[Moon-net] Linrad for Windows

Sat Dec 8 11:18:09 CST 2007

Hello Leif,

MNI TNX for your suggestions and comments.  I am still very confused, 
but I am sure as I gain more experience with the program I will be able 
to make increasingly better questions and observations....

I did try changing the priority of the Linrad program running in WinXP 
(using the Task Manager) to "Bring to Front", and this seemed to 
eliminate the freezing problem I had previously with WinXP.  Of course I 
keep all my O/S completely up to date with all new downloads.  I have 2 
GB of RAM on this computer, so I don't think that I should run out of 
memory while running Linrad ;-) 

I think the challenge for me and other users is simply to try to 
understand how to make all the adjustments in the Linrad program to 
unleash the power it has to work so effectively with the SDR-IQ.  Most 
of the terms you refer to are unknown to me, and I don't understand how 
or where I can make the adjustments.  But I feel confident that - over 
the coming months - I  will learn more about  how to best utilize the 
program here.  MNI MNI TNX for such a powerful and flexible tool!  And 
TNX also for your patience and understanding with those of us who are 
just beginner users of this overwhelming software! 

Best wishes for a joyous holiday season!  VY 73, Lance

Leif Asbrink wrote:
> Hello Lance,
>
>   
>> I have been starting to experiment with Linrad for Windows, using my 
>> SDR-IQ receiver.  I have been waiting to see how it works on the new 
>> computer I got for this purpose (AMD A64 X2 6000 3.0 G, running Windows 
>> XP PRO and 2 GB of RAM) before I ask any questions.
>>     
> Linrad should run happily on something slower.....
>
>   
>> My questions at this stage are:
>>
>> 1) Linrad seems to freeze up and just quit working after some period of 
>> time (which seems to vary).  I have disconnected my computer from the 
>> internet, and it is not running anything but Linrad.  Is there some 
>> special setting that needs to be made somewhere in Linrad to keep it 
>> from shutting itself off?  I have disabled the screen-saver on my monitor.
>>     
> This is new to me. It could be a bug that nobody reported before,
> but more likely it is a problem with latency times under XP PRO.
>
> The dll that has to be used under Windows will hang in case an error
> occurs in the USB link (contrary to Linux where errors are properly
> handled) In case this is the explanation you should try a bit smaller
> bandwidth to reduce the latency time requirements for the USB link.
> Try something like 100 kHz. If that fixes the problem, increase
> the speed up to where problems start. In case this helped, you may
> check the system monitor that shows all the programs Windows runs
> when seemingly doing nothing. One of them (or more) is responsible
> for holding the CPU too long for the USB not to be serviced in time.
> I know very little about Windows - presumably there is a way to
> use the dll better..... 
>
>   
>> 2) Is there a copy of starter setup files somewhere that I can download 
>> that will help me get Linrad set up properly to receive SSB or CW and to 
>> utilize the famous Linrad noise blanker?
>>     
> What is right depends on the usage. Someone who uses SDR-IQ on
> HF without pre-selector filters should set other parameters than
> someone who wants maximum bandwidth for a VHF band. Linrad is not
> for any particular hardware. I do not own an SDR-IQ and in 
> particular I do not have the antennas and other hardwares 
> for all the different bands. Note that Linrad allows you to
> set up your AD6620 in many different ways so you can avoid
> the shortcomings of this chip and place the spurious responses
> that it suffers from at frequencies where they are harmless.
> The compromise is in how much oversampled the output has to be.
>
> I hope that people who actually operate SDR-IQ on various bands
> upload information about what they found good control parameters
> for the SDR-IQ (=AD6620) under different circumstances. This
> information is not specific for Linrad. In case something is
> favourable under Linrad, it will be equally favourable for
> all softwares that uses the USB data from an SDR-IQ.
>
> The parameters of Linrad itself is another story. It should
> be ok to press enter and use the default everywhere.
>
> I practically never get any feedback. In case there are situations
> when it does not work it is just because I have not seen it
> myself and nobody told me.
>
>   
>> I have saved my own SSB setup 
>> files in order to be able to restore operation of the program because 
>> the first time I tried it, I wound up making frequency range changes 
>> that apparently were out of range, and nothing would work after that.
>>     
> Oooh!
>
> If you ever manage to do something like that again, please save
> all the par files, put them in a zip file and send it all to me
> with a short description what you did.
>
>   
>> I admit to not being at the top of the class when it comes to all this 
>> technical and computer stuff, but I also realize the power available 
>> through these new innovations, and am trying my best to take advantage 
>> of these incredible innovations.  I would appreciate any suggestions or 
>> guidance anybody might have ;-) 
>>     
>
> Anything that does not work as you expect it to do is a problem.
> It could be a bug, or it could simply be a problem in that the
> dialog and help messages are too compact - or perhaps even
> misleading.
>
> Linrad is extremely flexible and allows almost anything including
> things that may seem very silly and use all CPU resources for
> nothing. There may be reasons for such things in special situations
> but I want Linrad to always be well behaved and verbose enough to
> make it reasonably easy to understand what is going on in such
> cases. 
>
> If you ask for more memory than available for example, Windows
> will silently put some processing data on the hard disk. I do
> not know how to detect that from inside Linrad so the user has to
> find out with the system tools that Microsoft provides.
> Processing data on the hard disk causes big problems.......
> (But Linrad should be well behaved. Please inform me 
> when you find cases where it is not.) Error that you might
> do should never lead to freezes or crashes. Surely I am
> aware it happens - but I try to fix everything that is
> reproducible as soon as I know about it.
>
> 73
>
> Leif  /  SM5BSZ
>
>  
>
>
>
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>
>   

-- 
Lance Collister, W7GJ (ex: WN3GPL, WA3GPL, WA1JXN, WA1JXN/C6A, ZF2OC/ZF8)
P.O. Box 73
Frenchtown, MT  59834  USA
QTH: DN27UB
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URL: http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj
2m DXCC #11/6m DXCC #815