Quisk Remote operation

The recent development of Quisk allows for remote operation of supported SDR radio's - that could be at the end of your garden using wifi or some completely remote station in another location.

The bandwidth requirement is around 55Kb/s, which is quite small for an ethernet operated SDR.

I run the Quisk remote 'server' on a Raspberry-Pi 3 hooked to a Hermes-Lite 2 (HL2) and another instance of Quisk as the Control Head (Client) running on a Windows laptop or PC.

The install and operation of Quisk is as described here... (upgrade your install(s) to the newest Quisk if not already done as old versions will not work for remote)

https://james.ahlstrom.name/quisk/docs.html
https://james.ahlstrom.name/quisk/docs.html#Remote

For remote operation, you must make sure both 'Server' and 'Client' versions of Quisk are the same and ideally the newest release.

The settings below are the same for a home network situation or a fully remote internet setup.

My setting of Quisk 'server' - I used a Raspberry Pi 3 as my remote 'server' as it is more than capable and cheap to run!   Click any image to SUPERSIZE!

Create a new radio of type Hermes, give it a useful name - I used HL2-Server, then Add as screenshot

Select the new radio, HL2-Server and on the Hardware tab, check the settings as in screenshot - adjust the hardware file path/python path according to your operating system

On the Remote tab, set a password for the remote client to add to the Control head/client setting

All other settings are pretty much standard and should be enough to get you going (see also the video linked below)

My Setting of Quisk 'Client' - I set this up on a Laptop or desk PC as the Control Head/Client

Create a new Radio of type Control Head and give it useful name - I used HL2-Client, then Add

Select the new radio HL2-Client and on Hardware tab select as screenshot, adjusting the path according to your operating system

On the Remote tab, add the IP address of your Quisk remote (HL2-Server/R-Pi) and enter the same password as you used for the Quisk Server

Once you have all the above setup, start the server and once it is connected to the radio, start the client and it should connect :-)

Here is a useful video on setting up an HL2 with Quisk for normal stand-alone operation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pPbQplSBoo

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Below is a rough schematic of how I plan to run a fully remote station when I can find a suitable site.

Click the image to go SUPERSIZE !

In the UK we need to have a way to power ON/OFF the whole operation independently of the internet.
I will use a GSM operated relay that only responds to SMS messages from approved/registered cell phones (mine!).  It ignores all other calls/messages.

Once the system is powered on, it supplies 5v power (from the 12v PSU) to the internet router and an ESP32 controlling an 8 way relay module.  These relays are used to independently power ON or OFF the various other equipments via a web browser interface.

Once the router has full booted (around 1.5 minutes) I can then connect to it from my PC and control the relays via a web browser.  I use a Wireguard VPN on the router and a Wireguard client software on  my Windows PC to establish a secure point-to-point VPN.

I then power up the Raspberry-Pi.  I can check it is up via VNC viewer on my PC.  Once the R-Pi has booted, I then start the radio, a Hermes-Lite 2.  Once the HL2 is booted, I start the Quisk server on the R-Pi.

The reason I will do it this way is that to power the whole station at once would lead to failure as some devices would not be ready at the correct time(s).

With the relay control, I can also gracefully signal the R-Pi to reboot or power-off.

I will also have the ESP32 relay control an antenna changeover relay or relays and a linear amplifier (not shown in the above diagram for simplicity).
My Quisk Remote internet router has a fixed public IP address but it may be possible to use a DDNS service if you can't get a fixed IP address for the remote station - I haven't tested using a DDNS service.

Using a point-to-point VPN means I don't have to open ports at the remote station.
If you are not using a VPN, you will need to port forward the below to the internal IP address of the Quisk/R-Pi server (potentially risky long term).
TCP 4585

UDP 4586 and 4587

If you are using Quisk remote on your own home internal network then you will not need to fuss with the above ports.

You will always need to add a secure password into the Quisk Server software and add the same password to the Quisk Client as well.

Solar installation

Having recently had a solar 'home island' installation at my home, I'm going to document things here, warts and all.
I chose my supplier as they were local and appeared to have a good reputation, plus the equipment supplied is of European manufacture, as opposed to no-name Chinesium.

Home islanding means the ability to be 'off-grid' via a battery system that is charged by the 14 solar panels on the roof, which charge the batterys and can at the same time provide mains power to the home.
Plus, when the batteries are full, the system will put the excess energy back into the grid, thereby earning me some money.
In the event of mains grid failure, the system automatically and seamlessly powers my home from the batteries, providing of course there is suffiient charge in the battery bank!

The system works pretty much 'as advertised' - but as a licenced Radio Amateur, my worst fears have been realised.

I am liasing with my supplier in an attempt to mutually rectify the horrendous 'noise' this system creates across the whole of the HF spectrum during daylight hours, rendering my hobby almost unusable from dawn to dusk.

More to come....

12v antenna relays - maybe?

 Found some hefty 12v relays from a scrapped car - have a search around your local car breakers!

Might make nice antenna changeover relays...

Click the images to go supersize

Hermes-Lite 2

Made some mods to my Hermes-Lite 2 (HL2).
Click the images to supersize.

Added a power on/off switch to the front panel.

Added DC power socket to rear panel, 9 pin sub D for band data to Hardrock 50 (HR50) linear amp and RF3 input for Pure Signal.

Internals (the lumps in the middle of the power cables are gold plated bullet connectors for easy connect/disconnect)

Isolation milled the HR50 interface (provides band data and PTT)

Pin 2 = TXD Band data (Serial out)

Pin 4 = PTT_IN (in from footswitch)

Pin 5 = GND

and simply added pins for a future second amp interface using i2c

Pin 6 = EXTTR_OUT (out to PA)

Pin 7 = SDA2

Pin 8 = SCL2

Second HL2 in a 40mm case !

Don't shout - WSPR

Homebrew WSPR TX using the brilliant open source code by Harry from Zachtek.
If you want the best, buy from Harry,  https://www.zachtek.com/

I tweaked Harry's code to suit my particular setup(s), initially with a scratchbuilt, single band Tx with GPS - about 200mW out on 40 metres on a 9v DC supply.

I then made a multiband unit using modules from QRP-Labs, including the Arduino shield, si5351 OCXO, relay switch kit and assorted LPF's that all plug into an Arduino UNO.

The OCXO si5351 makes it so much more stable and once warmed up, it doesn't drift - I must try it on 144MHz sometime...

Running at 9v DC in gives an easy 200mW+ on multiple bands, in my case, 4 bands (10, 15, 20 & 40).

It is easily programmed by Harry's excellent Windows software and once the initial settings are done, it needs no further configuration as all important info is taken from the GPS (time, locator etc).

It only needs reconfiguring if you change bands/LPF.

Armbian Linux on a TV box

Armbian on an Android TV box

Follow the 1st post here...

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/26978-csc-armbian-for-rk3318rk3328-tv-box-boards/

It's actually quite easy to wipe out the Android install and put Linux on it, just make sure to use one of the RK3318 flavours to 'burn' onto it.
I run in command line only, but it will run the desktop GUI as well, but it's pretty sluggish.

If you 'brick' it, short the 2 pins in last pic and power on and run multitool again

My post is on page 38 of above link

Chinese RF Power Meter

My Chinese RF Power Meter has self destructed itself !

It's pretty much as this...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003572858028.html

Simply powering it on one day and the Q2 transistor glowed and let out the magic smoke.

If you have any idea what the original component marking is, I would really like to know as I can't find any detail about this bit of kit. - see EDIT at end of this post.

Click the images to go 'supersized'

The position of Q2 is just below the LCD on the right side and I have circled it's position in red on the next image after removing the LCD - it's a 3 legged device, probably SOT23...

Close up images

Beneath the top left tin screen is an AD8318 detector + circuitry.

Anyone got the same meter and could read the ID on their existing Q2 chip or better still has a schematic?

Please leave a comment below or my email is good on QRZ.com

EDIT:

Testing the AMS1117 5.0 (5v regulator) it had failed and in failing it went input to output dead short, injecting 12v to Q2 - probably why it smoked!
Q2 is/was a 3v3 regulator and tracing the circuit, it's Vout pin is also connected to the 3v3 pin at top right of the board (big clue there!).  Q2's Vin pad is destroyed, but should be simple enough to 'hot wire' to C16.
So, parts are on order, it must be worth trying to save it for the price of a coffee?