SWR ANALYZER. Wireless connecting SWRA unit to PC. September, SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

Transcription

1 SWR ANALYZER Wireless connecting SWRA unit to PC September, 2013 SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

2 1. Project description Hardware and Software requirements Getting started Modify SWR Analyzer unit Bluetooth Adapter for SWRA unit Testing the BT Adapter Bluetooth port on PC PC working with SWRA+BT Initialize the PC SWRA+BT communication Identify the COM port associated to SWRA+BT Configure SWR Analyzer.exe program Troubleshooting A B SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

3 1. Project description Having successfully developed a Bluetooth adapter to connect the SWRA unit to an Android portable terminal, many Ham Radio fellows asked me to add also to the Windows program SWR Analyzer.exe the Bluetooth drivers to implement that wireless communication. SWR Analyzer.exe SWR Analyzer.exe v5.03 allows to wireless connect the SWRA unit, this document describes how to implement the link. Tony, i2tzk September 2013 SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

4 2. Hardware and Software requirements H/W Requirements Modified SWRA unit to connect a Bluetooth adapter. No mod is required to Fox Delta kits labeled AAZ-0713 or later that do already include this mod. Bluetooth adapter for SWRA unit Cable to connect SWRA unit to the Bluetooth adapter and 9-12V 250mA power supply PC or Laptop with a Bluetooth port SWRA unit Cable BT adapter F/W Requirement SWRA firmware for the SWRA 18F2550 pic v 5.02 or later S/W Requirement SWR Analyzer.exe Windows software v 5.03 or later SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

5 3. Getting started 3.1 Modify SWR Analyzer unit Modify the SWRA board by adding a 470 ohm 0.25W resistor between pin 16 and pin 17 of the pic 18F2550. This mod is applicable to all Fox Delta kits made before the new one labeled AAZ-0713 that does already include this mod. SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

6 Update the 18F2550 pic f/w to v5.02 or later Please refer to SWRA USB Update documentation for detailed instructions. Update also the Windows program to v5.03 or later SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

7 3.2 Bluetooth Adapter for SWRA unit The Adapter uses an already assembled Bluetooth module, following pictures show three of the several models available from the market: The left schematic allows to install BT modules from different manufactures. The same special cable USB-DB9 designed to connect the Graphic CPU (see FoxDelta web site) is used. Mario s, G8ODE, prototype used for very first tests. SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

8 The electric schema from Dinesh, VU2FD is using a standard USB cable (please refer to to connect the adapter to the SWRA unit: FoxDelta Kit AAZ-BT-0813 SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

9 3.3 Testing the BT Adapter The loop-back test is used to verify that the Bluetooth module is properly working. This test requires that the device's transmit pin is connected to its receive pin, this will result in the device receiving exactly what it transmits. Test can be done using a laptop or a desktop having a Bluetooth port, as well as any Android portable terminal (smartphone or tablet), implementing the following steps: Shortcut Rx and Tx lines of the adapter. BT RX signal is at DB9 connector pin 9, TX at pin 8, use a small paperclip as shown by the picture or put a jumper on the loop back test header of the FoxDelta implementation. Power on the BT Adapter (no need to connect it to SWRA unit) and pair it to your PC/Smartphone. Code to be entered and module ID depend on the specific BT module used, the most common are 1234 for pairing code and HC-05 as module ID. Please refer to datasheet of your module for code and ID. Run a terminal program and connect the virtual port created by the BT pairing process. WinXP users can run Hyperterminal, Win7 users can choose any one of the many dumb terminal programs available from the web. Smartphone/Tablet users can run any Bluetooth terminal application. Google Play, Amazon Store and similar websites offer many free Terminal Emulator for Bluetooth, choose the one of your preference. Parameters to initialize the COM port are: Baud, 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop (9600-8N1) When the BT Device is connected, verify that all the characters you enter in the terminal program and transmit are echoed back by the BT Adapter. SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

10 3.4 Bluetooth port on PC If a laptop/netbook is used, usually these devices have an already integrated Bluetooth port, so no further action is required, go to next paragraph. For a desktop or an old laptop without BT port, an additional USB Bluetooth adapter (dongle key) works fine. The very old Digicom Palladio USB adapter, used to test the project, is an example of this kind of devices. Download drivers from the producer web site, plugin the dongle key into a USB port, wait until Windows install it: A new BT icon is added and port is ready to work. SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

11 Verify, this way, the installation from Windows START SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

12 4. PC working with SWRA+BT 4.1 Initialize the PC SWRA+BT communication Connect the Bluetooth adapter to the SWRA unit, power ON the board and, if not yet done, pair it to the PC Bluetooth port: SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

13 5 6 7 SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

14 4.2 Identify the COM port associated to SWRA+BT Take a note of the port number COM30 in this example SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

15 4.3 Configure SWR Analyzer.exe program Power on the SWRA+BT and launch SWR Analyzer.exe v5.03. You should get the SWRA unit not found warning message because now the SWRA+BT is connected to the Bluetooth adapter not to the PC USB port. Click Continue and navigate to SetUp/Comm, select BT0 driver Selected driver is USB HID Select BT0 If the COM port associated to SWRA+BT is properly listed (COM30 in the example) next start SWRA+BT will be automatically detected, recognized and linked. Save and restart. SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

16 Starting, SWR Analyzer.exe searches the port list and detects the SWRA+BT, it memorizes the port number so next time it will be able to direct access to the port without exploring again the list. Now SWR Analyzer is ready to scan and analyze your antenna. SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

17 5. Troubleshooting 5.1 A. It could happen that removing from the PC and plug-in again the PC USB BT Adapter (dongle key) or just moving it to a different USB port, Windows loses the link or changes the associated COM port number. This is caused by the enumeration process executed by Windows to discover the available USB ports and, in our case, this could impact over the COM port number associated to the SWR BT Adapter and already memorized by the program. Try to fix removing the device and pairing it again. SWR Analyzer.exe restarting won t find anymore the SWRA unit and it will search the port list for the new SWRA COM port number. SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept

18 5.2 B. If for any reason the COM port associated to the SWRA+BT board is not listed or the port name is affected by spurious / unreadable characters check the field Force to Connect and enter the correct port name (COM8 in the example) on the next field. SWR Analyzer.exe won t search anymore the port list, it looks instead directly to the forced port. SWR Analyzer by Tony, i2tzk Sept