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Softrock Ensemble Afternoon 6

Running QUISK on Ubuntu 10.10 (32bit)

Click here for a larger image

I have been struggling to get the SDR software to run on my laptops.

After some screwing around last night and then again this morning (Linux+XP VM, XP on a Netbook, etc) I decided to spend sometime trying to get QUISK working under native Linux.

Here are the steps to make it work:

  1. I added a USB soundcard to the laptop (driving some external speakers)
  2. I have the Softrock Ensemble RXTX audio out connected to the laptop's internal Line/Mic "in" connector
  3. I have the Laptop and PCB connected with a USB cable
  4. I have a bench power supply providing 12.9vdc to the PCB
  5. I then I copied the conf file:
    cp home/me/quisk-3.4.12/softrock/conf_rx_tx_ensemble.py  /home/me/.quisk_conf.py

  6. I then updated the .quisk_conf.py file with the following settings:
    sample_rate = 48000
    name_of_sound_capt = "hw:0"         ##This is the internal sound card
    name_of_sound_play = "hw:1"         ##This is the USB sound card

I was able to launch QUISK (quisk.py) and then PCB initially with my signal generator as the source. Once I was able to confirm that worked I was able to connect the PCB to my 40m dipole and hear some CW near the bottom of the band.

Magic... SDR reception with Ubuntu 10.10+quisk on my laptop.

I am still battling a bit of a pulsing or surging in the audio after a few minutes that seems tied to CPU performance.  For testing purposes I have proved that I can receive signals so I should be able to move on to the next building steps. (I can come back around to work through the performance issues later.)

73 de NG0R

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Softrock Ensemble Afternoon 5

I am making some good progress on the kit on my day off for the holiday weekend.

So far I have completed the following stages: "power supply"  "usb power supply"  "local oscillator" "dividers"  "rf i/o & switching"  "rx mixer (QSD)"  "rx opamps and output"

Below N2BEN (10) is working on winding L2


L2 is a T37-6 with 11 turns


L2, L3, and L4


5 toroids in this section


I thought this looked neat.


I am back in the shack for a few minutes trying to figure out the next batch of software so I can try test the receive portion of the kit.

73 de NG0R










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Softrock Ensemble Night 4

Last night I worked on the I/Q frequency divider. Only a couple of new parts on the top side of the board.


This is my homebrew surface mount part holder. aka: board with a large paper clip


As you can see it does a pretty job holding down that chip.


The new 1/32" tip for my Weller iron showed up yesterday. That made this pretty easy work. I have a 1/64" coming from another vendor.

I connected the PCB to my oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer and I am seeing the proper signals and 90 degree phasing of the I/Q signals.

73 de NG0R



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Softrock Ensemble Afternoon 4

So... how do you test a Softrock Ensemble RXTX when the software is designed for Windows and you are running Linux?  (Ok... I am running Ubuntu 10.10)

I fired up Oracle (Sun) VirtualBox and launched a virtual machine running Windows XP.

I downloaded the various drivers and software packages listed at:
http://www.wb5rvz.com/sdr/ensemble/03_lo.htm

Once my laptop was ready I moved it to the workbench near the test gear. I connected the Softrock to the laptop with the USB cable, then I configure the USB pass-thru (right click on the USB icon)  so that XP could see the USB port, then XP prompted me for the driver location.  It took all of 60 seconds from connecting the cable to XP finishing installing the driver.

I ran the various setup and test steps with no issue. I connected a test probe between the SDR PCB and my oscilloscope and then my frequency analyzer.  As I changed the frequency in the software it would change on the scope.

That test step was extremely uneventful... very nice.

73 de NG0R

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Softrock Ensemble Night 3

Another quick night at the workbench but some forward movement!


Tonight's steps were around building the LO.  On the backside of the board there are a several additional SMT capacitors and then the Si570. On the front side the additions are some resistors, a PNP transistor, a couple of diodes and the Atmel CPU.

Oh yeah, the first toroid T1 was installed as well. 

I think that I am the point where I can contact a PC and try to test the LO. That means that I need to load up some Windows software. I will probably need to fire up XP in a Virtualbox session on an Ubuntu laptop that I can bring over to the workbench. --I will save that for another night.

73 de NG0R

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Softrock Ensemble Night 1

I spent some time this afternoon cleaning off the workbench so that I can make room for the next project. I have quite a few kits sitting on the shelf awaiting some attention so I decided to start the Softrock Ensemble RXTX kit. (I will go back to homebrewing after I complete some of the kit backlog... I am feeling guilty.)

I sorted the parts into some basic groups.


My son N2BEN (10) is helping me solder.


We finished the initial 5vdc power regulation stage.


I will see if we can try to put 30-60 minutes in per night to see if we can try to keep this moving along.

Some good build notes at:
http://www.wb5rvz.com/sdr/ensemble/

73 de NG0R