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Messages - g4swx

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31
You can re-flash the firmware in Ubiquiti Bullets to give you channels right across the 2310-2400MHz range, getting clear of ISM band QRM. As long as there are no major obstructions 4.7miles is relatively easy.
Depending upon the exact version of the existing firmware you can either use a much older version of Ubiquiti's own firmware that has 'Compliance Test' available as a country code or use one of the versions of ddwrt http://www.dd-wrt.com/

73
John G4SWX

32
General discussion forum / Re: Audio Dropout
« on: 2012-08-06, 20:51:29 »
I use 100m of burried CAT5 SWA to get to my shack where the RRC1258 is located with no problems at all - however I do have a small Netgear 5 port switch at each end. I have not tried with a direct connection to the RRC1258 as I also have Wiznet RS232 over Ethernet boxes to control my rotators.
Besides checking the router I would look at anything else running on the LAN as burting traffic, in particular webcams can lead to such problems.

73
John G4SWX

33
This is not uncommon. I first reported it a number of months ago on this forum.
http://www.remoterig.com/forum/index.php?topic=1072.msg4384#msg4384

It is not the PSU - I have seen lock-up with both large and plugtop supplies. it certainly is a failure to boot as both the Ethernet and USB ports are dead.
The only cure seems to be to remove all power for >10 mins and then try again.

73
John G4SWX

34
Tony,
This might not be a complete answer.
On my installation I used the 9 pin connector on the lead supplied by Easy Rotor with the kit and the COM1 connection on the radio RRC1258. I had to reverse the EasyRotor recommended connections to pins 2 & 3 to get the RS232 properly connected. However I used a standard RS232 male-female at the control RRC1258 end to connect to a PC.
73
John G4SWX

35
Dave, - No I did not contact Idiom Press - the cards were purchaced a couple of years ago by a fellow amateur who attempted to use them via direct RS232 connection with HRD. I suspect that the lock-up might be a timing/synchronisation issue but have not persued it as I changed to EasyRotor cards.
An additional feature of the EasyRotor cards is greater angular resolution which I have found essential for VHF antennas.
73
John G4SWX

36
I have had serious lock-up problems when using Idion Press cards remotely. Both with the RRC1258 and also Wiznet RS232 over Ethernet cards using HRD Rotator at the control end. The problem seems to be that after a few days the Idiom Press card locks-up on the RS232 interface. The only way to cure this is to reset the card supply which requires a site visit. On several forums I have noticed that others have experienced similar problems when using these cards particularly with PstRotator software
After trying 3 Idiom Press cards I gave up and changed to Easy Rotor cards;
http://easy-rotor-control.com/ which although they come as a kit are far cheaper.
I now have 3 of these running without a problem for several months.

73
John G4SWX

37
I don't see why not - I have a 1216L installed on a G1000 rotator with a 1216H Webswitch where I am using all 5 relays for other things. Although not without issues - see my posting concerning automatic decoding of band data. The 1216L actually has 3 relays on its own board.

73
John G4SWX

38
General discussion forum / 1216H Band Decoding with TS2000
« on: 2012-03-28, 17:50:06 »
I am using a RRC1258 to remote a Kenwood TS2000 using a RC-2000 mobile controller. I aso use one of the RRC1258 com ports to run HRD remotely using the TS2000 RS232 connection.

I have upgraded the system to enable automatic switching of HF antennas using a Webswitch 1216H with a RS232 adaptor. I have used the Kenwood(FA/FB) no TXD configuration, and set up the Antenna Selection accordingly. To test out the system first I used a direct RS232 connection from the TS2000 to PC running the latest (5.11) version of HRD.

On most band configurations I am seeing relay chatter as the 1216H attempts to change band relays around once a second! Upon investigation the 'last set frequency' as displayed in the Antenna selection menu(refreshed) showed 14100KHz whatever band was selected on HRD. This turns out to be the VFO B frequency that was set on HRD. When 14MHz or any other band was selected on both A & B VFOs there was no problem. However if the band differed the problem reoccurs. It seems to me that the 1216H is decoding both VFO A and B frequencies from the RS232 stream and switching between them. When changing HRD to Kenwood's ARPC-2000 software this issue does not occur.

I have tried connecting the RS232 to decode the data sent from HRD (DB9 pin3) rather
than the data sent from the TS2000. This is stable with only one band selected, however it ONLY changes state when HRD is used to change the band data so does not fully maintain state with the TS2000.

My question is easy: - has anybody any idea how I can fix this?
However I do understand that it might be an issue with either HRD or the Webswith.

Any thoughts would be welcome
73
John G4SWX

39
General discussion forum / Re: RRC1258 Fails to boot
« on: 2011-12-02, 13:06:33 »
Mike,

Thanks for the prompt reply:
as I commented:
> However, removing and applying power many times will sometimes result in it booting correctly.

So I now have it running again so it is unlikely to be a firmware/bootloader issue, it sounds to me more like a hardware issue. Hence first thing was to change PSUs. Pressing reset for a soft reset does not resolve the problem and instigate boot-up. If it continues I will do as you recommend and send it back to you although I am now tempted to leave it on rather than powering down every time I am not using the radio.

Regards
John

40
> I would like to run RC-2000 and HamRadioDeluxe in parallel. How must I configurate the RPC 
> (Com-Port 1/2 ?, Mode 4 ? ) and HamRadio Deluxe ?

I do exactly that:
I run the TS2000 via the RRC1258 as per the instruction manual. I have the TS2000 RS232 interface connected to the RRC-radio Com 2 and the RRC-control Com 2 connected to a PC running HRD at the control end. (take care with serial leads and com port reversals). I run the TS2000 RS232 interface at 57.6Kbps over a high bandwidth link but reduce to 9.6Kbps when using Internet. I also use a rotator via an Easy-Rotor board on Com1 at 4.8Kbps into the HRD rotator controller at the control end.

My Config:
Com 2 mode -4
Com 2 baudrate 57600
Com2 data bits 8
Com 2 stop bits 1
Com 2 partity off
Com 2 terminator 00
use USB no

I have had a number of issues with this set-up:
Sometimes when tuning rapidly with HRD the RC2000 loses synch and can even lock up. This is worse with the 9.8Kbps connection rather than 57.6Kbps. The only cure seems to be to switch off the RC2000 and then switch back on again.
The HRD rotator controler often doesn't seem to update the display very often when the rotator is moving position, although hitting the 'refresh' button restores the rotator actual position.

Not perfect but very good.

73
John G4SWX


[/quote]

41
General discussion forum / RRC1258 Fails to boot
« on: 2011-12-02, 10:04:12 »
Hi,

After nearly one year of flawless operation I have started to have problems with my control RRC.
For the last day or so it has failed to boot up first time on application of power. The red and yellow LEDs above the aux/mic socket illuminate immediately when power is applied and then stay illuminated. The power LED fails to illuminate.
I have changed the 12V PSU and the same happens.
The control RRC web interface is not available neither will the device respond to ping.
However, removing and applying power many times will sometimes result in it booting correctly.

The only think that I can think might be different is that the temperature dropped last night to 0 degrees C but that is hardly a drastic environmental change.

Has anybody else suffered similar problems or has any idea what might be failing?

73
John G4SWX

42
Configuration, RRC 1258 / Re: Version 2.46 Software -OUT1/2
« on: 2011-11-09, 14:02:02 »
Thanks Mike - that makes a lot of sense - I wired it up as per manual and then swapped the wires as I thought that I had made a mistake...............

73
John

43
Configuration, RRC 1258 / Version 2.46 Software -OUT1/2
« on: 2011-11-09, 13:23:58 »
Hi,

I have just upgraded the software on the controller and radio units to version 2.46. I spotted in the release notes: "- If you use the I/O connector, be careful OUT1 and OUT2 are swapped, they where wrong before."

I do use OUT1 and OUT2 to provide remote operation of relays from switches fed into the IN-1 and IN-2 inputs. The operation still seems to be as before ie: an input on IN-1 produces an output on OUT-1 etc, so no change. However when I set the units up I did swap the OUT wires as I suspected that I might have got the wires crossed in the following relay unit.

Have I missunderstood the release note or are there more swaps to come???

73
John G4SWX

44
This is almost certainly a firewall/routing issue with the hotel's internet access system. Whist they might have an open port for SIP they probably block inbound UDP on other many if not all other port numbers. As a thought you might try to use port 53 which is normaly reserved for DNS.
If not try to find a port No which the hotel network might let through. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers
for some inspiration...

73
John G4SWX

45
General discussion forum / Re: still dropping out
« on: 2011-10-21, 13:13:15 »
Hi,

Drop outs are messy and require a lot of time and patience to sort. I have written a brief note on some of the issues that I have encountered in another thread. please see:
http://www.remoterig.com/forum/index.php?topic=1003.msg4099#msg4099

It might be an idea for somebody to summaries all of these issues into a more detailed check list?

73
John G4SWX

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