Feedback for version 0.9a here

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f8eho
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2018 3:36 pm

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by f8eho » Sat Aug 04, 2018 3:40 pm

Hi,

RSP-SAS not starting at all on my computer.
Windows 10 with last updates.

Ask me if i can help for troubleshouting.

Regards,

Pascal, f8eho.
Last edited by f8eho on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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SteveAndrew
Posts: 213
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:06 pm
Location: Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by SteveAndrew » Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:49 pm

f8eho wrote:RSP-SAS not starting at all on my computer.
Windows 10 with last updates.
If you are using a location setting that uses the ',' as a decimal separator then you will need to change your country/location setting to a country that uses the '.' character. Suggest you change your country/location setting to USA or UK. This bug has been fixed for the next release. If you still have problems with starting RSP-SAS, please let me know.

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K9AQ
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 1:20 am

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by K9AQ » Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:53 pm

Steve,

I am finally home from my camping trip and had time to get back to the tracking generator. I had ordered a package with an AD9850 and an AD9851 but the Chinese firm only shipped me an AD9850. The new one looks just like the old one that I couldn't get to work. The new one worked perfect on the first try with the Arduino 9850_test, running on an Arduino Mega. I then uploaded Trackgen_Mega2560_AD9850.hex using XLoader, and it worked!

I have tested it on different frequencies from 7mhz to 40mhz and it is right on frequency. I tried but spot and track. Now that I have it working, I can experiment with it and I want to build the AD9850 and the Arduino in to a shielded enclosure. That will probably be a Winter project.

Here is a picture of the waveform on my scope
SDS00001.png
SDS00001.png (20.37 KiB) Viewed 24617 times
This is what it looks like on the spectrum analyzer
tracking generator 7mhz spot.JPG
tracking generator 7mhz spot.JPG (191.61 KiB) Viewed 24617 times
Don
K9AQ

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tthames
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2018 9:34 am

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by tthames » Thu Aug 16, 2018 8:27 am

Hello Steve.

I managed it to get the AD9850 working with your files. Mega2650 and Uno/Nano are working.

Good Job!!!!!

Now I have a question. As I also work with a noise generator, it would be fine to
remote switch the noise generator on and off with a pin of the Arduino set by software.
Foe example, if you choose "noise", a pin is set to 0 volt to switch my noise generator on.

Is this possible?

Maybe you can send me the .ino-files, I will try to manage it by myself.

This is only a proposal.

Thank you in advance
Last edited by tthames on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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SteveAndrew
Posts: 213
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:06 pm
Location: Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by SteveAndrew » Thu Aug 16, 2018 9:26 am

K9AQ wrote:I am finally home from my camping trip and had time to get back to the tracking generator. I had ordered a package with an AD9850 and an AD9851 but the Chinese firm only shipped me an AD9850. The new one looks just like the old one that I couldn't get to work. The new one worked perfect on the first try with the Arduino 9850_test, running on an Arduino Mega. I then uploaded Trackgen_Mega2560_AD9850.hex using XLoader, and it worked!
Hope it was a nice trip Don.

Good to hear that all seems to be working now. I must admit to being somewhat worried when you posted a code snippet that worked for you, when my own code didn't seem to want to work. As you have replaced the hardware and everything is now working, I guess that is a mystery that will not be solved.

As you will have seen, DaveR was also having problems with an AD9850 - It seems that in both your case and his, the problem was caused by faulty hardware, and not faulty code - Good to know. If you get a chance, could you let us know what type of DDS module you have. Further back in the thread there are pictures of the modules DaveR and myself are using, are yours the same type ?

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SteveAndrew
Posts: 213
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:06 pm
Location: Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by SteveAndrew » Thu Aug 16, 2018 9:41 am

tthames wrote: managed it to get the AD9850 working with your files. Mega2650 and Uno/Nano are working.
Thank you for letting us know. It seems that past problems getting the AD9850 module to run may have been hardware-related.
tthames wrote:Now I have a question. As I also work with a noise generator, it would be fine to
remote switch the noise generator on and off with a pin of the Arduino set by software.
Foe example, if you choose "noise", a pin is set to 0 volt to switch my noise generator on.

Is this possible?
It is possible, in fact the next release already includes outputs from the Arduino to indicate the start and end of each sweep, these may be useful for synchronisation purposes if using an oscilloscope. That still leaves some bits spare so I may look at letting the user control the state of those bits from the anaylser control panel.
tthames wrote:Maybe you can send me the .ino-files, I will try to manage it by myself.
Currently there are no plans to release any source code associated with the project. If you had the source code for the Trackgen module, I cannot see that it would help you as the analyser does not (currently) include code to communicate such output settings to the Arduino.

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DaveR
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:07 am

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by DaveR » Thu Aug 16, 2018 3:23 pm

Some good news and some bad from me: the second AD9851 module I ordered arrived from China this morning, and it looks really nice - 3 times the size of the usual boards, with four SMA connectors, which would make it a very good board to build into a box as a small signal generator. Unfortunately, the board itself was obviously originally designed for the AD9850 chip, and has a 125MHz oscillator fitted instead of the required 30MHz one!! Consequently, due to the mismatch, the module will not work as either an AD9851 or AD9850. It does give some output, depending on the particular code used, but at totally unpredictable frquencies ranging from about 10Hz to 125MHz - a 1MHz sine wave comes out at 998Hz, for instance. You've got to love Chinese QA, haven't you?
We'll see what comes back from the supplier this time, but I'm starting to think that getting a working AD9851 module might not be an easy task - and the prices for them appear to be increasing daily!
AD9851 (v2).jpg
AD9851 (v2).jpg (405.77 KiB) Viewed 24525 times
125 MHz (Wrong) Oscillator.jpg
125 MHz (Wrong) Oscillator.jpg (265.65 KiB) Viewed 24525 times
The other thing I've noticed about the board is that there is no I-R pin on it for amplitude control (a board designed for the AD9850 wouldn't have had one to start with) unless one of the other pins has been assigned to the function, but I haven't managed to find any documentation for this board so far.

Regards,
Dave

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DaveR
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:07 am

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by DaveR » Thu Aug 16, 2018 3:53 pm

I managed it to get the AD9850 working with your files. Mega2650 and Uno/Nano are working.
Have you actually managed to get a Nano board fully working with Trackgen? In theory, the Nano should work the same as an Uno, but I can't get mine to be recognised by Trackgen no matter how I wire it up. I can set any default frequency in Steve's code before the sketch is uploaded, and the output is correct - so I know that the Nano board works using Uno code - but I can't get the red square in RSP-SAS to turn green, so can't control the Nano afterwards.

Is there something obvious I'm missing, Steve, or will another mod to the code be necessary to allow the Nano to be used? The Nano would be the ideal board to build into a signal generator because of its small size and very low cost (and I already have three sitting around waiting for a use :)).

Regards,
Dave

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K9AQ
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 1:20 am

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by K9AQ » Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:28 pm

Like Dave, I would love to have the trackgen software working with a Nano. For this application you don't need any more IO.

Don
K9AQ

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K9AQ
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2017 1:20 am

Re: Feedback for version 0.9a here

Post by K9AQ » Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:41 pm

Steve,

My AD985-'s appear to be same design. I attempted to attach a photo but the file was too big. I will have to play around with the file to make it smaller.

Don
K9AQ

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