PowerSDR on iPad via TeamViewer

I tested this arrangement this morning on an iPad Air (iOS 7).  With Power SDR software running my Flex-3000 and accessed via TeamViewer I was able to control the radio using a little mouse pointer on the iPad screen. I also verified the ability to zoom in using the two-finger pinch gesture. Below are two views captured with a digital camera.

Normal full window view of PSDR. Other PC taskbar icons are visible at bottom of screen.

Zoomed-in to the maximum amount.

I also had the receive audio playing from the iPad since I activated a virtual audio cable connecting the Flex-3000 audio to default playback. At times the audio would go choppy for several seconds and then settle out for a few minutes. I also heard audio in the background from the web link I still had open to a Flex-6700.

A few weeks earlier I tested the equivalent remote control capability from my Android smartphone using TeamViewer. Of Course, that screen is much smaller, but I was able to zoom in, albeit requiring a lot of panning to navigate.

-John

Microphone level setting in Windows 7

In recent Google Hangouts and tests of patching a Hangout to an HF transceiver, the need for adjusting microphone gain was noted. Many of us were familiar with how to set microphone gain in Skype, since it provides an explicit setting option for this. (The Google Hangout app does not.) Some are familiar with how to set this in Windows XP via its audio mixer settings, but those settings seemed to be absent in Windows 7.

After a little digging around this morning I found where to set microphone gain in Windows 7.
This is also documented in a Microsoft Support article. Start by right-clicking the familiar speaker icon in your lower right desktop corner (task bar on bottom). You'll get the menu shown below.

Click on Recording devices and see the window shown below.

Click on the Recording tab, verify the microphone device you want to use is designated as default, click on it to select and then click Properties. Next you'll see the window below.

Click on the Levels tab and you'll see slider controls for Microphone and Boost, or possibly just Boost. Here you can adjust the level for your microphone. I've verified this on three different Windows 7 computers, and noted that the microphone level defaults to 100%. If your audio app, such as Google Hangouts, is getting too much audio you can reduce it here.

While digging around in these settings I also found an option that should let me try my headset microphone with the Flex-3000. The Listen tab on the Microphone Properties page has an option to "Listen to this device" and choose "Playback through" a device selected on a pull-down menu. There I can choose the virtual audio cable for my transmit audio. I'll try this on an upcoming QSO.

JK

View of 7120 and up

Here is the view starting at 7120 at 0801 CST.

A view of 40 m

Here is the view as we QSO on 7195 this morning.

Here is the waterfall display in the same frequency range, showing the signal intensity vs time.

Virtual Audio Cables

With the Flex-3000 in house, I wanted to set up to use some digital modes. The instructions led me to the Virtual Audio Cable (VAC) program to make the digital audio connections between the digital mode software (e.g. DigiPan, JT65) and the PowerSDR program that runs the Flex.  The basic features of VAC are described in the program's help file and are illustrated in the following figure from that source.

 VAC provides a one-way "pipe" to interconnect digital audio streams between programs on a single Windows PC. The figure shows multiple applications that play or generate audio, connected to a single virtual cable that can then connect to multiple applications that accept audio input. To test the ability to combine multiple sources, I set up the arrangement shown below. In the VLC media player and the PowerSDR program I selected the same virtual cable for their outputs. At the Skype program I selected the virtual cable for its input. In a test call using Skype, the audio streams of both sources were audible. The audio level for each source must be set in its respective program.  

The ability to combine multiple audio streams and to transport the result to multiple programs may provide some possibilities for implementing audio patches for remote callers to access a radio transceiver.  Using two virtual cables I connected the Flex-3000 to Skype or to a Google Hangout for bidirectional audio and made some test calls to verify transmission. Below is a figure showing the test arrangement.

This arrangement provides sufficient audio paths for a single remote operator to talk through and listen to the transceiver.  

As usual, the challenge with a third-party patch is to find a place where the local station microphone can connect to the transmit audio and to the distant caller. Possibilities include:

• Station microphone connected to the transceiver in the normal manner, working in harmony with the audio on VAC1 (if they are not mutually exclusive)
• Microphone connected via some audio program to the VAC1 for transmit
• Microphone connected via some audio program to the VAC2 for talking to the remote device user

Transmit audio monitoring, built into the transceiver, enables the station operator to hear the audio transmitted by the distant caller.

In the absence of audio stream bridging within the Windows PC, a second Skype or Google Hangout session can be connected via conference call with the session that provides the transceiver patch.

Further testing is needed to determine what programs and devices are  available to implement the full patching capabilities.

FlexRadio 3000 operation

Here is a full screen shot from this morning's operation on 60 m. Click on the image to enlarge it. The main window shows the receive audio spectrum display. To the right are two open configuration windows, with my notes added in red text. Near the bottom left of the full screen is the mixer window, which provides one of the places to set microphone gain.

I'll continue to read about and tweak the settings per owner's manual and W1AEX.com documentation. When I get the right connectors together, I'll try my old desk microphone, too. I plan to do some testing on my dummy load while listening on the Heathkit transceiver via headphones.

Thanks for everyone's signal reports and audio recordings!

John

HF Loop Options

I used the 4nec2 program to lay out and briefly analyze my options for setting up an HF loop antenna using the 4 trees I selected to suspend the loop over the back yard. The graphic here shows 2 options for a loop supported by the 4 trees (green discs). The outer perimeter, with dimensions (in feet) marked in red, totals 421 ft, and reaches every tree, and would be appropriate for coverage starting at 2.39 MHz. The height above ground would be about 25 ft.

The inner square, with dimensions in blue, shows a loop designed for about 3.7 MHz, totaling 272 ft.  The 4 line segments with green dimensions represent the ropes that would be needed to support the smaller loop from the same 4 trees. A convenient feed point, close to one end of my house, is near the lower right corner. In the antenna model this is represented by the pink circle. The house would be located partly beneath the 89 ft segment of the larger loop.

The far field radiation patterns for the two loops are somewhat similar, with 80 and 40 m producing one or two lobes with high angle of radiation. The higher bands yield lower angles of radiation, but with multiple lobes. On the 10 m band, the larger loop produces 14 lobes, and the smaller loop produces 12 lobes.

Now that I have a scale drawing saved as a NEC file, I'll explore some other alternatives (triangles?, dipoles?) before hanging wire.

John

Update:  I put up the smaller loop diagrammed above -- 68 ft on each side.

EasyBCD vs GRUB2

I learned about EasyBCD while reading some replies in this Google+ posting:
https://plus.google.com/111420842954473821448/posts/FHDERi6UCii

I thought about using EasyBCD on my Win7 laptop where I recently installed Ubuntu 13.04. The GRUB2 menu had Ubuntu as the default boot choice and 3 appearances of Win7, of which two were restore or recovery options. I was not sure I wanted to edit the GRUB2 menu. Then I also stumbled upon this forum posting by the user who ended up with tandem bootloaders:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2126946

Then I decided to stick with editing the GRUB2 menu. I found this solution to make it easier and was pleased with the results:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/43471/how-to-configure-the-linux-grub2-boot-menu-the-easy-way/

John

Fake software updates

We must all be aware that a very popular and effective tactic currently used to spread malware is the offering of fake updates to popular programs needed to view or play common web content. Examples include the Adobe Flash Player and various video players or web browser plug-ins. Suspicious or malicious web sites (sometimes not recognized as such) may offer desirable content that prompts the user to install updated viewer / player software. Sometimes legitimate web sites get infiltrated and have their pages altered with links that trick the user into accepting malware. Such offered updates may be fake and are designed to install malware.

Last year one of my family members tried to view a Star Trek video clip on a web site, which advised that an updated video player was needed. Upon downloading the supposed player update, a pop-up box advised that Antivirus 2010 had detected virus infections on the PC and that an update was needed to remove them. The update would require a credit card payment to proceed. Fortunately my family member went no further. I was able to remove the bogus Antivirus 2010 that was the actual malware.

This morning's roundtable discussion with my friends mentioned a Flash Player Pro update obtained from a web site that carried malware to the user's computer. A quick search on Google reveals that many instances of fake Flash Player programs or updates are lurking on the web.

If you believe that you need a particular viewer update, it is best to visit the original publishers' web sites rather than trust links on some content provider's web site. Some examples include:

http://java.com/en/ -- click on Free Java Download
http://www.adobe.com/ -- click on Download and choose Adobe Reader

http://www.adobe.com/ -- click on Download and choose Adobe Flash Player

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx – go to the Download section

Note that Java and Flash are very popular current targets for malware distributors.

Installed anti-virus programs may not catch the malware that an unsuspecting user downloads from a web site. Some reasons for this failure are:

• Anti-virus programs rely mainly on profiles or signatures of discovered malware. Newly-developed malware may not be detected using current profiles.
• Anti-virus profiles must be updated frequently. Delays in updating can leave vulnerabilities to certain malware.
• Independent testing has not shown any antivirus program to be 100% effective.
• Malware programs are becoming more effective at evading detection.

You may want to go to http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/ and run the Online Scanner to check your PC(s) for outdated software that has security vulnerabilities. This runs a Java applet to perform the scan. 

Here are two web sites that can enhance your understanding of many facets of online security:

GetNetWise

OnGuard Online

Take care!