to see if it will work on your particular 8000 is to try it and see.

73,

Scott


Sure glad I have one of the oldies but goodies. My 200D is over 3 years old and is having no problems with Protocol 2 firmware and Thetis Beta v2.5.3. Unless some problem rears its ugly head I will be sticking with Thetis. All things I have tried work well. The Band Stack is cool. Haven't decided if the Memory or Band Stack is more useful for me. ADC 2 works with Diversity. The sensitivity with 2 ADCs and two receivers with 2 antennas a horizontal and a 9 band vertical is great.

I would leave Thetis run 24/7 but we are in the Monsoon season here and with a 50% chance of Thunderstorms for the next week, all three antennas will be disconnected as much as connected. The stability so far is good but time will tell.

With Thetis and SDR Console both using the Protocol 2 firmware and the changes coming in both, the bleeding edge is fun compared to the standard SDR equipment on the market.
Justin K5WAZ

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