As the title says, I’m using a 9700 with S.A.T. box for auto tuning. It works just fine except for one little problem.
When wfview connects and is set up with dual watch and Main/Sub and dual scope set properly the frequency displays will start to follow the radio display as the SAT box changes the frequency to follow Doppler shift. I can tune the wfview vfo with my mouse and all functions operate properly.
However, this only works for about 3-4 frequency update cycles and then wfview loses interest, hi, and stops updating the frequency, both uplink and downlink. The radio still updates properly. If I toggle the Main/Sub button a couple of times wfview will start tracking again, for 3-4 cycles and then stop
I have tried adjusting the SAT box update settings, frequency step and frequency update interval, and it does not have any affect.
I have tried wfview on more than one of the computers on my wired network, all current model I7/I9 machines and the problem persists on all of them.
I am trying to set up a remote system using wifi to allow my radio/satellite antennas to be placed in a better location to see the unobstructed sky. I have succedded in the wifi link, using a router with DD-WRT and using repeater client mode. This allows me to have a remote system with no computer required, only radio and router(as wifi access point).
Can you enlighten us as to what a “SAT box” is, and how it connects to the radio? Also, how are you connecting to the radio? USB port or ethernet? The more you can tell us about your setup the better.
Howdy. The S.A.T. device, commonly referred to as the sat box, is a standalone unit made by csntechnologies.net. It has become very popular amongst satellite operators using the IC-9700 and other similar Icom radios.
The wfview /radio connection is via wired ethernet and ultimately via wifi to the remote site.
The only connection from the sat box to the radio is via the CIV connection on the back of the radio. The sat box is also connected by wifi to your network to allow your web browser to use the sat box gui.
The sat box sets the frequencies (uplink/downlink) and modes on the radio that the satellite uses and automatically tunes both up and down frequencies for Doppler shift adjustment.
The problem comes up when using wfview in addition to the sat box. The sat box operation seems to be transparent to wfview, except for the Doppler tuning, where , as I stated, wfview will follow along for only a short period before not Doppler tuning anymore. It does not affect the radio when wfview stops Doppler tuning; the radio continues being tuned by the sat box.
I have continued trying out various adjustments to find an answer to the issue. I’m sure it’s something fairly simple but elusive, my favorite bug, hi.
I also am setting up a remote station with the CSN S.A.T and an IC9700 for the same reason… Get the antennas out in a favorable location. I am very interested in this thread.
I have an update. More fiddling around produced a positive result, though I have no idea why.
The sat box has a radio configuration menu where you select the radio model and also the baud rate of the CIV connection between sat box and radio. The nominal seting is 19200. I was looking through the radio menus and, looking at the CIV menus, noticed that the CIV baud rate was set for AUTO. I changed that to 19200.
Starting wfview and doing the Dual scope/ Main-Sub dance, I watched the frequency display, and much to my delight, the Sub display, which is always the receive display when using the sat box, was tracking the Doppler perfectly. More importantly, it continued tracking no matter what functions I tried, including transmitting via wfview.
Unfortunately, the Main display, the transmit side frequency, only updated once when first started and then froze without further updates. More fiddling has not managed to produce any better results.
Now I have no idea why this would happen, beyond my uneducated guess that it might be related to packet loss/collisions/timeouts… I don’t understand why changing the baud rate settings as described would have any affect on wfview, it was only between sat box and radio.
However, I’ll take one improvement any time. One step closer, hi.
Hi Bob. Good to hear I am not alone in the wifi remote quest.
The reason I chose to use a router instad of an access point for wifi at the remote was because the old router using DD-WRT firmware would allow me to not only give wifi access from the remote site to the main site/network but also give the sat box something to connect it’s wifi signal to, since it has to be at the remote site too. Also, I will install a wifi enabled multi relay device that will allow me to remotely turn on/off things like the rotor control box, the sat box and anything else that comes to mind.
Did I mention that the whole remote mess will be solar powered, only because the remote site has no grid connection available. So being able to reduce the current draw when not active, or overnight, is an absolute requirement, Ideally the only thing left running would be the router.
Speaking of the router again, the dd-wrt firmware allows you to use repeater client mode, which allows the router to connect to your normal network using the same IP subnet as you already have. This means that the radio and the sat box retain their normal IP adresses. Anything that gets further attached at the remote end, whether by Ethernet cable or wifi to the remote, also is assigned IP addresses that are part of the main subnet. This makes everything seanless and makes for easy initial testing before moving things to the remote site; all the IPs stay the same.
I have some 20 year old Buffalo routers that are only 2.4 Ghz and have a single antenna. They work fine using dd-wrt. I opened one up, disconnected the antenna lead from the board, istalled a BNC connector on the side of the box and connected that on the board. I happen to have a couple of very high gain 2.4 antennas; a vertical collinear about 5 feet long and a 45 element loop yagi. I suspect that I will be able to get a decent SNR over my 300 foot path.
I mispoke in my last post. The proper dd-wrt mode is repeater bridge mode, not repeater client mode. The clent mode only accepts wired connections to the router, the bridge mode will accept wired and wfi connections, Necessary for this mission.
Thanks for the additional information. I have stretched a 200’ ethernet cable to the remote station from a mesh node that is 300’ away from my main router. I am using older Asus ax11000 routers in a mesh network. I am just getting started with wfview after beating my head against the wall for far too long with the RS-BA1. After some testing last night, it looks like my install of wfview might be properly updating both vfo’s. It was 3am and I lacked good sat passes to know for sure. I am new to the radio, new to satellite and new to wfview so I have some figuring out to do to know what proper operation and usage should look like. I had good qso’s at the radio yesterday, so now I am focusing on the remote aspect of my setup now.
This SAT Box looks great, I may have to get one myself!
But I do not know why you are experiencing the issue. wfview does generally use CI-V Transceive, a technology Icom introduced in the 80s, but one which few developers have properly supported even today. From looking at the SAT Box, it seems that the SAT Box asks for CI-V Transceive to be turned off.
CI-V Transceive is nice because the radio will automatically update us when the frequency changes (such as if you twist the VFO knob). Without transceive, we have to rely on regular polling to figure this out.
Despite all this… wfview does poll the radio for a number of other parameters regularly and frequency is polled as well, although at a lower rate.
I’m going to assume you have CI-V Transceive OFF since that’s what the SAT Box documentation asks you to do.
With CI-V Transceive turned off and with the SAT Box commanding the VFO, it’s possible that you will not receive timely frequency information.
Questions:
When this problem happens, is the S-Meter still updating?
Does the SAT Box ever “swap VFOs”?
Do you see any errors in the “Log” window of wfview around the time this happens?
If you guys can open wfview and enable detailed comm logging during the issue, that will be really helpful.
Press “Log” in wfview
Check “Debug” and “CommDebug”
Try and create the issue (ie, use the S.A.T. Box).
Now, normally I would say “Press the ‘Send to termbin’ button”, but termbin seems to be offline right now, so I will ask that you either copy-paste the text from the log or send the actual file. If you press “Open Log Directory” then you should be presented with the directory that the log file is in. Send us that file!
I have had the Transceiver cvi on. That might explain why I am getting some quirky behavior when using the app. The Transceiver will display vfo a and vfo b, on the Main and Sub. the app keeps displaying both of them as vfo a or b. After repeatedly trying to change vfo from the app, one of the bands will switch to 1296MHz and the CSN S.A.T. looses control of that receiver. I then have to reboot the S.A.T.
The wfview app works best with CI-V Transceive turned ON.
But you can do it with CI-V Transceive turned OFF as well, it will just be less responsive. And then you will need to manually configure the CI-V address of the radio within wfview.
Are you considering purchasing a CSN S.A.T device? If so, I would be willing to make a donation to assist with that purchase. I imagine that would help greatly in your efforts to make your app compatible.
If a purchase is not on your radar, I could send you one of the two that I own to help make the troubleshooting easier.
It is unusual to see such levels of packet loss on wired ethernet. Something is going on.
CI-V wise, everything looks ok. I don’t see any errors or collisions, I also don’t see any traffic directly from the SAT Box, which is probably a good sign.