ANAN-8000 & PowerSDR - some notes, some questions

DL5RBW
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:37 pm

ANAN-8000 & PowerSDR - some notes, some questions

Postby DL5RBW » Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:51 pm

After a few months using the ANAN-8000 DLE I found some issues which I hope can be confirmed or even better explained by other users.

The current setup in use:

ANAN-8000 DLE
Firmware Ver. 2.3
OpenHPSDR mRX PS v3.4.9
Dedicated industrial PC i5 with SSD

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NB button on transmit

With the NB (NB or NB2) enabled (blue background) the background switches to black (disabled) whenever on transmit. Whether it is an appearance issue only or the NB really becomes disabled while on TX I don´t know. When it comes to function it is not relevant anyway as it doesn´t matter whether the NB is enabled or in the worst case disabled during TX periods

AGC Level, Drive Level, Waterfall Level etc.

Switching thru the bands I noticed that the AGC Gain Level is determined by the setting of the higher band. If I change the AGC Gain Level on 10 m to 95 and switch to 80 m then the AGC Gain Level on 80 m is changed to 95 as well although it may have been 80 or 85. Switching from a lower to a higher band the level on the higher band stays where it was however as soon as I switch to a lower band again this level is taken to the lower band again. Sometimes I see changes in the Drive Level too but didn´t find a systematic correlation yet. The same is true for the Waterfall Level – it sometimes changes by switching bands or by Zooming in or out

Transverter operation

Rebooting the computer from the sleep or energy save mode all numbers in the band button panel are white indicating that all channels are enabled although in my case only channel 2 (for 2 meters) is enabled in the XVTRs menu. Only if the computer is completely restarted the enabled channel and the “HF” button appear in white while the disabled ones are dim which is the correct display

The Drive level in transverter operation changes whenever the drive level is changed during HF operation and after restart

At least in transverter operation after restarting PowerSDR the system jumps to a frequency default value which in my case is 145,500 MHz FM and not the frequency last used

Does anyone know what the function of the “XVTR RF TX” in the XVTR Setup is?

The XVTR jack is ALWAYS connected in parallel to the RX or TX path (depending on RX or TX state) and I couldn’t find any function so far to disable the XVTR jack while not in use. I was hoping the “XVTR RF TX” function mentioned above would switch a relay to disconnect the XVTR jack. This is of consequence if one is using a longer interconnecting cable (>2 ft) between the ANAN and the Transverter.

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This is by no means any criticism but I think the software developers deserve the feedback about any strange behaviour -if it is not an individual problem - to make the software even better. For sure I have forgotten one or the other little issue however the list can be continued...

To make sure it is not an individual problem I wonder what your experiences are with the issues listed above?

73 Roger
DL5RBW
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Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:37 pm

Re: ANAN-8000 & PowerSDR - some notes, some questions

Postby DL5RBW » Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:19 am

Come on guys - don´t be shy......................I cannot imagine that nobody out there is (still) using PowerSDR and could or could not confirm the mentioned issues.
K9RX
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Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:47 pm

Re: ANAN-8000 & PowerSDR - some notes, some questions

Postby K9RX » Fri Feb 15, 2019 2:16 pm

NB button on TX ... that was one of my findings and subsequent request, to turn off NB(1 or 2) on TX. The issue is, or was, with it on the TX pan jumps all over the place - using DUP(lex) of course. It DOES serve a purpose turning it off and is benign other than making the pan work properly!

Waterfall - it is annoying that even in AUTO it doesn't do a great job of following zoomed in vs. zoomed out. And if not AUTO then once again you have different 'needs' whether zoomed in at say 12Khz width using CW or zoomed out at 96Khz using SSB. Not sure if this will get any work done on it - it is annoying but given the other more important 'issues' out there I'd say it's somewhat low in priority.

AGC - As for the AGC gain - I've not noticed any method to how it works but do believe it changes ... as does the Power (Drive) level which one has to be REAL careful with changing bands rapidly to work a new one - and the power all of a sudden is at 100 (scaled, I have all my bands set at about 60-70W max so I don't damage the amp when this happens). My amp will do well over 2KW out - so I have to be REAL fast in shutting it down say if it is FT8. I thought the drive held when changing bands at one point - that isn't always the case now. I'm using the latest version software, P1, and I believe 2.3 FW.

I don't currently have/use the XVTR function ... some day I plan on getting back to EME and might well do so though.

Gary
K9RX
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w-u-2-o
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Re: ANAN-8000 & PowerSDR - some notes, some questions

Postby w-u-2-o » Fri Feb 15, 2019 2:58 pm

DL5RBW wrote:
With the NB (NB or NB2) enabled (blue background) the background switches to black (disabled) whenever on transmit.

This is intentional behavior. As Gary points out, this is what you want. In TX you are in full duplex mode and listening to yourself. You don't need/want NB for that.

Switching thru the bands I noticed that the AGC Gain Level is determined by the setting of the higher band.

I'm not currently running PowerSDR mRX, I'm running Thetis, but they ought to be the same in this respect. In Thetis, and supposedly in PowerSDR mRX, the AGC gain level is determined by the band stack register you are on. These registers maintain the state of many settings such as AGC gain, drive level, center frequency, etc. You can see this behavior by clicking, for example, the 80M band button repeatedly. This will switch you through all of the band stack registers for that band. I believe there are 5, but again I'm not currently running PowerSDR so I can't double check this.

You might experiment with this and see if it is the action of the band stack registers doing this.

Also, panadapter min/max and waterfall min/max settings are controlled on a band by band basis. They can and do change from band to band based on the settings you have implemented in Setup > Display > RX1 and also RX2. You have to roll through each band, one at a time, and set those to where you want them to be. This is intentional, as band conditions to vary from band to band and what works well on one band might not be optimum for another band.

Transverter operation

I don't have any transverters here and so can't comment on any transverter questions.

73,

Scott
DL5RBW
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Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:37 pm

Re: ANAN-8000 & PowerSDR - some notes, some questions

Postby DL5RBW » Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:28 am

Thanks for the replies. As Gary pointed out the AGC, powersetting, waterfall levels etc. are changing whenever bands are changed. The only relation I found so far is the one described going from the lower to the higher band or vice versa. So if you set the levels for waterfall, power etc. lets say on 80 m and you decide to switch to another band the settings are changed. That means if you go back to 80 m you don´t find your settings being the one that were set for 80 m last time. If it would keep the information that would be perfectly fine as it is just normal that you have to set things once per band and even mode maybe however that is not the case. This leads to the situation that you set the AGC level at 115 on a quiet band like 15 or 10 m and switching to 80 m you have to correct the AGC level to 80 or 90. It is not a problem as nothing dramatic happens however as Gary mentioned with the powerlevel it could become a problem to have it sitting at 100% while you have been at 15% last time and consequently overdriving, tripping or even damage something.

Alright on the NB button disappearing while on TX. Obviously not blanking it while on TX caused problems that I was not aware of as it was prior to "my" PowerSDR/ANAN time. It doesn´t bother me but just wanted to hear whether it is an individual problem or something not taken care of but in fact it was taken care of for a good reason.

For the transverter operation I understand that many are not using the radio for VHF/UHF although it is (as you probably expected) an excellent radio for these applications too. With CTCSS coming for "free" I am able to access the subtone repeaters that with an old VHF radio you cannot use anymore. And the audio quality on FM is excellent as well. Whether it is a good investment to use as a VHF/UHF "workinghorse" only is up to oneself however using it as an HF AND VHF radio makes it even more versatile. Don´t forget you get all the advantages of SDR with all the different filters and handling large signals although first of all a good transverter is a requirement.
K9RX
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Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:47 pm

Re: ANAN-8000 & PowerSDR - some notes, some questions

Postby K9RX » Sat Feb 16, 2019 1:38 pm

just to be clear the one thing the "Auto" doesn't handle for the waterfall is the width of the display. That would be nice if it automatically took that in to account. As it is now when I go to CW on a noisier band like 40 it is mostly white (bright) ...

Gary
K9RX

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