How to Suggest Enhancements for future versions of PowerSDR

October 31, 2011, 8:49 pm

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How to Suggest Enhancements for future versions of PowerSDR

System Dependencies
Minimum PowerSDR Version:	N/A
Applicable Hardware:	N/A

Content provided by: FlexRadio Systems Engineering

We strongly encourage users of FlexRadio products to make suggestions for product enhancement; no matter how crazy they may seem. This is how we get the ideas to improve our products.

Recently we deployed the FlexRadio HelpDesk (http://helpdesk.flexradio.com), which is a web based incident ticketing and tracking system that allows our support staff to service requests for technical assistance in a more user interactive and efficient manner. Submitting a FlexRadio HelpDesk Enhancement Request ticket is now the way you can make product enhancement suggestions by accessing the FlexRadio HelpDesk and selecting a Ticket Type of "Enhancement Request".

If you are a first time user of the FlexRadio HelpDesk , then you must create a login for yourself so that we can properly receive your correspondences via e-mail. Just click on the Sign Up link (http://helpdesk.flexradio.com/registration) in the top right hand corner of the page to get started.

When creating your HelpDesk account, please include your full name, a valid non-redirected e-mail address (alias e-mail accounts like callsign@arrl.net will not work), enter the security words in the appropriate box and then click on the Sign Me Up button. Once you complete creating your HelpDesk account, a confirmation e-mail will be sent to you to validate your account. It is import that you reply back promptly so we can verify your e-mail account. Failure to do this will result in delays getting feedback from FlexRadio.

If you are a previous user of the FlexRadio HelpDesk, just login using the Login link (http://helpdesk.flexradio.com/login) at the top right hand corner of the FlexRadio HelpDesk web page before submitting your HelpDesk request for support.

As with any product enhancement suggestion, please add an informative, but short description of your issue in the Subject line. Provide a more comprehensive description of your product enhancement suggestion by providing a detailed description of what it is in the Description dialog box. The more detailed information you can provide the better we can understand what you are suggesting and evaluate its viability for doing it. Please do not list several different product enhancement suggestions in one HelpDesk ticket. This will result in the technical support engineer having to divide out the different issues into separate HelpDesk tickets, causing additional delays getting your product enhancement suggestion evaluated.

Once your FlexRadio HelpDesk product enhancement suggestion has been submitted, you will receive a confirmation e-mail after it has been forwarded to the Product Management Group for evaluation. The Product Management group will post your product enhancement suggestion on the HelpDesk Assistance Center's Feature Request listing for user ranking and comments. We actively use this information for evaluating the viability of the product enhancement suggestion.

This KB article may reference additional files that are available on the FlexRadio Systems web site Downloads page. Please use the URL(s) below to download the referenced materials.

An Adobe Acrobat Reader may be required to open the file.You can download Adobe Acrobat from here.

KB Source Document(s):

None Referenced

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CWSkimmer Multi-channel CW Decoder and Analyzer

February 21, 2013, 7:27 am

≫ Next: CWSkimmer Configuration Without Using Direct I/Q for the SDR-1000

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CWSkimmer Multi-channel CW Decoder and Analyzer

System Dependencies
Minimum PowerSDR Version:	N/A
Applicable Hardware:	N/A

Content provided by: Alex, VE3NEA

CWSkimmer is a multi-channel CW decoder and analyzer for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP that can use direct I/Q data streams from PowerSDR for wide band decoding. CWSkimmer can be downloaded from the Afreet Software, Inc. web site

Some of CWSkimmer's features are:

A very sensitive CW decoding algorithm based on the methods of Bayesian statistics
Simultaneous decoding of ALL cw signals in the receiver passband - up to 700 signals can be decoded in parallel on a 3-GHz P4 if a wideband receiver is used
A fast waterfall display, with a resolution sufficient for reading Morse Code dots and dashes visually
The callsigns are extracted from the decoded messages, and the traces on the waterfall are labeled with stations' callsigns
The extracted callsigns are exported as DX cluster spots via the built-in Telnet cluster server
A DSP processor with a noise blanker, AGC, and a sharp, variable-bandwidth CW filter
An I/Q Recorder and player.

KB Source Document(s):

None Referenced

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CWSkimmer Configuration Without Using Direct I/Q for the SDR-1000

February 21, 2013, 7:29 am

≫ Next: K9DUR PowerSDR Data Transfer 4.x Utility

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CWSkimmer Configuration Without Using Direct I/Q for the SDR-1000

System Dependencies
Minimum PowerSDR Version:	1.10.0
Applicable Hardware:	SDR-1000

Content provided by: Mark, MØMRR (web page)

CWSkimmer is a neat little program that decodes multiple cw signals all at the same time. This is my particular information relating to setting up CWSkimmer to work with my SDR-1000 and Edirol FA-66 soundcard.

Prerequisites:

PowerSDR and the SDR-1000 must already be setup to operate CW with either a key or using the CWX (keyboard) form to send CW.
A virtual com port (Com0Com or vCom) must be setup for CAT control.
The CAT parameters must be setup in PowerSDR (port, baud rate, and number of stop, data and parity bits)

The program can be downloaded from Afreet Software and has a 30 day trial period after which it must be purchased for a nominal fee. Installation of the program is straightforward by following the prompts.

Figure 1

You can see the PowerSDR program in CWU mode with standard settings (VAC is NOT enabled)

Figure 2 Figure 3

For the Audio settings (Figure 2), I selected:

Signal I/O = Edirol FA-66 In 2
Audio I/O = Edirol FA-66 Out 1 (not applicable, but it needed a selection)
Left/Right = Q/I

For the Radio Settings (Figure 3), I selected:

Hardware Type = SoftRock-IF
Audio IF = 9600,
Sampling Rate = 96kHz (same sampling rate as the FA-66),
CW Pitch = 600 (same as the Pitch frequency in PowerSDR CW Mode Controls - see Figure 1)

Figure 4 Figure 5

Default settings for CAT control set up to match the CAT configuration in PowerSDR for the virtual com port data parameters

Here are a few stations being decoded at the same time - what a neat little program!

KB Source Document(s):

None Referenced

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K9DUR PowerSDR Data Transfer 4.x Utility

April 14, 2013, 10:10 pm

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K9DUR PowerSDR Data Transfer 5.x Utility

System Dependencies
Minimum PowerSDR Version:	Any Version
Applicable Hardware:	N/A

Content provided by:Ray, K9DUR

The SDRDataTransfer v5.x Utility is an advanced database management program that allows you to transfer data from one PowerSDR™ setup database to another. Certain data in the PowerSDR setup database should never be transferred to another database. In some cases, the decision as to whether it is safe to transfer the data or not can be determined by which table the data is stored in. However, a couple of the tables have a mixture of data that is safe to transfer and data that is not. Unfortunately, this includes some of the more popular custom settings that are rather tedious to re-enter by hand when moving to a new database. The filter settings are just one example. SDRDataTransfer decides which tables and which records within each table can be safely transferred based on information stored in a setup database, SDRDataTransfer.mdb. Optionally, v5.x allows you to select only certain types of settings to be transferred. For example, you could choose to transfer only your filter settings, or your filter settings & VAC settings.

Version 5.x of the SDR Data Transfer Utility allows the transfer of settings between both types of databases used by PowerSDR. PowerSDR v1.18.0 and earlier used a Microsoft Access database file named PowerSDR.mdb. Starting with v1.18.1, PowerSDR uses an XML file named database.xml to hold the setup data. SDRDataTransfer v2.x allows all 4 types of data transfer: .mdb -> .mdb, .xml -> .xml, .mdb -> .xml, & .xml -> .mdb.

As newer versions of PowerSDR are released, all that is necessary is to update the SDRDataTransfer.mdb file with the new data. If a new version of PowerSDR is released with new features, SDRDataTransfer will still work, but the settings for the new features will not be transferred until an updated version of the SDRDataTransfer.mdb file is installed.

This program replaces the PowerSDR 1.x Database Transfer Utility which only transferred data between Microsoft Access databases.

NOTE: This program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1 which must be downloaded & installed separately. You may download the installation package directly from Microsoft or from this website. The file is about 237 Mb in size. If you already have PowerSDR v1.18.1 or later installed and working (or any other software that requires Version 3.5 of the .NET Framework) , then you do not have to download & install the .NET Framework again.

You can download the installation package and the user documentation from the Related Links listed below.

KB Source Document(s):

None Referenced

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Operating Multiple FLEX-x000 SDRs From the Same Computer Simultaneously

October 11, 2016, 7:59 pm

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Operating Multiple FLEX-x000 SDRs From the Same Computer Simultaneously

System Dependencies
Minimum PowerSDR Version:	1.16.0
Applicable Hardware:	FLEX-5000 & FLEX-3000

Content provided by:FlexRadio Systems Engineering

Question:
Can multiple FLEX-x000 SDRs (FLEX-5000 and/or FLEX-3000) be operated at the same time using the same computer?

Answer:
No,this is not possible. Even though the FLEX-5000 and FLEX-3000 use the same Firewire device driver and multiple Firewire devices are allowed to be connected to the same computer, the necessary logic to enable a particular version of PowerSDR 1.x to differentiate between the two different Firewire based software defined radios has not been added.

The first FLEX-x000 SDR to enumerate the Firewire bus will be the one that PowerSDR recognizes and uses. If you start multiple instances of PowerSDR, both instances of PowerSDR will use same transceiver; the one enumerated first.

The correct procedure for using two different Firewire based FLEX-x000 SDRs connected to the same computer is to completely shut down both SDRs and wait for a few seconds. The power up the radio you want to use and allow for Windows to properly recognize the SDR. Then start PowerSDR. If you want to use the other radio, shut down PowerSDR and turn off the radio. Wait several seconds and then power up the other radio and wait for a few seconds. Then start PowerSDR.

It is possible to operate a FLEX-1500 and either a FLEX-5000 or a FLEX-3000 at the same time on the same computer.

KB Source Document(s):

None Referenced

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How to use the Knowledge Center - Using RSS Feeds

May 28, 2018, 7:52 am

≪ Previous: Operating Multiple FLEX-x000 SDRs From the Same Computer Simultaneously

How to use the Knowledge Center - Using RSS Feeds

System Dependencies
Minimum PowerSDR Version:	N/A
Applicable Hardware:	N/A

Content provided by:FlexRadio Systems Information Management Team

RSS (Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)) is a XML format for delivering regularly changing web based content to a user by utilizing a RSS "reader" (aka "feed reader" and "aggregator") to automatically query the web site that has RSS capabilities (aka "a feed") and download new content for you with little to no intervention. RSS is a convenience for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in and saves time by not needing to visit each site individually.

The FlexRadio Systems Knowledge Center has RSS 2.0 capabilities to syndicate content. This is indicated by the RSS logo

found in the article listings headers for various KC information zones, such as the latest KB articles.

There are several levels of granularity for RSS feeds you can subscribe to depending on the amount of information you want to receive. Along with the article listings headers for various KC information zones, you can also subscribe to individual articles by using the RSS logo icon on the right hand side of each article.

Now that you know where to access the RSS feeds in the Knowledge Center, you will need an RSS reader to subscribe to them. A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). There are also a number of web-based feed readers available. My Yahoo, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers.

Setup the RSS feeder of your choice as per the program's installation instructions and then add the RSS syndicated content from the Knowledge Center you want to download. Literally it is that easy.

Note: The FlexRadio Forums also have RSS 2.0 syndication capabilities so you can collect content from the Forums as well.