Hi, Just received my radio about a week ago. Changed firmware to protocol 2 and am running Thetis v 2.8.11 - 21k9. What is the function of the ALEX select button in settings? If I uncheck it while the radio is turned on it's appears to attenuate the received signal. But once the radio it powered off while ALEX is off in Thetis, when the radio is turned back on it will not receive any signals. Turn Alex on and reception come back. If ALEX can't be used why is the button there for?
Thanks,
Manuel Alonso
KC4MNE
ANAN-7000DLE MKll black and ALEX Button
Re: ANAN-7000DLE MKll black and ALEX Button
The behavior of ALEX on this radio does not appear to do what is described on that prior post, which I previously read. It seems to me, that firmware (P2) in my case, cannot control the filters.
If ALEX is off, Thetis has no control over the filters and bypass, and firmware appears to have no control either. Resulting in a radio that will not receive, because it ends up in a state where the antenna is not connected to the ADC.
If ALEX is on, Thetis has control of the filters. In Thetis under Antenna / BPF1/LPF operator can then select to bypass all the filters by selecting ByPass/55 MHz BPF or ByPass a filter on a per band basis.
I just wanted to confirm that my understanding is correct. Since in reality the ALEX button cannot be left off under any circumstances, leaving me with the doubt as to why the button is there to begin with.
Thanks
KC4MNE
If ALEX is off, Thetis has no control over the filters and bypass, and firmware appears to have no control either. Resulting in a radio that will not receive, because it ends up in a state where the antenna is not connected to the ADC.
If ALEX is on, Thetis has control of the filters. In Thetis under Antenna / BPF1/LPF operator can then select to bypass all the filters by selecting ByPass/55 MHz BPF or ByPass a filter on a per band basis.
I just wanted to confirm that my understanding is correct. Since in reality the ALEX button cannot be left off under any circumstances, leaving me with the doubt as to why the button is there to begin with.
Thanks
KC4MNE
Re: ANAN-7000DLE MKll black and ALEX Button
Hi Manuel
I've just checked, and it is the same with an Anan 8000. With the Alex button unchecked its not possible to manually select filters and the frontend recieves very little signal from the antenna.
Ill keep experimenting - I may have missed something. But it doesnt seem to behave as the thread suggests.
I've just checked, and it is the same with an Anan 8000. With the Alex button unchecked its not possible to manually select filters and the frontend recieves very little signal from the antenna.
Ill keep experimenting - I may have missed something. But it doesnt seem to behave as the thread suggests.
All the best
Nigel
VK6CPU
Anan 8000 DLE, Thetis v2.9.0.8, Protocol 2 V2 1.18
INTEL i9 12900 64.0 GB Ram
Nigel
VK6CPU
Anan 8000 DLE, Thetis v2.9.0.8, Protocol 2 V2 1.18
INTEL i9 12900 64.0 GB Ram
Re: ANAN-7000DLE MKll black and ALEX Button
The posting that Gary referred you to is an old one, and deals specifically with how the preselector functionality works in PowerSDR with Protocol 1 firmware. It is not at all applicable to Thetis and Protocol 2, which works differently.
As the old post discussed, behavior of the preselector was somewhat bizarre with PowerSDR and P1 as a consequence of the way the preselector hardware and firmware evolved prior to the advent of the Hermes board and the ANAN-10. I had even suggested that this behavior be changed in future versions of PowerSDR so that the client software was the sole controller of the preselector.
This suggestion came to be in Thetis and P2. P2 firmware no longer has any control over the preselector, other than to follow the directives of Thetis. Thus there is no longer any hardcoded table in the firmware that does anything, regardless of the state of the Alex button. All control of the preselection filtering when using Thetis/P2 comes from the settings in Setup > General > Ant/Filters. This is true for any hardware using Thetis/P2, from the ANAN-10 to the ANAN-7000 and 8000.
As for the purpose and function of the Alex option in Setup > General > H/W Select, I'm not 100% certain. However, experimenting with it here on my 8000 (which, since it uses the same Orion MKII SDR board as the 7000 makes it effectively identical), it would appear that disabling the Alex option causes all preselector relays to open on the bandpass filter (BPF) boards, effectively disconnecting the Orion MKII RX inputs from the antenna inputs. Merely reselecting the Alex checkbox did not correct this condition, but it does correct itself after a TX cycle or a quit/restart of Thetis.
I'm guessing that the Alex checkbox is the last vestige of the bad old Alex functionality and merely interrupts the flow of preselector control data to the BPF relays. With no hardcoded lookup table in the P2 firmware, the BPFs do nothing. It should probably be removed in future versions of Thetis. In the meantime it should be left on.
One last observation: the reason I believe all of the BPF relays open is because if it was merely the case of an incorrect BPF being selected then receive signal levels would not drop nearly as much as they do. The preselector BPFs are only third order filter designs and do not have much attenuation in the stop band. You can easily demonstrate that by manually forcing the wrong filter for a band in setup.
Personally, I have bypassed my BPFs by checking "ByPass/55MHz BPF" (which means no preselector, but the fixed and unswitchable 55MHz low pass filter--not BPF--remains inline). Unless you have a serious nearby signal problem like an AM radio broadcast station, another ham, etc. there is no benefit to having the preselector on. And, if, like me, you have made your ADC assignments so that RX1 and RX2 are both using the same ADC, and thus also sharing the same preselector, if you assign RX1 and RX2 to different bands the preselector may interfere with RX2.
73,
Scott
As the old post discussed, behavior of the preselector was somewhat bizarre with PowerSDR and P1 as a consequence of the way the preselector hardware and firmware evolved prior to the advent of the Hermes board and the ANAN-10. I had even suggested that this behavior be changed in future versions of PowerSDR so that the client software was the sole controller of the preselector.
This suggestion came to be in Thetis and P2. P2 firmware no longer has any control over the preselector, other than to follow the directives of Thetis. Thus there is no longer any hardcoded table in the firmware that does anything, regardless of the state of the Alex button. All control of the preselection filtering when using Thetis/P2 comes from the settings in Setup > General > Ant/Filters. This is true for any hardware using Thetis/P2, from the ANAN-10 to the ANAN-7000 and 8000.
As for the purpose and function of the Alex option in Setup > General > H/W Select, I'm not 100% certain. However, experimenting with it here on my 8000 (which, since it uses the same Orion MKII SDR board as the 7000 makes it effectively identical), it would appear that disabling the Alex option causes all preselector relays to open on the bandpass filter (BPF) boards, effectively disconnecting the Orion MKII RX inputs from the antenna inputs. Merely reselecting the Alex checkbox did not correct this condition, but it does correct itself after a TX cycle or a quit/restart of Thetis.
I'm guessing that the Alex checkbox is the last vestige of the bad old Alex functionality and merely interrupts the flow of preselector control data to the BPF relays. With no hardcoded lookup table in the P2 firmware, the BPFs do nothing. It should probably be removed in future versions of Thetis. In the meantime it should be left on.
One last observation: the reason I believe all of the BPF relays open is because if it was merely the case of an incorrect BPF being selected then receive signal levels would not drop nearly as much as they do. The preselector BPFs are only third order filter designs and do not have much attenuation in the stop band. You can easily demonstrate that by manually forcing the wrong filter for a band in setup.
Personally, I have bypassed my BPFs by checking "ByPass/55MHz BPF" (which means no preselector, but the fixed and unswitchable 55MHz low pass filter--not BPF--remains inline). Unless you have a serious nearby signal problem like an AM radio broadcast station, another ham, etc. there is no benefit to having the preselector on. And, if, like me, you have made your ADC assignments so that RX1 and RX2 are both using the same ADC, and thus also sharing the same preselector, if you assign RX1 and RX2 to different bands the preselector may interfere with RX2.
73,
Scott
Re: ANAN-7000DLE MKll black and ALEX Button
Scott Thanks for confirming. And YES what you describe is exactly what I see on my 7000. Ultimately ALEX MUST ALLWAYS BE ON ! Filter on or bypass selection in settings.
Thanks
Thanks