SDRplay Community Forum

Breadboarding AD9850 and ARDUINO Nano for a Tracking Gen, SW compiled in Nano and returned responses are good.
Interconnect pin numbers returned but uncertain of what the "S" Sync connection is on the AD9850 module, this is the connection to the Nano D8 pin.
Please advise or correct me if it looks I have something wrong.

There is no "Sync" pin on AD9850 or 9851 boards, but Trackgen still works fine with them, just as in 0.9a. At a guess, I'd say that Steve has been experimenting with other possible sig gen boards, and the mysterious "S" pin is just a left over from that. It may have a use in the future, but only time will tell.

Regards,
Dave

saltire wrote:Breadboarding AD9850 and ARDUINO Nano for a Tracking Gen, SW compiled in Nano and returned responses are good.
Interconnect pin numbers returned but uncertain of what the "S" Sync connection is on the AD9850 module, this is the connection to the Nano D8 pin.
Please advise or correct me if it looks I have something wrong.

Hi Saltire

The Sync port (D8) on the Arduino is configured as an output and simply outputs a pulse of around 1ms duration at the start of each Trackgen sweep.

The Arduino Trackgen firmware is controlled via simple ASCII text commands (see manual) and some users may wish to write their own code to control the generator, or simply control it via a serial comms program such as PuTTY. It was added so that if a user wishes to use Trackgen in stand-alone mode, without the analyser, then they might find it useful to know that the frequency sweep was starting. A typical scenario might be to use the Sync pule as a trigger for an oscilloscope.

If you have no use for the Sync output, simply ignore it and don't connect it to anything.

Steve

Hi Steve

Thanks for the clarification regarding the SYNC signal.
Now with the working tracking gen boxed and working I have provided an output port for the possible future use for the SYNC signal.
Included a noise source in the enclosure,selectable, as an alternative to the DDS for any application beyond beyond the AD9850/51 range.
Thanks for such a valuable programme that extends the use of a RSP-X providing a first class piece of test gear that many amateurs / enthusiasts would not normally aspire to.
Have to tidy-up my QRZ.COM page and add the tracking gen.

Alastair...GM3NKG

saltire wrote:Hi Steve

Now with the working tracking gen boxed and working I have provided an output port for the possible future use for the SYNC signal.
Included a noise source in the enclosure,selectable, as an alternative to the DDS for any application beyond beyond the AD9850/51 range.

HI Alistair

It had crossed my mind that I could control several of the spare port pins on the Arduino - might possibly be useful for control of signal levels or suchlike - Just a thought.

Steve

Newbe question.
I have an Arduino Mega 2560 connected to a AD 9850 DDS. I can not get it work with SA V 1.0a. I have tried a Win 10 OS and a Win 7 OS. Other DDS sketches work on this setup. I am using X-Loader to load the 2560 hex file onto the Arduino. What am I doing wrong? (must be operator error). The load-in to the Arduino seems to go fine (reports 13124 bytes loaded). I have seen Steve's notes on getting the tracking generator to be recognized. I have tried all of the suggestions. The SA sees the com port correctly assigned to the Arduino.

Thanks for your thoughts - new at this and love the software.
Jim
Amateur in CA

Jimjrjjrj wrote:Newbe question.
I have an Arduino Mega 2560 connected to a AD 9850 DDS. I can not get it work with SA V 1.0a. I have tried a Win 10 OS and a Win 7 OS. Other DDS sketches work on this setup. I am using X-Loader to load the 2560 hex file onto the Arduino. What am I doing wrong? (must be operator error). The load-in to the Arduino seems to go fine (reports 13124 bytes loaded). I have seen Steve's notes on getting the tracking generator to be recognized. I have tried all of the suggestions. The SA sees the com port correctly assigned to the Arduino.

Thanks for your thoughts - new at this and love the software.
Jim
Amateur in CA

Hi JIm

A couple of questions...

1) Are you sure you have loaded the firmware for the Mega 2560 ? - Seems like a silly question, but I ask because I wasted time looking for non-existent, bugs, only to find I'd loaded an incorrect firmware version for the Arduino model I was using.

2) Try selecting the Arduino comm port a couple of times - does the red box turn to green ?

There is a know anomaly with the comms link, this is covered in the release notes at the front of the user manual. In the meantime, I'll check again that all is OK with the 2560 code and will post my findings back here.

Steve

Steve,

Thanks for the reply.
I did double check the Hex code to verify it was for the 2560. ( I also tried loading the Uno code - no joy). I tried resetting the com port to an available
unused port - the SP identified the new port but the box stayed "Red". Could the X-load hex loader be the issue?

When Win OS 10 sets the com port for the Arduino it selects Com 1. I have verified in Device Manager that this is correct. Rate is 115200, 8, no parity, Stop bits 1, no flow control. Device manager reports that the device ( Arduino 2560 is working properly).

When I try and toggle the Com port within the SP Tracking Generator section it will only allow me to select Com port One and nothing else.

Many of the ham operators in our local club (W6EK) are fans of SDRplay and your work.
Thank you so much.

Jim WA8MPA

Jimjrjjrj wrote:Steve,

Thanks for the reply.
I did double check the Hex code to verify it was for the 2560. ( I also tried loading the Uno code - no joy). I tried resetting the com port to an available
unused port - the SP identified the new port but the box stayed "Red". Could the X-load hex loader be the issue?

Hi Jim

It seems that the HEX code for the Mega 2560 may be for another Arduino board. I tried loading it to my Mega and it failed to run. An LED on the board was slowly flashing, I've no idea why. I tried connecting to the Mega via PuTTY, still nothing happening. I then re-compiled the Trackgen code for the Mega and uploaded it. I was still unable to connect to Trackgen but was able to connect when using PuTTY. All very odd.

I did a bit of digging around on the net and found I'm not the only one experiencing problems when using serial IO using the .NET serial IO control. This link explains why. At this point I can only suggest you run the firmware on a Nano or Uno. One way or another, this problem will be rectified for the release version. In the meantime, if I can come up with a fix from the Arduino end of the link, I'll post an updated HEX file here.

https://www.sparxeng.com/blog/software/ ... serialport

Jimjrjjrj wrote: When Win OS 10 sets the com port for the Arduino it selects Com 1. I have verified in Device Manager that this is correct. Rate is 115200, 8, no parity, Stop bits 1, no flow control. Device manager reports that the device ( Arduino 2560 is working properly).

When I try and toggle the Com port within the SP Tracking Generator section it will only allow me to select Com port One and nothing else.

I'm not sure what you mean here. If Win sets the Arduino com port to Com 1, then it would seem there are no other ports found. Does the com port drop box list any other ports apart from Com 1, the Arduino port ?

Steve

Steve posting this for your information, hope it can help.:
Also tried uploading the trackgen Arduino hexfile to a Mega 2560R3, same result - which I expected!! I did note that the 2560's Rx LED flashed as if it was receiving data when I clicked on the Arduino COM ports number in trackgen, the blinking LED on the 2560 went out for several seconds then resumed flashing. Did this several times. I then selected another COM port, Trackgen then crashed with an exception error.

QUESTION ABOUT THE 9850 DDS: I connected it to my oscilloscope to check it out. Maybe I got a lemon! The sine output's amplitude begins to rolloff at about 1 megahertz with the negative peak of the sine wave clamped to ground at low frequencies , as I ramp up the frequency the amplitude decreases. At higher frequencies the output appears to have about a .5 volt DC offset to it. I ran it up to about 39 Mhz, at that point the output was only a few millivolts peak to peak centered on .5V DC. Has anyone else noticed similar behavior?